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It bugs me that so much more public and media ire is directed toward tech companies than defense contractors when the latter industry is of comparable size, way
by papeda 7y ago
It bugs me that so much more public and media ire is directed toward tech companies than defense contractors when the latter industry is of comparable size, way more opaque, and dominated by very very old companies [1] with excellent lobbying.
I understand that people have far less personal interaction with defense contractors. But hey, it’s your tax dollars.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defense_contractors https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defense_contractors
- gowld 7y agoPresident Eisenhower raised the issue, and after 50 years we've surrendered. Big tech is a right we haven't fully lost yet. Also, money is just money.
- jessaustin 7y agoThe only reason Eisenhower was allowed to say the little he did say was that he had already surrendered. He stood by while Korean War funding metastasized into "the military-industrial complex". If anyone could have stopped it, it was a reelected President and five-star general war hero. Ike DGAF. BTW he was also the moron who let CIA off the leash, to the world's continuing sorrow. Just this week another chicken has come home to roost.
- catalogia 7y agoI don't think animosity is a zero sum game. Tech companies being hated doesn't mean there is less hate to be allocated to defense contractors, nor would defense contractors receiving more hate take the heat off the tech industry.
- sombremesa 7y agoThere's a finite number of journalists and a finite amount of energy that can be spent on writing exposés and critical editorials.
- someguydave 7y agoYes, but are they really even trying?
- barry-cotter 7y agoYes, absolutely. They are trying to do what’s best for journalists as a class.
- catalogia 7y agoThe journalists who specialize in covering the tech industry would not necessarily be in their element when covering the defense industry, and vice versa. What you've got here is basically the "why are you working for an internet advertiser when you could be working on a cure of cancer" argument.
- seibelj 7y agoTech companies make products that every consumer interacts with. Defense contractors make products that every consumer pays for but rarely interact with, especially since the draft was eliminated and military service in the US became all volunteer. While I agree with that change, the lack of “in-your-face”-ness of the defense industry means our endless wars and endless payments to the war factories go unexamined. Plus the hero-worship of soldiers, even those that spend a career washing dishes in Texas, has made any criticism politically untenable.
- choward 7y agoSnowden discusses the issues with defense contractors and how they came to be in his book. It's pretty interesting. I'm not saying you can be sure about some guy saying something in a book, but it's pretty convincing and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of it is true.
- pg_is_a_butt 7y ago> But hey, it’s your tax dollars. Not sure if you're aware, but the US operates on a deficit atop fiat currency that is being spat out by federal reserve repo markets at a rate of 100 billion dollars a night. Money isn't real. War isn't real. Wake up.
- 3xblah 7y ago"But hey, it's your tax dollars." Tech companies pay taxes, too.
- z3ncyberpunk 7y agoOccasionally