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Comment by prvc | Hacker News Reader

He could have killed himself anyway--- that is obvious, but his past statements still need to be taken seriously, and extra care and doubt need to be applied to the reported story.

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> his past statements still need to be taken seriously, and extra care and doubt need to be applied to the reported story.

Why? The fact that he had a paranoid fantasy of being murdered by the US government doesn't make it so. I don't have to take extra care with the ramblings of conspiracy theorists with a long history of outright bullshit.

Why? Because the US government has a strong and long documented history of murdering dissidents, especially in south america. Side A is unhindged guy, Side B has a very long rap sheet for murder. McAfees relationship with the intelligence community should be further investigated by private parties, ignoring a rap sheet like that is just as fantastical as conspiracy.

BTW, I realized tone may have been lost...but that was supposed to be a 'McAfee' style rant

>his past statements still need to be taken seriously

Like the one where he promised to eat his own penis?

Do the past statements of a clearly unhinged individual need to be taken seriously?

Unless you are very sure that McAfee was "clearly unhinged individual", it is a strong statement and ad hominem. Doesn't help add to the discussion than mere gossip.

The man said he would eat his own dick on TV[1] if Bitcoin didn't hit $500k in 2020. There are credible reports he paid women to shit in his mouth from a hammock. There is his entire twitter feed. I am very sure McAfee was a "clearly unhinged individual", and if you're not I'd like to know what kind of evidence you need.

[1] http://dickening.com/

We don't have to go any further than the tweet that started this thread: McAfee claimed to be "getting subtle messages" from officials in the American government threatening to kill him.

He was a clearly unhinged individual.

Nice circular logic.

Yes.

So every statement should always be taken seriously? Is there no minimum bar of credibility that should be met?

Credibility is not only about who says it, but at least a bit about what they say, right?

If McAfee said the moon is made of cheese, I’d call that less credible than McAfee saying he’s going to get suicided.

Right, it's about both. "The US government is gonna suicide me" is not a statement I would believe coming from the average person, and given McAfee's statements/claims/drug abuse/tax evasion/etc I would say he had less credibility than the average person.

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