<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>glitchc</author><text>If we had a statute of limitations like this, treaties with other countries would cease to hold all meaning.&lt;p&gt;Humanity has already walked down this path before: The kings of England would routinely invalidate treaties made by predecessors.&lt;p&gt;Let’s not retread our steps, yes? The world is much calmer and safer for it.</text><parent_chain><item><author>x86ARMsRace</author><text>This causes some interesting questions about continuity of accountability for governments. I wonder how long you can hold a government accountable for the actions of its previous administrations. How many years can you go back? How many iterations of a state can you hold accountable too?</text></item><item><author>orblivion</author><text>I mean they did this: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;apnews.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;9b6f6f5ba5be2408ff0502c7fb8abd5b&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;apnews.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;9b6f6f5ba5be2408ff0502c7fb8abd5b&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Seems silly. Should they overturn Jesus&amp;#x27; conviction too? At a certain point the conviction is part of their story.</text></item><item><author>delecti</author><text>Is this necessary? This article from 2008 seems to indicate that his sentence had been rescinded.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20111230060902&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;newstopics&amp;#x2F;howaboutthat&amp;#x2F;2145378&amp;#x2F;Dantes-infernal-crimes-forgiven.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20111230060902&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.telegr...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, it looks like he was convicted under the Holy Roman Empire, which doesn&amp;#x27;t really exist anymore. I&amp;#x27;m not sure who there is to overturn his conviction.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Dante&apos;s descendant seeks to overturn poet&apos;s 1302 corruption conviction</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/01/dante-descendant-seeks-to-overturn-poets-1302-corruption-conviction</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>imgabe</author><text>Empty gestures like this do not hold any one accountable. The people responsible for whatever injustice occurred are long dead and there is nothing you can do to them. This is a waste of time and energy that could be better spent improving life for people who are alive today in some tangible way.&lt;p&gt;Is this going to feed someone who&amp;#x27;s hungry? Shelter someone who&amp;#x27;s homeless? Do anything that will make any actual difference in the life of any living person? No? Then why are we wasting time on it?</text><parent_chain><item><author>x86ARMsRace</author><text>This causes some interesting questions about continuity of accountability for governments. I wonder how long you can hold a government accountable for the actions of its previous administrations. How many years can you go back? How many iterations of a state can you hold accountable too?</text></item><item><author>orblivion</author><text>I mean they did this: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;apnews.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;9b6f6f5ba5be2408ff0502c7fb8abd5b&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;apnews.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;9b6f6f5ba5be2408ff0502c7fb8abd5b&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Seems silly. Should they overturn Jesus&amp;#x27; conviction too? At a certain point the conviction is part of their story.</text></item><item><author>delecti</author><text>Is this necessary? This article from 2008 seems to indicate that his sentence had been rescinded.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20111230060902&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;newstopics&amp;#x2F;howaboutthat&amp;#x2F;2145378&amp;#x2F;Dantes-infernal-crimes-forgiven.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20111230060902&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.telegr...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Also, it looks like he was convicted under the Holy Roman Empire, which doesn&amp;#x27;t really exist anymore. I&amp;#x27;m not sure who there is to overturn his conviction.</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Dante&apos;s descendant seeks to overturn poet&apos;s 1302 corruption conviction</title><url>https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/feb/01/dante-descendant-seeks-to-overturn-poets-1302-corruption-conviction</url></story>