Ten years ago on January 11, Aaron Swartz, whose short time on this planet defies a thumbnail description, took his own life. He struggled with depressive episodes, but he was also staring down a lengthy sentence on bogus charges from a reckless and cynical federal prosecutor, Carmen Ortiz, and her deputy Stephen Heymann, who was in his privileged position after his father, Philip Heymman, a former assistant U.S. attorney general, had worked closely with Ortiz.
"Since his death, his family and closest friends have tried to hone his story into a message, in order to direct the public sadness and anger aroused by his suicide to political purposes. They have done this because it is what he would have wanted, and because it is a way to extract some good from the event. They tell people that the experience of being prosecuted is annihilatingly brutal, and that prosecutors can pursue with terrible weapons defendants who have caused little harm. One of the corollaries of this message is that Swartz did not kill himself; he was murdered by the government. But this claim is for public consumption, and the people closest to him do not really believe it. They believe that he would not have killed himself without the prosecutors, but they feel that there is something missing from this account—some further fact, a key, that will make sense of what he did.
Despite his public presence, he was small and frail and shy and often sick, and people wanted to protect him. He was loved intensely, as a child is loved."
The most I feel for Swartz is pity. Everything about this fiasco makes me want to puke.
"Aaron was too good for this world" I'm sick of the politics of spoiled teenagers.
Really thoughtful and important piece Ryan!
He was a narcissist, and his suicide was hastened by his enablers. His fans are oblivious.
Read this and learn something. Don't worry it's safe; it's the New Yorker.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/11/requiem-for-a-dream
"Since his death, his family and closest friends have tried to hone his story into a message, in order to direct the public sadness and anger aroused by his suicide to political purposes. They have done this because it is what he would have wanted, and because it is a way to extract some good from the event. They tell people that the experience of being prosecuted is annihilatingly brutal, and that prosecutors can pursue with terrible weapons defendants who have caused little harm. One of the corollaries of this message is that Swartz did not kill himself; he was murdered by the government. But this claim is for public consumption, and the people closest to him do not really believe it. They believe that he would not have killed himself without the prosecutors, but they feel that there is something missing from this account—some further fact, a key, that will make sense of what he did.
Despite his public presence, he was small and frail and shy and often sick, and people wanted to protect him. He was loved intensely, as a child is loved."
The most I feel for Swartz is pity. Everything about this fiasco makes me want to puke.
"Aaron was too good for this world" I'm sick of the politics of spoiled teenagers.
Ryan that was lovely. Thank you.