4 ms·

> We (non-Americans) were all writing code and staying at Google in the late evenings You weren't really doing Google a favor, they were paying you well above

> We (non-Americans) were all writing code and staying at Google in the late evenings You weren't really doing Google a favor, they were paying you well above market for your work. The fact that your nationality is a point for you to highlight is indicative of your warped expectations. You chose to move to America, no one forced it on you. And you chose to work for Google. If America welcomed you, allowed you to freely express yourself and thrive professionally, WHY is liking America, or supporting the defense establishment that protects your civil liberties and safety, and creates a stable socio-political environment for YOU and million others who immigrate and live here, such a toxic thing? America is the world's most sought after immigration destination for a reason, it's OK to acknowledge the positives, and like it for the same

xiphias2 8y ago
Actually no, I didn't work in America, I worked in Switzerland, and worked for Google Switzerland, not that it matters. I was thinking of moving to US before I knew how much less people are payed there generally compared to Zurich, and how hard life is there compared to Switzerland in reality (it's very different compared to what I saw in American movies, but maybe that was my naivity :) ). US ,,defense'' department is killing a lot of people that have done nothing bad. It didn't kill people in my country (I'm lucky that my country joined the EU), but it could have. I'm generally against killing people, but I understand that it's part of the power play governments are doing. Still, I don't want to help it. About the pay: yes, you're right, they payed a lot. When I joined Google the first time in my life, I loved it so much, I would have worked for free, just to be able to read the design docs that weren't available back then, and learn from great people.
- writepub 8y ago
  How do you feel about Switzerland? Would you refer to Swiss patriotism as toxic? I wouldn't! Switzerland, the country that made it possible for Nazis to store their wealth in numbered accounts, and still holds the largest reserve of illegal wealth of other nation's dictators and despots, that actively chooses to enable money laundering and refuses to take political sides because of danger of losing illegally stored wealth in numbered accounts to other tax havens! Despite this seemingly evil characterization, if I were Swiss, I'd take GREAT pride in all the positives of Switzerland! Patriotism, in itself, isn't toxic! Also, reducing complex issues to single punch-line friendly lies, like America Defense == Evil, is futile. Watch how Switzerland can be reduced to Switzerland===Safe Haven For Nazi Gold! Which is false.
  - xiphias2 8y ago
    Storing the Nazi gold was very bad, I agree. But many things that you are refering to as money laundering are just individual privacy rights strongly protected by the constitution that take priority over government needs (which I view as a great thing). Tax heaven: as I see taxes as generally not that well used, I'm happy that Switzerland's goal is not just simply to maximize taxes that it take from other people.
    - writepub 8y ago
      There's a trend here: you claim moral authority to defend unscrupulous aspects of your government/country, but don't extend the same privilege to, say the American defense agencies, or Google, who'd like to do business with them. It's trivial to go on a diatribe here about Swiss numbered accounts being bathed in the blood of innocents, on whose heads murderers, despots, dictators accrued the said wealth, now being actively protected by the Swiss government under the guise of privacy. But that would be a simplistic, inaccurate, and narrative driven approach. Your demonetization of American foreign policy is similarly simplistic, and demanding that Google not serve American defense, similarly silly. All that is being requested here is consistency, not simplistic and inaccurate reduction-ism. It's disingenuous to reduce Switzerland to a singular identity of "murder enablers", as it is with America, or it's foreign policy

xiphias2 8y ago

Actually no, I didn't work in America, I worked in Switzerland, and worked for Google Switzerland, not that it matters. I was thinking of moving to US before I knew how much less people are payed there generally compared to Zurich, and how hard life is there compared to Switzerland in reality (it's very different compared to what I saw in American movies, but maybe that was my naivity :) ). US ,,defense'' department is killing a lot of people that have done nothing bad. It didn't kill people in my country (I'm lucky that my country joined the EU), but it could have. I'm generally against killing people, but I understand that it's part of the power play governments are doing. Still, I don't want to help it. About the pay: yes, you're right, they payed a lot. When I joined Google the first time in my life, I loved it so much, I would have worked for free, just to be able to read the design docs that weren't available back then, and learn from great people.

writepub 8y ago
How do you feel about Switzerland? Would you refer to Swiss patriotism as toxic? I wouldn't! Switzerland, the country that made it possible for Nazis to store their wealth in numbered accounts, and still holds the largest reserve of illegal wealth of other nation's dictators and despots, that actively chooses to enable money laundering and refuses to take political sides because of danger of losing illegally stored wealth in numbered accounts to other tax havens! Despite this seemingly evil characterization, if I were Swiss, I'd take GREAT pride in all the positives of Switzerland! Patriotism, in itself, isn't toxic! Also, reducing complex issues to single punch-line friendly lies, like America Defense == Evil, is futile. Watch how Switzerland can be reduced to Switzerland===Safe Haven For Nazi Gold! Which is false.
- xiphias2 8y ago
  Storing the Nazi gold was very bad, I agree. But many things that you are refering to as money laundering are just individual privacy rights strongly protected by the constitution that take priority over government needs (which I view as a great thing). Tax heaven: as I see taxes as generally not that well used, I'm happy that Switzerland's goal is not just simply to maximize taxes that it take from other people.
  - writepub 8y ago
    There's a trend here: you claim moral authority to defend unscrupulous aspects of your government/country, but don't extend the same privilege to, say the American defense agencies, or Google, who'd like to do business with them. It's trivial to go on a diatribe here about Swiss numbered accounts being bathed in the blood of innocents, on whose heads murderers, despots, dictators accrued the said wealth, now being actively protected by the Swiss government under the guise of privacy. But that would be a simplistic, inaccurate, and narrative driven approach. Your demonetization of American foreign policy is similarly simplistic, and demanding that Google not serve American defense, similarly silly. All that is being requested here is consistency, not simplistic and inaccurate reduction-ism. It's disingenuous to reduce Switzerland to a singular identity of "murder enablers", as it is with America, or it's foreign policy