
Kofi Annan has died - jmartinpetersen
https://twitter.com/KofiAnnan/status/1030752165663567873
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jmartinpetersen
"Human rights are what make us human. They are the principles by which we
create the sacred home for human dignity." (Kofi Annan)

~~~
laretluval
So for the vast majority of history we weren’t human?

~~~
krapp
> So for the vast majority of history we weren’t human?

For any definition of "human" that is objective and universal, yes.

If you swore fealty to the wrong lord, worshiped the wrong god, were born into
the wrong clan, ethnic group or state, you were considered something less than
human. And of course, nobles claimed descent from divinity, making them more
than human.

The concept of a common humanity with inalienable rights is relatively modern
and in many places still controversial.

~~~
eric24234
This is very true in Indian caste system. In fact in indian caste ladder
system, one become lesser human as one takes birth in the lesser caste
hierarchy. Except the Brahmin community in the indian caste system others
castes are denied education as per the vedas. During the british rule everone
got access to education and every one is trying to be a equal human fighting
the caste system.

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anoncoward111
He saved Kenya from an election that everyone agreed was rigged and
manipulated by all sides. That is really tough to do!!

~~~
mike_kamau
Annan facilitated the formation of the grand coalition government. A lot of
the election reforms came out of that. May he rest in peace.

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hkai
He is the first top-level official that I heard advocating for drug reform.
Well remembered.

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Angostura
A good man. RIP

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the-dude
meta: interesting to see here on HN after the announcement of Aretha
Franklin's death was removed from the FP this week.

~~~
booleandilemma
I think it’s to do with him being a political figure vs a pop culture figure,
but I could be mistaken.

I sometimes see political news on HN, I don’t think I’ve ever seen pop culture
news.

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WalterSear
I see political news flagged faster and harder. Was David Bowie's death
flagged?

IMHO, despite all the work done here on censorship and topic management, I've
experienced a greater level of meanspiritedness and unkind comments here than
on any other comment forum I've frequented.

Perhaps that's >why< there is such a presence and the need to shut down check
potentially conttroversial topics. It begs the question of what is different
on this forum.

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the-dude
If you look at the comments for the Aretha thread as well as this thread, it
seems not to provoke any interesting discussion.

I am happy to keep such main stream news off the FP.

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WalterSear
How does that relate to what I said?

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the-dude
You seem to suggest these threads have been 'shut down' ( in reality, user
flagged into submission ) due to controversy.

I am suggesting these threads were not controversial and were flagged down
because they are boring.

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WalterSear
Not what I was intending to suggest. I was merely noting that it is part of a
singular, and heavy-handed, approach.

