News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Royal pardon for codebreaker Alan Turing. Parent comment

Re:Royal pardon for codebreaker Alan Turing by Houshalter on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @01:57AM (#6958568)
That's only a fraction of the number of people killed in WWI just from being forced to fight, or stupidly run at enemy trenches.

Sort of relevant; something about "injustice" elicits stronger emotional reactions than the exact same (or even worse) situation happening to someone just by chance (not unjustly through someone's actions.) On top of that we have a stronger emotional reaction to just imagining a single victim suffering, than being told "x number of people are suffering this fate".

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Royal pardon for codebreaker Alan Turing by golergka on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @02:12AM (#6958589)
> "injustice" elicits stronger emotional reactions than the exact same (or even worse) situation happening to someone just by chance

Because injustice implies the unjust decision made by someone in charge, and having an unjust law or person in charge is much worse then having an accident. Not only that, but it's something we have more control over, so it's rational to get more emotional about it.

[ Parent | on HN ]