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Aaron Swartzs Murder
Aaron Swartzs Murder
Aaron Swartz was one of those "rare occasions" that Lord Russell
and "the rulers" dread. He was supposed to become distracted by
the wealth his innovations gained and forget about the "cultural
heritage of centuries" and everybody else. He was supposed to
"abandon his previous associates and to throw in his lot whole-
heartedly with the rulers". He didn't. He found his calling in
organizing the first real grass roots campaign to defeat a "must be"
bill on Capitol Hill. That wasn't supposed to happen.
SUICIDED
It was Aaron's girlfriend Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman who first
found him dead in their Brooklyn apartment. Her first blog on
Tumblr said he "was not showing symptoms of depression". At
Aaron's funeral, his father, Robert Swartz, told mourners Aaron was
"killed by the government."
Robert Swartz works for MIT and therefore had to retract his
"conspiracy theories" about his son's death. As a practical matter,
knowing his son was murdered probably intimidated Robert even
more than losing his position at MIT. Taren's later statements show
the process of trying to make sense of what happened. She went
from saying "I don't know exactly why Aaron killed himself" to
rationalizing. Maybe it was "a persecution and a prosecution that
had already drained all of his financial resources."
And finally she believed he was pushed to suicide by "a system
where incentives and power structures align for prosecutors to
destroy the life of an innovator like Aaron in the pursuit of their
own ambitions."
Aaron, "It's not over yet. It's up to you."
WAS AARON THE SORT WHO WOULD HANG HIMSELF
IN 'DESPERATION'?