[oz]

"Why is he somehow more "important" than all the other people on the bone marrow transplant list?"

He is not more important in an objective sense. Most people would agree in an abstract sense that all lives are equally valuable, but would readily save their child rather than another if it came down to it. Why? Because they value the life of their child more than the life of another's child, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Amit, as a member of the startup community, is our child, as it were. Due to this commonality, we feel closer to him than 'faceless' people on the list. So your last sentence might read: "His life is more important than everyone else on the transplant list to us."

[jstn]

In reply to daenz:

What makes you say the community is ignoring the faceless sufferers? Registering as a marrow donor isn't exclusive to one person, you could potentially save the life of a stranger decades from now. For the awareness he's raised Amit may potentially be saving many lives besides his own.

To me it's incredible that helping one person evokes so much shrieking about how many others that aren't being helped, what about those who never help anyone?

[daenz]

> What makes you say the community is ignoring the faceless sufferers?

I've never seen ONE "help so-and-so (who is not from our community) with money/bone marrow/whatever" thread on here. Only when it effects someone in this community does this community give a shit, and you can't deny that. And the irony, as I pointed out before, is that it's going to take someone most likely not from this community to save Amit. I really can't make it any more clear.

[jstn]

I just don't understand responding to someone helping someone else by demonizing them for the all people they're not helping. Amit is a member of our community, he's raised awareness for an important issue, what's the problem here?

And I disagree, the whole point of this drive is that the magic donor most likely will be someone mobilized by this community since there are so few potential matches as it currently stands.

[daenz]

Anyone else see the irony of a community fighting to save a person's life, while ignoring all the other "faceless" sufferers, when the life that they're fighting for probably depends on the good will of a "faceless", anonymous person? Serious question.

[nyellin]

By getting tested you increase the chances that everyone finds a match, not just Amit.

[homosaur]

I'm not sure you know what "irony" means.

[daenz]

Sad time when HN doesn't downvote your non-contributing comment out of spite for my comment.

[khafra]

Since donors, once added to the database, can save anyone in need who's a match, it doesn't affect the outcome whether HNers join to save Gupta or a faceless stranger.

I guess what's upsetting you is that a community member makes people care enough to get involved, while faceless strangers don't make us care enough to get involved. This seems like the sort of position people realize is incoherent and unsustainable, once they analyze it.