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Are you curing cancer or solving poverty? If not, stop criticizing people for that. It's a tired cliche. I also find it ridiculous that's the standard you set

Are you curing cancer or solving poverty? If not, stop criticizing people for that. It's a tired cliche. I also find it ridiculous that's the standard you set for "community service."

joshmanders 10y ago
No way would SwellJoe be wasting his time curing cancer and solving poverty, that's petty stuff! No, SwellJoe is doing bigger things, like smart water bottles!
- dang 10y ago
  Personal attacks are not welcome here, regardless of how strongly you disagree with someone. When you see a bad subthread, please don't make it even worse. Instead, post something to turn it in a more substantive, less inflamed direction, or simply don't post at all.
merraksh 10y ago
Well, nobody is curing cancer or solving poverty, so by your logic nobody could criticize. Many people are actually doing something to help either cause (from researchers down to the $10 donor), and I think all of them have the right to criticize one's choice.
- argonaut 10y ago
  No, there are millions of people who are trying to cure cancer or solve poverty.
  - merraksh 10y ago
    That's precisely what I said: a lot of people are helping both causes, so they are trying to cure cancer or solve poverty. Possibly including the author of the comment above.
SwellJoe 10y ago
I am a frequent volunteer on poverty and homelessness issues. But, that wasn't really my point. My comment was more about my opinion of the US military industrial complex; I believe that, in general, working for the war machine in any capacity is actively harmful to the world. Matt clarified what he'll be doing there (I think; at least, he mentioned things that are being done there that sound nice...presumably he was implying he would be working on those nice things, rather than on more effective ways to kill brown people), and I have conceded that I was assuming the worst and could have been wrong about that assumption.
- PunchTornado 10y ago
  "working for the war machine in any capacity is actively harmful to the world" <- that's the kind of absolutist statement that is never right and always poisoning a debate. It also does a disservice to thousands of people in the military who really well intended and risk their lives to save others.
  - SwellJoe 10y ago
    To quote myself: "in general" There are exceptions, sure. But, on the whole, war brings death, destruction of infrastructure, disruption of families and communities, and overall negative results for both the human condition and the environment. There are probably valid reasons to wage war; but the US is a nation of hawks and war profiteers at the highest levels, and has been for decades (refer to Eisenhower's military industrial complex speech, and nothing has changed since then except the numbers, both monetary and in human lives, are bigger and the wars more frequent).
- CamperBob2 10y ago
  I believe that, in general, working for the war machine in any capacity is actively harmful to the world. Says a guy on the Internet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
  - krapp 10y ago

Are you curing cancer or solving poverty? If not, stop criticizing people for that. It's a tired cliche. I also find it ridiculous that's the standard you set for "community service."

joshmanders 10y ago

No way would SwellJoe be wasting his time curing cancer and solving poverty, that's petty stuff! No, SwellJoe is doing bigger things, like smart water bottles!

dang 10y ago
Personal attacks are not welcome here, regardless of how strongly you disagree with someone. When you see a bad subthread, please don't make it even worse. Instead, post something to turn it in a more substantive, less inflamed direction, or simply don't post at all.

merraksh 10y ago

Well, nobody is curing cancer or solving poverty, so by your logic nobody could criticize. Many people are actually doing something to help either cause (from researchers down to the $10 donor), and I think all of them have the right to criticize one's choice.

argonaut 10y ago
No, there are millions of people who are trying to cure cancer or solve poverty.
- merraksh 10y ago
  That's precisely what I said: a lot of people are helping both causes, so they are trying to cure cancer or solve poverty. Possibly including the author of the comment above.

SwellJoe 10y ago

I am a frequent volunteer on poverty and homelessness issues. But, that wasn't really my point. My comment was more about my opinion of the US military industrial complex; I believe that, in general, working for the war machine in any capacity is actively harmful to the world. Matt clarified what he'll be doing there (I think; at least, he mentioned things that are being done there that sound nice...presumably he was implying he would be working on those nice things, rather than on more effective ways to kill brown people), and I have conceded that I was assuming the worst and could have been wrong about that assumption.

PunchTornado 10y ago
"working for the war machine in any capacity is actively harmful to the world" <- that's the kind of absolutist statement that is never right and always poisoning a debate. It also does a disservice to thousands of people in the military who really well intended and risk their lives to save others.
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  To quote myself: "in general" There are exceptions, sure. But, on the whole, war brings death, destruction of infrastructure, disruption of families and communities, and overall negative results for both the human condition and the environment. There are probably valid reasons to wage war; but the US is a nation of hawks and war profiteers at the highest levels, and has been for decades (refer to Eisenhower's military industrial complex speech, and nothing has changed since then except the numbers, both monetary and in human lives, are bigger and the wars more frequent).
CamperBob2 10y ago
I believe that, in general, working for the war machine in any capacity is actively harmful to the world. Says a guy on the Internet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
- krapp 10y ago