[haidut]

I am pretty sure he/she was NOT joking or being /s, and is now downvoting my comments. To make matters worse, his comments shows up as the top comment for the thread currently, so apparently quite a few top HN contributors agree with this "approach".

[legerdemain]

I just got to 500 karma the other day, so, no, I've never downvoted any comments on this site, and I don't expect to. I think downvoting is spiteful and breeds suspicion of other contributors.

Also, I think commenting on voting activity is considered bad form here.

Whether I'm /s or not is, frankly, immaterial. My comment is true de facto. It doesn't really matter if I passively benefit from Palantir's activity while sitting pretty or while racked with moral agony. Similarly, I can't think of a life decision I've taken as a result of reading the news. Sure, I could donate my stock to charity or strive to work at the WHO, but I am almost certainly not going to.

[haidut]

>Also, I think commenting on voting activity is considered bad form here.

OK, sorry if it was a personal attack.

As far as the actual commenting on downvotes - well, if such downvotes are in support/defense of obvious signs of mental illness (e.g. the exact term in this case is "learned helplessness") then I will point that out even if it is against the HN culture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness

Medical reality trumps culture any time, at least for me.

>Whether I'm /s or not is, frankly, immaterial. My comment is true de facto.

It actually matters, a lot. If a significant portion of the population acquires "learned helplessness" that will in and of itself lead to collapse. I have to ask - does this approach work for you? Namely, being disengaged from life and trying forcing yourself to enjoy it when it is quite obvious things are pretty bad right now? So bad in fact, that 1 in 4 young Americans are seriously contemplating suicide - an "unraveling" of the social fabric?

https://theintercept.com/2020/08/28/the-social-fabric-of-the...

[kozd]

One would hope being racked with moral agony would be sufficient impetus to work towards change. Unless you believe you have no influence, how do you justify closing your eyes as a solution?