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Comment by Mithaldu | Hacker News Reader

While i feel for her, having had a father myself who had trouble expressing emotions, though for other reasons; i balk at the title "Longest-Held Hostage in U.S. History".

What about other countries? Are there people from other countries who've been held hostage for longer? Do they matter less? Or are these two men the longest-held hostages in world history? If so, why not say so? Does the world matter less than the USA?

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Is it now just completely unacceptable to make statements in the context of an exclusive group? I wonder if this same concern would come out at all if he weren't American.

What about this person? Does he matter less than people from other countries? Why put anything in context at all if you're only interested in the most extreme possible case?

The text of the article is more specific: "Longest-held American hostage in history".

You are reading way too much into this.

Is this satire?

No, it's probably bitterness. Most americans wouldn't understand.

I'm having trouble seeing what you're balking at. The title is accurate. Do you think that it's somehow immoral or unethical for her to focus on Levinson's plight?

"immoral or unethical"? No. Narrow-minded, yes.

But really, the more interesting part for me is that it is currently nigh-impossible to actually answer the questions i posed. I have the hunch that these guys are truly the longest-held, but no google query i could come up with could deny or confirm that. Please give it a try yourself.

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