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Comment by whoitwas | Hacker News Reader

I would like to understand your position. Why do you think people being really mad is funny? To me, this reaction seems to be why Trump and Musk are able to troll and bully. It's because people think it's funny, but why? Are you a child? I mean literally.

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It's funny (and sad, too!) that people are so surprised, because lots of activists and NGOs have been warning against proprietary software for decades, starting with Richard Stallman [0] and https://fsf.org and continuing with Cory Doctorow [1] and https://eff.org. If your hardware obeys somebody else, it will betray you sooner or later, one way or another to extract more money for the benefit of the actual owner.

[0] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-impor...

[1] https://lwn.net/Articles/473794/

OP suggests it's funny that people are mad at Elon Musk. This implies they find the actions of Elon funny, or they're laughing at the people who are harmed. I'm trying to understand why people act like this.

It's comical. People are mad at Musk. But they themselves have bought the proprietary car from him despite the decades of warnings, as I explained above.

I understand what you're saying now and agree with that sentiment. People are insane to buy car trackers with subscription services. Those things are horribly anticonsumer.

> People are mad at Musk. But they themselves have bought the proprietary car

These may in fact be two different subsets of "people"

Most cars are "proprietary". The only cars that come close to being open is older vehicles that are no-longer manufacturer with a good after market parts market.

e.g. I bought a Land Rover Defender because it is the closest thing to an "open source" vehicle. However you are giving up many modern conveniences and you will be doing a lot of work yourself.

Because their trolls are very light hearted and everyone overexaggerates the pain they feel from it because they are on the other side of politics (for now). Like answering an e-mail that asked what you did this week turned into many folks doing hours long interviews about how they were wasting time answering the e-mail. comical, they could have spent 5 minutes replying and spend hours complaining instead.

Calling someone a child because you (think you) disagree with them is very mature. Thanks for the entertaining example.

I did not call them a child. I asked a question. I recall when I was in school, children were very cruel and would bully one another. It's why I asked.

> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I think the strongest plausible interpretation is that OP is cruel and likes when others suffer. I can't think of an alternative. Why do people laugh at misfortune?

and my interpretation is that people who ridicule other as being childish for disagreeing with them but act like angsty teenager when they encounter disagreements online should look in the mirror once in a while.

I asked questions and was not trying to provoke hostility. I explained my thought process. I would like to understand those who find Trump and Musk comical.

and I answered by pointing at a mirror while you continue to clutch your pearls.

To write it out for you. It is comically because even a vague statement (like mine) which could be interpreted positively brought on a vicious reaction (like yours). At this point somebody could compliment musks (or trumps which wasn't even part of the discussion) lawn and someone would jump out of the woodworks that they are small brained, childish and also supports supposed bullying.

Okay. Then, I was correct in my initial assertion. There's something that compels you to enjoy cruelty or suffering of others and I'd like to understand what that is. The best explanation I can deduce is that the person who enjoys suffering or finds it comical is typically miserable.

I didn't react in any sort of mean or cruel way. I'm asking questions and trying to understand context. I'm out of the loop here because I try to avoid bullies IRL.

Great deflection after calling me small brained and cruel for disagreeing with you online. It truly must be a cruel world if that's how you see simple disagreements. I hope you mature further to better handle other opinions instead of this thinly veiled posturing.

I appreciate you trying to help me understand. Thanks. I didn't mean to insult you. I only wanted to ask if you were young, because in my experience children are the most cruel.

I never called you small brained. Just trying to understand what compels people to enjoy the misery of others. That's all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

In this particular case, it's the "justice", which is the driving force behind.

People laugh at misfortune, when the victims brought it on themselves despite all the warnings. Also this is not laughing here but a statement about its comical nature.

You're misinterpreting OP. Here's their explanation:

"somebody could compliment musks (or trumps which wasn't even part of the discussion) lawn and someone would jump out of the woodworks that they are small brained, childish and also supports supposed bullying"

Musk has been actively trying to destroy America, so I understand why people have knee jerk reactions to him and Trump.

I asked simple questions and my conclusion is that this is probably a young person who's got an undeveloped brain.

Not only ad-hominem but also ageism real mature display. Im just gonna point towards my original comment and let that do the talking.

This sentence:

> Maybe now that people are comically angry at musk they at least act like they care.

Doesn’t just imply, but within its context directly states that people are mad at Elon for reasons unrelated to Tesla software (hence the “now”).

The rule is “strongest possible interpretation” not “invent a much less plausible but much more generous interpretation”. If you interpret that rule the way you’re suggesting it could be rewritten as “Trolls and bad faith posters only exist in your head, not on the internet”

I would consider myself as apolitical as can be. I just have never cared about either side. I haven't voted since 1996. I think it is all a total fraud.

It seems obvious that people are basically being brainwashed by technology.

The story is the massive corruption and waste in the government. But this brainwashing turns the thought into ELON == BAD so government waste == good.

I feel like everyone I interact with at this point is borderline retarded.

No one is talking about solutions. Elon and Trump are bad because they lie about everything and act only for personal gain. Elon and Trump are bad and government waste is bad. Medicaid is horrible and gutting medicaid to finance tax cuts for millionaires is beyond retarded, but here we are.

It's always been a turd sandwich or shit burrito, I agree. The difference now is one side is literally tearing the country apart, creating a disinformation echochamber, bigoted, stealing public land, public infrastructure, all public services, the list is endless.

Maybe Trump will break it beyond repair and we'll have a revolution or something. Seems extremely unlikely. People are literal thought and wage slaves, so there's no potential for that unless the Ministry of Truth demands it.

> The story is the massive corruption and waste in the government.

This is not the story. The story is that the massive waste in the government is being used as an excuse to destroy whole agencies regardless of whether they are useful or wasteful. While at the same time handing over access to ALL of the most sensitive data to unelected third party who most certainly acting in his own, and the country's, best interest. This is the 'massive corruption' that you should be worried about.

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