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So if you could take a job as a slave trader, you would do it then?
by steveeq1 7y ago
So if you could take a job as a slave trader, you would do it then?
- qmmmur 7y agoWhat a silly take it or leave it response. Are you really intending to engage them in a serious discourse?
- steveeq1 7y agoMy point is that yes, you do have a responsibility to do good and not just leave it up the tech company or lawmakers. And no it is not silly.
- jaywalk 7y agoNot silly? Your response was borderline ridiculous. It's as if I said I'd have no problem working on tech for military drones, and your reply was "So you'd be fine with just going up to a random person and shooting them in the head?" Responses like that have no place in serious discourse.
- steveeq1 7y agoYou can make the argument that military drones are necessary for defense (although that point is debatable). There is no justification for going to a random person and shooting them in the head. False analogy.
- seattle_spring 7y agoThere's also no justification for owning slaves, so it seems like a pretty apt analogy.
- steveeq1 7y agoand hence, you can't use the "i'm only doing my job" excuse.
- steveeq1 7y agoI can't believe this answer got downvoted.
- qmmmur 7y agoIt's hyperbolic. The world is full of _nuance_ friend...
- Slikey 7y agoThe world isn't black and white. There is quite some way from someone entering an industry on the wrong foot to someone working as a slave trader. By your logic we should hang everyone committing a crime. Don't be silly.
- steveeq1 7y agoWho said anything about hanging everyone for a crime? That's a straw man. And, by and large, yes I do believe that the person should not engage in unethical behavior if the emoployer told them to. I'm using an extreme example, but my point still stands. I hate it when people say "I'm only doing my job" when asked if they're doing something unethical. You can always take another job.
- gamblor956 7y agoIf he could take a job as a slave trader, but didn't need to, he wouldn't. But if he had to take a job as a slave trader because there was nothing else available and he needed the money to survive...who are we to judge him in this hypothetical world where slavery is once again legal?
- steveeq1 7y agoI would choose to starve then.
- DoofusOfDeath 7y ago> I would choose to starve then. I fervently hope that I would as well. Unfortunately I think most of us, including me, have a breaking point at which hunger and desperation would win over principles.
- steveeq1 7y agoYou know, the sad thing is is that I think you're right. I've met normally good-natured people that, once they became a lawyer/salesmen/financial "advisor", they started doing utterly despicable, wicked behavior and justifying it as "I'm only doing my job". And then they would go on to church, or whatever, all the while thinking of themselves as "good people". Even more interesting, they would rally against "evil corporate behavior" as if they had no role in it.
- DoofusOfDeath 7y agoYeah, I marvel at the seeming dichotomy in the human mind. We're capable of such amazing reasoning and creativity, and moral courage. But the very same minds can sustain sets of beliefs that are clearly (to others) internally contradictory or irrational, or that rationalize behavior that's clearly violates one's own ideals.
- steveeq1 7y ago
- dang 7y ago"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html