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Comment by toolslive | Hacker News Reader

Looking at history with our current perspective, so were: Edgar Allen Poe, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mohammed, Henry VIII, ...

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Between 2000 and 2015 there were at least 207,468 child marriages in the United States of which over 1,000 marriage licences were for children under 15, some as young as ten years old.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage#Americas

I'm not sure why we feel a need to look at history through this particular lens. I think that Schrodinger's work, or Poe's writing, should be appreciated for the great achievements they are, and we don't need to consider the person from whose minds they sprang.

Does creating a list of past greats who did naughty things accomplish anything except maybe to broaden the Overton window for those naughty things? (Hey, if this person's so great and they did it, why shouldn't I?)

"The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1935 raised the age to 17, with more severe penalties under age 15, and disallowed a defence of mistake."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe#Hist...

Seems to be the perspective of his contemporaries as well.

and even in recent history: David Bowie, Fergie, Jerry Seinfeld, Joel Madden, Kobe Bryant, Luc Besson, Steven Tyler, Paul Walker, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many, many more.

I mean most rockers from the 80s and 90s. People don't really talk about it much, but it's in their autobiographies and everything. They were all with underage groupies and it's no secret-- people just really like their work so they try to avoid thinking about it too much. Which is how Steven Tyler can be a host on American Idol

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