4 ms·

I like the cut of your jib. Good to know there's still individuals out there with actual standards and strong moral ground. The defense industry is dirty busine

I like the cut of your jib. Good to know there's still individuals out there with actual standards and strong moral ground. The defense industry is dirty business. They are in the business of hurting, killing, and causing suffering. I really can't believe he level of support HN is showing. Yesterday's thread and comments about Peter Thiel about being a POS & hypocrite for Palantir. Today, open support of defense industry is front page.

gabesullice 10y ago
Senseless violence is and everywhere should be condemned, but violence itself is not inherently a wrong. The violent actions of the US and Allied forces brought an end to the Holocaust. Violence is sometimes necessary and morally just in self defense and in defense of those who cannot defend themselves. Would you claim that the work of US Coast Guard after Hurricane Katrina was immoral? Is the Coast Guard "in the business of hurting, killing, and causing suffering"? The "support" you see here on HN has less to do with hypocrisy, but instead is condemning your ill-reasoned moral absolutism.
3131s 10y ago
I also completely share your attitude. And I think the harsh tone of your post was appropriate too, given the circumstances. It should now be crystal clear to everyone why it is simply not ok to bomb endlessly without congressional approval, create massive military / surveillance apparatuses and systems of secret courts with secret laws, run black sites and an enormous network of prisons all while diminishing habeas corpus, perform targeted assassinations on American citizens and foreigners alike, develop 'tactical' nukes, etc. It is crazy to allow those things to happen without speaking up (no matter who is president, Democrats), and nearing evil to directly contribute to the creation of these precedents and apparatuses. Obama is about as objectionable as Trump IMO, but the point is you never know whose hands all of this power will end up in.

gabesullice 10y ago

Senseless violence is and everywhere should be condemned, but violence itself is not inherently a wrong. The violent actions of the US and Allied forces brought an end to the Holocaust. Violence is sometimes necessary and morally just in self defense and in defense of those who cannot defend themselves. Would you claim that the work of US Coast Guard after Hurricane Katrina was immoral? Is the Coast Guard "in the business of hurting, killing, and causing suffering"? The "support" you see here on HN has less to do with hypocrisy, but instead is condemning your ill-reasoned moral absolutism.

3131s 10y ago

I also completely share your attitude. And I think the harsh tone of your post was appropriate too, given the circumstances. It should now be crystal clear to everyone why it is simply not ok to bomb endlessly without congressional approval, create massive military / surveillance apparatuses and systems of secret courts with secret laws, run black sites and an enormous network of prisons all while diminishing habeas corpus, perform targeted assassinations on American citizens and foreigners alike, develop 'tactical' nukes, etc. It is crazy to allow those things to happen without speaking up (no matter who is president, Democrats), and nearing evil to directly contribute to the creation of these precedents and apparatuses. Obama is about as objectionable as Trump IMO, but the point is you never know whose hands all of this power will end up in.