My great-uncle was a friendly guy, good to his brother (my grandfather) and very popular with his friends and neighbours. He was a career criminal who eventually murdered some people during a robbery, got caught after trying to flee the country and died a miserable death behind bars. He and my grandfather were abandoned by their mother as young children to grow up poor and desperate in orphanages and foster homes. Were his criminal actions the product of a callous mother, the crooks that took advantage of a desperate kid and a general life of poverty? My grandfather was with his brother the whole time, lost fingers working in factories as a young teenager and eventually took up a trade to make an honest living, all while trying to keep his little brother from falling into the life that ultimately killed him.

You can believe my worthless family story or not, but if it taught me anything in life, it's that you can weather your circumstances however you want. I think Ross Ulbricht was certainly compelled into doing what he did, and he could have been great company when you met him, but when a person takes such heinous actions against another person, it forfeits them from any title related to "good" or "nice", regardless of the forces that motivated it. All of my great-uncle's charms and sad past were worthless to the families of the men he killed, and I'm ashamed to speak of him outside of the pseudo-anonymity of the internet. I lurk this sub a quite a bit and you seem like a great guy, but I just can't swallow anything vaguely apologetic to Ross Ulbricht.

Or maybe I'm just not thinking straight with three hours of sleep and fourteen hours of work, so hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow morning and delete this overly personal rambling post, sorry.