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>Did Drew also change all his investments to divest from Amazon or Facebook or other company that is making the world worse? Yes. >Nestle is one of the most e

>Did Drew also change all his investments to divest from Amazon or Facebook or other company that is making the world worse? Yes. >Nestle is one of the most evil companies in the world. Are we all boycotting all their products and not investing in their companies? Yes. >Most of us have been very happy with 30% returns in our retirement even though we secretly know it is driven by the same companies we claim must be stopped. Not me. I don't think this is right, and I don't appreciate the attempts at the normalization this idea. Don't be the 'Good German'.

snarf21 6y ago
I'm sorry if you took this as an attack. That is not my intention or point. I'm not being a "Good German". I'm not saying we can't fight all evil so don't fight any. I'm merely discussing that we too often we make a stand against one "evil" and not against others that are even easier. For a lot of people the line is what becomes inconvenient. People are posting comments that Amazon should treat people better while they spin up a new instance and order next day toilet paper. This is important stuff to talk about. I doubt that most people who agree with your actions and are posting support are also divesting the same way you are. We can all do more and take more action against what is wrong. I applaud your actions. The hard part is taking actions by a few and turning it into a movement that causes rippling change.
- deleted 6y ago
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- esotericn 6y ago
  He's not taking it as an attack, he's pointing out that you are assuming that everyone goes through life in this sort of 'morals-lite' way. Many people actually do try as hard as possible, wherever practicable to do the right thing, and restrict themselves in the process. The distinctions then become whether they agree on the set of 'bad things', not whether they do them or not. If you think something is bad, like really bad, just stop doing it, you are not some poverty-level sharecropping farmer, you have that choice.
achenatx 6y ago
everyone has a limit to how much they want to help. "The life you can save" makes a strong moral point that if you arent spending every penny to save the life of a child that would die from an easily preventable disease (5000 children die in africa every single day from easily preventable diseases), you have chosen to value their life at less than your fancy dinner, movie, or luxury electronics. Everyone makes those choices, even you. Be happy with your decision, but while you judge other people as "good germans" recognize that you are a good german too.
- ddevault 6y ago
  You're right, of course, it's a spectrum. But, I addressed a similar comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23080583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23080583 >There's a pretty damn big difference between throwing out $5 of food while someone across the Earth starves, and in directly making the software which opresses millions of people, raising millions of dollars for the people responsible, and pocketing huge salaries for yourself. Working for bigcorp as a software engineer is pretty long on that spectrum.

snarf21 6y ago

I'm sorry if you took this as an attack. That is not my intention or point. I'm not being a "Good German". I'm not saying we can't fight all evil so don't fight any. I'm merely discussing that we too often we make a stand against one "evil" and not against others that are even easier. For a lot of people the line is what becomes inconvenient. People are posting comments that Amazon should treat people better while they spin up a new instance and order next day toilet paper. This is important stuff to talk about. I doubt that most people who agree with your actions and are posting support are also divesting the same way you are. We can all do more and take more action against what is wrong. I applaud your actions. The hard part is taking actions by a few and turning it into a movement that causes rippling change.

deleted 6y ago
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esotericn 6y ago
He's not taking it as an attack, he's pointing out that you are assuming that everyone goes through life in this sort of 'morals-lite' way. Many people actually do try as hard as possible, wherever practicable to do the right thing, and restrict themselves in the process. The distinctions then become whether they agree on the set of 'bad things', not whether they do them or not. If you think something is bad, like really bad, just stop doing it, you are not some poverty-level sharecropping farmer, you have that choice.

achenatx 6y ago

everyone has a limit to how much they want to help. "The life you can save" makes a strong moral point that if you arent spending every penny to save the life of a child that would die from an easily preventable disease (5000 children die in africa every single day from easily preventable diseases), you have chosen to value their life at less than your fancy dinner, movie, or luxury electronics. Everyone makes those choices, even you. Be happy with your decision, but while you judge other people as "good germans" recognize that you are a good german too.

ddevault 6y ago
You're right, of course, it's a spectrum. But, I addressed a similar comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23080583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23080583 >There's a pretty damn big difference between throwing out $5 of food while someone across the Earth starves, and in directly making the software which opresses millions of people, raising millions of dollars for the people responsible, and pocketing huge salaries for yourself. Working for bigcorp as a software engineer is pretty long on that spectrum.