
Sean Parker's Wedding Defense - pkfrank
http://mashable.com/2013/06/06/sean-parker-wedding-defense/
======
_pius
Is asking the subject of an article for comment _before_ ripping them to
shreds just a lost art at this point?

~~~
rm999
I agree it was bad form of the author, but in all fairness the original piece
was a very casual editorial and not serious reporting. In objective reporting
the standard is to cover all sides of a story, but in editorials it's to spout
off your opinion - often with little regard for the truth.

My point is don't trust everything you read, always question the source and
intention. A lot of us HNers were also guilty of passing on the blame:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5824276>

One more thing: we've now heard two sides of the story (an editorial covering
the CCC report and Sean Parker). Keep in mind that we don't know what actually
happened yet.

~~~
grimtrigger

        but in all fairness the original piece was a very casual editorial and not serious reporting
    

Seems like a cop out. Forget journalistic integrity, what about human
integrity? If you're going to hold up someone and say "this guy did something
wrong!" then you should have your facts straight. If you don't want to be
taken seriously, the first line of your article should be "I didn't bother to
check all the facts".

I agree that (as a community) we should be more skeptical of stuff posted
online. But that doesn't excuse the author and its neither necessary nor wise
to defend him/her.

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pessimizer
This is an excellent defense. Having a $4.5 million dollar wedding may be
jerky, but better he spend the money than hoard it; unemployment is high.
Sounds like a badly maintained and forgotten site is going to end up improved
due to a billionaire's urge to create a magical fairy garden for a day.

Hope this gets upvoted enough to salvage people's views on this incident.

~~~
newbie12
The "hoarding" argument has no economic basis. Money that is saved in stocks,
bonds, or bank accounts is immediately put to use by companies, banks, or
governments.

~~~
numbsafari
> Money that is saved in stocks, bonds, or bank accounts is immediately put to
> use by companies, banks, or governments.

Oh is it? really?

In the real world (not the fantasy land of trickle-down economics), money that
is saved in stocks, bonds and bank accounts is NOT immediately put to use by
companies, banks or governments.

Banks have done a terrible job putting the money given to them by the
government and the Federal Reserve to work. Small business lending dried up
and has taken years to recover, despite all the efforts to convince banks to
do otherwise.

The government did a notoriously bad job of putting the stimulus spending
money to work.

As for businesses, hiring has been slow, wages stagnant and investment weak
for years, despite an excess of cash (profits).

Almost nothing has been done to stimulate demand, much has been done to
stimulate supply.

So, arguments about "hoarding" have not only economic basis, they have a basis
in fact as well.

Granted, on those grounds, Sean Parker should be lauded for putting some of
his money to work.

~~~
mtowle
>not the fantasy land of trickle-down economics

The war on straw wages on

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wwweston
We are reading/talking about Sean Parker's wedding in the tech press and
discussion forums.

I guess we can admit we're a fashion industry now.

~~~
themstheones
What do you mean by "a fashion industry?"

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beachstartup
one that's dominated by fads and gossip

larry ellison has an interesting take on this

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FacYAI6DY0>

~~~
themstheones
I don't respect Larry Ellison. Sorry.

------
Shivetya
It would not be the first case where a environment related government agency
went overboard when the end result for the area was better than what the same
agency had been ignoring for years or simply did not know about. Read more
than one wetlands issue where this occurred.

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bjhoops1
Funny how most things that make you mad are less outrageous when you hear both
sides of the story.

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jbooth
Kudos to the author for giving him a chance to respond and airing his response
fairly.

~~~
twoodfin
I wonder if that hn poster who thought Parker was lucky we don't have the
death penalty for his horrific crime against nature will be around to post on
this thread.

~~~
epochwolf
We can't let this end without someone getting the noose. I nominate the hack
journalist/blogger making the accusations in the first place. Failing that, we
can hang the guy that asked for the death penalty. A little poetic justice
would go a long way to making online discussions civil again. :)

~~~
Samuel_Michon
How about, from now on, nobody ever gets the death penalty and we stop wishing
for people to die? I’d like that.

~~~
epochwolf
No, no, dear sir. The people must have their entertainment. Thank you kindly
for volunteering to be the third candidate in our contest. ;)

~~~
Samuel_Michon
The Hunger Games, bah humbug.

~~~
epochwolf
I was thinking a bit more Roman Empire but yeah, that works. Bah humbug
indeed. :)

~~~
MartinCron
It's pretty transparently the same thing.

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thehme
The author quoted the CCC's report and at first this seems enough. Why would
anyone be upset that someone else, specially someone "known" to love the
redwoods be upset that he/she spent so much money "fixing" the place for all
of us? Idk, this all just seems like drama now.

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jacoblyles
Can we have Erlang day again?

~~~
mindcrime
Sure, start submitting and upvoting Erlang posts. I just submitted three,
they're near the top of /newest now...

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jack_trades
Wish he spent more time on meaningful work instead of retorting inflammatory
web postings.

He could have done two things in far shorter time. 1) Debunked the original
article 2) Used the space to evangelize to others (while echoing the original
article's author's views).

Too many words for HN over any private wedding. If I wanted ceremony, I'd be
writing STL.

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rogerthis
Is that my [hacking] business?

