[SGVLUG] Off-topic - Hans Reiser article - murder trial

[Dustin Laurence]

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I've not said much about this trial because I didn't find it to be a
very pleasant topic, but now that Hans has not only been found guilty
but has actually *shown* himself to be guilty I guess I will.

Frankly, I always thought the case against Hans was strong. I don't like
the idea that, hrm, "one of our own" committed murder, but I thought
that it was about as good as circumstantial cases get and absolutely
grounds for prosecution. And this is what bothers me about some of the
comments from the Linux community: Hans was sometimes made into
something of a tragic figure being scapegoated because he was
"different." "Different like us" was meant to imply "this could happen
to any of us, because society hates us." That was a mistake. Are we so
paranoid that some sense of grievance or other against society was
stronger than the fact that all evidence suggested he had been busy
covering up murder? That isn't just sad, it is scary, because it
suggests that the popular stereotype of computer enthusiasts as
maladjusted, socially incapable misfits has a stronger basis in reality
than we like to admit.

It also gives the lie to our own ethos. Theoretically, technical people
have learned the hardest lesson of all: that the universe is what it is
regardless the stories we tell about it. The reason the challenger
accident was a story of engineers vs. managers is because managers are
trained to manipulate social reality, and tend to think *all* reality is
social reality, while engineers are trained to manipulate physical
reality and therefore recognize that it is not subservient to social
reality. Yet in this case, quite a few of us behaved as the NASA
managers: they allowed techie social reality to blind them to what the
physical facts were saying: that Hans Reiser had in all probability been
covering up murder, and therefore in all probability must have committed
it (or been an accomplice, but no one argued that theory that I know
of). That did not constitute proof and would not justify simply assuming
guilt (we are all still committed to the idea that freeing the guilty is
preferable to convicting the innocent, I hope), but it should have been
a strong warning not to make Hans a martyr or symbol regardless of how
much we wanted him to be innocent.

Unfortunately I thought the Salon article was pretty accurate, and
consistent with what I suspected of Hans' character. It hurts, sure, but
sometimes the universe is just that way. I am glad that Hans revealed
the location of Nina's body; I hope he doesn't get a lighter sentence
for it, but it does prove that the jury verdict was accurate and I think
that's important. I'm sorry that it may bury the Reiser filesystems, but
I for one don't value filesystems over either a life or over the correct
functioning of justice. If Hans had gone free, it would have damaged
every one of us, not so much because a human being died at the hands of
her ex-husband (that is true, I am just not arguing the point) but
because it would have damaged the rule of law. I applaud the jury for
reaching the correct verdict, and (though it doesn't matter) would
support a stiff sentence (including the death penalty).  I say that not
because of the murder itself, but because Hans made clear just what the
Salon article reported; he has no remorse and believes that nothing is
his fault and everything is the fault of everyone else. He shows signs
of lacking some of the innate inhibition against taking another human
life. That makes him a very dangerous person that, I suspect, could and
would kill again. I do not care to see him on the street for a long,
long time, and would not cry if that was "never" either because of a
life sentence or the death penalty.

I could add a diatribe about how it is postmodern Western culture that
teaches people that they have no responsibility or guilt, that this is
the inevitable consequence of a very sick, disfunctional society that
believes with Plato's Socrates that all evil is caused by bad education
or ignorance, and that only traditional ethics has any chance of doing
otherwise, but I shall refrain.

Sadly,

Dustin
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