David Carr Dies at 58 | Hacker News Reader

David Carr Dies at 58

nytimes.com

240 pointssethbannon45 comments

Earlier today Carr moderated a panel with Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Edward ‪Snowden‬ that's worth a watch: http://timestalks.com/laura-poitras-glenn-greenwald-edward-s...

Coincidence?

Probably.

Well, unless you can think of a reason why someone would want to kill David Carr for interviewing Snowden, Greenwald, and Poitras, but not be motivated (or not able) to kill Snowden, Greenwald, or Poitras themselves, the answer is probably 'yes.'

Yeah, Snowden and Greenwald have insurance policies. Carr likely didn't. If they kill Snowden or Greenwald, more secrets leak. Why do you think Snowden's been so slow to release everything?

I don't seriously think that Carr was assassinated, but Andrei Sakharov (Soviet scientist, human rights activist) believed that the KGB killed people near him because he personally was too high-profile to be killed without international outrage.

David Carr was one of the english language's finest cultural critics. His recent (last?) piece on Brian Williams & Jon Stewart was utterly piercing: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/business/media/brian-willi...

that was really great

I wonder sometimes if the sort of clarity and vinegar with which this man writes, is only borne from the kinds of past struggle and experience he and many artists seem to share.

After watching "Page One" where you learn about his past, I noticed he seems to have a very "I don't give a crap what people think" attitude, which is a great quality for a journalist.

This quote is great:

"Perhaps he sensed that he was king of an entropic kingdom imprisoned by incontinence and cholesterol ads."

One thought that entered my mind, and wouldn't quite leave, while reading this is: "I hope that people like and value my work after I'm gone." This article is good writing, even though most of it is just re-telling of actual events.

The re-telling of actual events in an engaging way is the foundational act of storytelling.

A long piece; reporting on his past life as a junkie: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/magazine/20Carr-t.html?pag...

His Reddit AMA reads like an insightful glimpse into his personality, wisdom, and sense of humor.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/16k598/iama_columnist_....

Does anyone - anyone at all, even at the fringes, even at the international fringes, anyone English, Irish, Scottish or anyone even remotely related to the English Isles - resemble David Carr at all, even in the slightest at all?

To me, Paul Carr, and most other Carrs resemble a striking similarity to him.

Its uncanny, like any ever is. Its spellbinding.

It really is. Ask me how. Please do.

Well, that's an unfortunate turn of events. Isn't it?

I didn't downvote you, but I have no idea what your comment was supposed to mean. Sorry.

??? Alan Carr, Jimmy Carr, Paul Carr, none of them look similar.

Visting his Twitter feed is so strange... It gives me the feeling that in a way he's still here. :( https://twitter.com/carr2n

10h ago carr2n retweeted: Watch @citizenfour @TimesTalks w/ @ggreenwald, Laura Poitras, Ed Snowden & @carr2n. Livestream starts in 15 minutes: http://timestalks.com/laura-poitras-glenn-greenwald-edward-s...

I first heard of David Carr in the documentary about New York Times called Page One [1]. David Carr is extensively covered in it and you, amongst other things, learn of his troubled past.

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787777/

I highly recommend that documentary to anyone with any interest in journalism.

One of the best scenes from Page One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLmkec_4Rfo

Carr talks to the Vice guys about their deal with CNN: "Just because you put on a fucking safari helmet and looked at some poop, doesn't give you the right to insult what we do."

Such a bummer. I really liked David Carr. He's a great journalist and his personal story is incredible.

Tom Levenson posted a very nice tribute to him here: http://www.balloon-juice.com/2015/02/13/on-david-carr/

It looks like Hacker News is becoming NY Times proxy.

Since there is a feverishly down-voting activity in this particular grade, let us all ask what it is that you fledgling participants who wish to have their opinions heard, have to say.

Please do so. Downvoting isn't going to the swing the pendulum to the other extreme.

Trust me on this. I've been on here long enough.

Please explicate your opinion and I shall make happen it, if I shall. Thank you.

Please don't break the HN guidelines by complaining about downvoting.

Please don't post comments like this as off-topic replies to the top comment. That's an abuse of the commenting system. (We've detached this one.)

The feverish downvoting is in response to the low-content posts. From the current downvotes I think the only opinion wanting to be heard is that we need better quality comments.

Who was the dude? I would mention in the title. Would save me those wasted few minutes.

I'm sorry but who is he? Could someone update the title to be more informative?

Here's the first paragraph of the link:

David Carr, a writer who wriggled away from the demon of drug addiction to become an unlikely name-brand media columnist at The New York Times, and the star of a documentary about the newspaper, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 58.

If you didn't already know his work, I can't see why you would care to know any more than that. I've responded to your comment, but really, I'm responding to the whole category of comments that say "Why should I care about this.". Moreover, if those comments aren't interested enough to spend a couple minutes looking into it themselves, how interested are they actually going to be in any responses?

I believe the obvious point here is that when there are two or more semi- to relatively famous people who share the same name, it's generally better to put which one you're referring to in the title.

If it's not obvious who the other famous David Carr is, consider for a second that to someone who doesn't read the Times, it's the same situation. To me, there is an obvious age difference, which makes the title alright in the end.

I don't really know either one. I just can't reconcile the "it's important to me to know this" with the "I didn't read the first paragraph."

It really depends on how you consume your headlines. "David Carr dead at 58" is, in my opinion, less informative that "David Carr, acclaimed NY Times journalist, dead at 58."

Thanks to maxerickson for expanding on the article that I obviously didn't read.

I would strongly agree with mathgeek here though - it's best to put the relevant details in the title to enable me to see if I should even read the article or the comments, and to edge on the side of safety that not everyone here is in the same country, age bracket or work/social circles as you. I've never read the NY Times. I'm not in America.

I mean Steve Strange died today too - if I just posted a headline stating "Steve Strange has died" I would get a barrage of comments asking - "who is he? why is this relevant to me?".

I wasn't arguing against informative headlines.

I was labeling those comments as pointless. They frustrate me a little bit (because of what I said above about reconciling the supposed interest behind the question with the paucity of (misdirected!) effort).

Also, such comments can always be replaced with "I didn't know who David Carr was. He was ...".

You're right - I should have read it and stated who this person was in the comment, in order to benefit others.

But mine was more of a protest at the uninformative headline.

I wonder if my complaining will head off the 8 comments it would take to get back to zero (so to speak).

I suppose the thing to do is create a culture here of saying "If you are going to complain that the headline is uninformative, please also provide the information you think it is missing."

Or a culture of informative headlines!

I have suffered downvotes for asking a question, weirdly.

Thanks for informing me. I wish the titles here would be more informative at times.

I typically find the discussions here more interesting than the articles. In some cases, a short pithy article generates a mass of comments and good discussion.

Help out his family by buying his excellent memoir.

http://www.amazon.com/Night-Gun-reporter-investigates-darkes...

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind helping out, but with the risk of downvoting, why does a prominent journalist family in NYC need help?

Honestly, not trying to be snarky, truly wondering.

His wife is working as an international operations manager for Shake Shack. I don't think they rely on handouts. I suggest donating to addiction treatment centers.

Believe me, you don't need to read his book to simply participate in commerce. Without a doubt, this book was one of the most moving memoirs I've ever read. Very highly recommended. The bonus is that he's an incredible writer.

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