This metaphor is actually really spot on.

He has on the tiniest of ideas of what he's doing; he might be breaking the law; he's audacious and realized he could just do it; he wants to be in California because that's where dreams come true; he's probably from an upper middle class white family with parents who didn't pay him enough attention.

And he's doing it all because he wants a status symbol of wealth and prosperity, and someone told him he couldn't.

Yeah I'm not sure whether people upvote this story because, like you, they are critics of the idea and want to make fun of it or at least highlight the dangers, or because this spirit envokes a truthfully positive association. Probably both, because it gives something to both sides.

Personally, I feel that there is a little boy/girl in everyone of us and quite many tech-immigrants to SFBA went there to chase their own Lambo type dreams. This isn't something reprehensible but in fact part of the american fabric (liberty and the pursuit of happiness).

But of course the metaphor ends at the absolute danger of the situation the boy is causing. A startup is comparatively safe to what the little guy did.

Except he’s a poor Hispanic kid with a mom who loves him and he wanted to go to California to meet his sister.

Is this mentioned in another article on this topic? I didn't see that in this article. This article states this as his basic motivation:

>“She told him she would not buy him a Lamborghini,” the Highway Patrol said in a tweet. “He decided to take the car and go to California to buy one himself.”

He’s on video, and you can click through to find his name and even a photo of his family (at https://kutv.com/news/local/5-year-old-recounts-being-stoppe...).

Definitely looks more “Hispanic” than “white” to me. Googling his surname also shows (mostly) Hispanics. The photos also don’t scream “upper middle class” to me, but that’s harder to judge.

I asked about the child's motivation, not his ethnicity.

NARRATIVE VIOLATION ALERT

I'm actually from Ogden, and I love it so much. The population is probably about 33% hispanic.

https://www.ogdencity.com/1466/Demographics

I love hackers like this. So awesome to see.

Moral of the story was that his dreams came true?

https://twitter.com/mikeandersonKSL/status/12577783769258024...

And $3 in seed money.

Dammit, that is the perfect additional detail I forgot.

What is the reason that many people, including you, seem to blame white people for everything? It's almost like a reflex.

Not to mention that the ethnicity of the person in question in this story is pretty clear from the photographs.

"My Incredible Journey"

this kid really embodies the american spirit: rich white boy doing whatever the fuck he wants without the slightest concern for who he might hurt or kill in the process, all in the delusional pursuit of a meaningless status symbol he has been conned into thinking he can get because of the cultish adherence to the belief it’s the land of equal opportunity despite any and all evidence to the contrary, all while trumpeting about how great he is to anyone who will listen

Your comments have been breaking the site guidelines badly, not just in this thread but unfortunately in other threads too. Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the spirit of this site to heart?

We're here for curious conversation, not smiting enemies. If you want the latter, please do it elsewhere.

if there were a way to delete all my posts and my account I would do that. the hacker news community has become thoroughly disappointing to me and I retroactively want all my contributions withdrawn. i want nothing to do with it.

So, the kid isn't actually white, which makes me wonder if that changes your perspective on things?

https://kutv.com/news/local/5-year-old-recounts-being-stoppe...

Out of the loop here. Context?

> boy doing whatever the fuck he wants without the slightest concern for who he might hurt or kill in the process

Honestly, as far as children doing stupid shit like this goes, that describes pretty much all children.

It’s not like the thought he might hurt someone ever even entered his mind.

Forgivable for a child, perhaps. but not for a president, or a ceo, or startup founder.

Also: deep disregard for rules and well-being of other human beings. Traffic accidents are eighth leading cause of death globally.

Many people break rules everyday. Questioning and not following “rules” can be very healthy.

>Also: deep disregard for rules and well-being of other human beings

From a five year old?

I mean, yeah? Five year olds don't exactly have much of an understanding of either concept.

Especially, five year olds love to break rules and mostly are not aware and/or do not care about social norms and other people.

Sure, but I wouldn't call that "deep disregard".

I would call it "being a kid and not knowing the impact of those things"...

Deep disregard mostly fits some kind of sociopath or delinquent...

Or being five and not understanding what’s going on

I hope you are joking and I am failing to pick up on it. Because such cases can be made for many human interest stories. Unless the boy was driving a self driving car I really don't see the significance to HN. But I see that the community disagrees with me on this, evident by the points on this story.

> I hope you are joking and I am failing to pick up on it. Because such cases can be made for many human interest stories. Unless the boy was driving a self driving car I really don't see the significance to HN.

Well, the car features the new UWP UI. Even e 6 yo can drive it. /s