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There's a big difference though. A country without a solid defence sector is not really sovereign - it has to buy its weapons from other countries, which can cu
by taway_1212 9y ago
There's a big difference though. A country without a solid defence sector is not really sovereign - it has to buy its weapons from other countries, which can cut the supply at any time, or just refuse to sell you current-gen tech altogether.
There simply would be no USA without its defense sector - it is essential to its existence. Citizens of other countries (France, UK, Sweden etc.) understand that and you don't hear them dumping on their defense companies. It's pretty much only Americans who are so out of touch with the realities of the world that they think weapons are evil and rest of the world will just leave them be (even if they can't defend themselves).
- robin_reala 9y agoWell, as a citizen of the UK who’s currently living in Sweden, I’ll provide the counterpoint that I refuse to work with any of our morally corrupt ‘defence’ industries and always bring it up as a red line with any company I interview at.
- taway_1212 9y agoWhich industry is not morally corupt then? I can see maybe single companies in given industries not behaving like total assholes, but on the whole I think all industries are rotten.
- robin_reala 9y agoIt’s a reasonable point; I stay away from tobacco, and am iffy about gambling and alcohol for the same reasons. But on the whole, the stuff I build is either generally beneficial for the user or at least inoffensive. Buy hey, that’s just my opinion :) You do what you think’s best and I’ll do the same. My point was just that it’s not just the US who has people who are ‘out of touch’ (apparently).
- 3131s 9y agoI'm not universally against weapons manufacturing or the defense sector, but if your company is selling weapons to Saudi Arabia (or the US military, really) you should do some serious introspection about whether you are harming the world for your own profit and / or intellectual curiosity.