It's not that people shouldn't talk about the issues around it, really, it's just that they shouldn't make him a martyr. Every post is about the righteousness of Swartz and the big mean bullies who made him kill himself. Very few place any culpability or responsibility on him. He's getting a treatment normally reserved for victims of aberrant crimes, what with the law getting his name on it and everything.
Talking about Aaron Swartz and how and why he died is fine. Doing it sanctimoniously and refusing to recognize any personal responsibility Swartz may rightly hold, which is the vibe of most articles I've seen, is effectively idolizing Swartz as a martyr, and that kind of religious exercise isn't productive for this case imo. It communicates to others that if they have a minor platform and are well-liked, they can be martyred too.
Also, I don't seriously expect people to stop writing about it because of this. Just a thing that's been bothering me, and thought it may provoke some interesting discussion.
It's human nature. People have done this for millennia and I think that they always will. That's why I don't get upset about it. I don't expect anything different from human beings. This is the way we act in aggregate.
Talking about Aaron Swartz and how and why he died is fine. Doing it sanctimoniously and refusing to recognize any personal responsibility Swartz may rightly hold, which is the vibe of most articles I've seen, is effectively idolizing Swartz as a martyr, and that kind of religious exercise isn't productive for this case imo. It communicates to others that if they have a minor platform and are well-liked, they can be martyred too.
Also, I don't seriously expect people to stop writing about it because of this. Just a thing that's been bothering me, and thought it may provoke some interesting discussion.