Comments for Quinn Said

Comment on ACM Web Science talk, as written by Claire Evans

Claire Evans — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:12:48 +0000

So knocked out by this. Hypnotic, brilliant, writing.

Comment on ACM Web Science talk, as written by Ariel

Ariel — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:49:48 +0000

Richard Brautigan reads aloud his poem “All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace”
https://soundcloud.com/ariel-agor/richard-brautigan-reads-aloud

EDIT: Wow, thanks so much for posting that. <3 -Quinn

Comment on The Utilitarian and the Devil: A Parable for the Dead by Dong Xue

Dong Xue — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:39:02 +0000

I like your parable and also your piece on The Atlantic. I have no blame on the Utilitarian for his bravery sacrifice to go to the Hell. This world was originally made for everyone to go to heaven, but if you choose not to, you can still stay in paradise. Hell was not in the original design for universe. The big problem is not people choose to go to heaven or not, it is the devil who built the hell and did everything “devily”possible to drag people into it. It has been said that the devil would eventually be eliminated. But we’ve been waiting for couple of thousand of years and still waiting. We as mortals only have about hundred years to live, if we are not impressed by dragging into the hell one by one, it’s the time for we mortals to take the actions, to dismantle the devil’s hell piece by piece.

Comment on The Utilitarian and the Devil: A Parable for the Dead by Mary

Mary — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:54:55 +0000

Compared to heaven, there are already many more interesting people in hell. I’m a blaspheming, adulterous, lascivious, seditious, gluttonous, lazy individual. Chuck a few other sins in there as well for good measure. I’m also an anti-theist (someone who is against the idea of god, not merely someone who doesn’t believe). All in all, I think I’m likely to be heading to hell. If such a place exists and the monotheists are correct.
Thanks for the story. It’s well written and made in the style of other stories like it. It fits.

Comment on The Utilitarian and the Devil: A Parable for the Dead by Trisha

Trisha — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 08:48:33 +0000

Thank you for this Quinn, it touched me deeply today on a level that I did not know I needed to be touched. It is absolutely beautiful.

Comment on Why I disagree with Wesley Yang’s conclusion by Sharat Buddhavarapu

Sharat Buddhavarapu — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 04:22:22 +0000

I think Yang walked the line of trying to honor Aaron’s life, but also recognizing the responsibility Aaron must carry for having chosen to commit suicide. Sadly, Yang’s vocabulary seems to purely from the socially-constructed view that in large part is based on Christianity’s view of despair (and suicide as an expression of that despair) as a sin. I don’t excuse Yang’s mistake, but I think it’s appropriate to acknowledge that for all the attempts of the system to take victims’ agency, suicide is one of those acts that shows the system can’t take it away entirely.

What I’m trying to say is that most of my anger at the situation is thrust at the power structures, but some at Aaron, too. I know it’s a shitty burden to carry, but I’ve been depressed, I’ve felt the placelessness of being outside the system, I’ve felt the confusion of identity that being a first-gen immigrant causes. Aaron’s prosecution was worse than anything I’ve ever faced or hope to face, but if I had to, I hope that I could face it and live. Not because suicide is cowardice, and Aaron committed some unspeakable sin, but because I’d rather be alive than dead. And it scares me to know that someone so brilliant, so insightful, so aware of what the power structures were doing to him would choose death rather than life. Just as it scares me that my government would do this to someone who didn’t deserve it. That fear is what produces anger, and so, as guilty as I feel about it, I am angry at Aaron, just a teeny-weeny bit. So we have to be careful not to shut down the discourse around the fear people feel from being on Aaron’s side of the equation and losing hope when he chose suicide over life.

That’s why I disagree with this paragraph:

You have no idea how you’d react if this has never happened to you. Not Yang, not Heymann or Ortiz.

Yes, I have no idea. But if writers were obstructed every time they ran into oppression that they’d never felt, we’d never achieve the empathy to move beyond this corrupt system. And after all that’s what a ton of great writing is about. Trying to feel empathy for other people. To make them less Other. Words and language are all that we have to connect us when we’re silently facing the torment of the system.

Finally, but most importantly, thank you for continuing to engage the aftermath Aaron’s death even as it must continue to be painful for you.

Comment on Why I disagree with Wesley Yang’s conclusion by SC

SC — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 01:33:03 +0000

. . . we are social Darwinists now . . .
Alas. It’s that change during my lifetime that makes me saddest. And thinking about Aaron’s death . . . I keep thinking the price (and what an awful word to use but that’s how we’ve defined it) for making a difference, for saying and doing things that clearly are not all about pushing the weak down and assisting the strong, has gone up significantly in the last twenty five or so years. Sure, there have been strong elements of social Darwinism in America since the beginning but now it’s the driving force not just in politics but throughout our shared culture. I didn’t know Aaron well but the few times we talked at length, years ago, one of the things we talked about was urban planning and the crazy homebrew network of wiring in the Mission at the time and the focus was “Some level of Socialism, some level of acknowledging difference and sharing basic human comforts is logical and necessary even in the most extreme capitalist environment.” Sure, just talk over beer but, yes, Yang’s piece bothered me as well because Aaron’s faults, IMO, were mostly strengths seen in context and that larger context has problems far more serious than any of Aaron’s faults. It shouldn’t be so painful, so costly, to insist that we can lead better lives.

Comment on 10 by Ginny

Ginny — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:14:40 +0000

Thanks for the great post. Noticing the wonderful things all around us every day and being thankful helps keep me sane when the world seems insane.

Comment on Why I disagree with Wesley Yang’s conclusion by Elizabeth Fein

Elizabeth Fein — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:49:50 +0000

Thank you.

Comment on Why I disagree with Wesley Yang’s conclusion by David Krancher

David Krancher — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:21:59 +0000

This is a powerful and beautiful piece. Thanks. All the best, Quinn.