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> The cynic in me wonders if these employees are just responding to how others are starting to view their positions, more than ethical or moral quandaries. Doe

by mabbo 9y ago

> The cynic in me wonders if these employees are just responding to how others are starting to view their positions, more than ethical or moral quandaries. Doesn't need to be cynical. "I never thought of it that way" is maybe one of the most important phrases you can say. These people didn't see their jobs as unethical until someone really put a spotlight on what they do. It forced them to look at their roles in all of this and say "is this right?". To quote David Mitchell: "Are we the baddies?".

BRAlNlAC 9y ago
>These people didn't see their jobs as unethical until someone really put a spotlight on what they do. That reflects a certain quality in the individual that I generally think of as bad, but I suppose may have some place in the greater scheme of coporate america. However I generally think that we have a moral imperative to constantly ask ourselves, "is this right? . . . 'Are we baddies'? I've understood that Facebook is essentially evil for a decade. People who work there who are jumping ship now either look like they aren't paying attention but are moralizing the company's action or are abandoning a sinking ship, neither are really positive traits in a potential employee.
- dcole2929 9y ago
  I mean that's good for you and I tend to agree. But it's incredibly naive to think that any significant percentage of the working population is using that criteria to determine where and on what they should work. We tend to think of tech people as being incredibly bright but at the end of the day they are human and FB is a very cool place to work. If you don't take a minute to evaluate the ethics of the work you're doing which might not on the surface be all that questionable it's easy to fool yourself into thinking, you're doing nothing wrong. It's a much easier realization that working for Defense Contractors making missile guidance systems is bad than it is to think hey all this data i'm collecting for my social network features could be put to some very bad uses
- mabbo 9y ago
  I've quit a job for ethical reasons before, in a similar vein to this issue with Facebook. I don't begrudge those who didn't. Not every issue is black and white.

by mabbo 9y ago

BRAlNlAC 9y ago

>These people didn't see their jobs as unethical until someone really put a spotlight on what they do. That reflects a certain quality in the individual that I generally think of as bad, but I suppose may have some place in the greater scheme of coporate america. However I generally think that we have a moral imperative to constantly ask ourselves, "is this right? . . . 'Are we baddies'? I've understood that Facebook is essentially evil for a decade. People who work there who are jumping ship now either look like they aren't paying attention but are moralizing the company's action or are abandoning a sinking ship, neither are really positive traits in a potential employee.

dcole2929 9y ago
I mean that's good for you and I tend to agree. But it's incredibly naive to think that any significant percentage of the working population is using that criteria to determine where and on what they should work. We tend to think of tech people as being incredibly bright but at the end of the day they are human and FB is a very cool place to work. If you don't take a minute to evaluate the ethics of the work you're doing which might not on the surface be all that questionable it's easy to fool yourself into thinking, you're doing nothing wrong. It's a much easier realization that working for Defense Contractors making missile guidance systems is bad than it is to think hey all this data i'm collecting for my social network features could be put to some very bad uses
mabbo 9y ago
I've quit a job for ethical reasons before, in a similar vein to this issue with Facebook. I don't begrudge those who didn't. Not every issue is black and white.