2 ms·

This faulty logic is deeply ironic, since it's an expression of irrational negative emotion, which is what it's accusing others of. It's so common and so unchan

This faulty logic is deeply ironic, since it's an expression of irrational negative emotion, which is what it's accusing others of. It's so common and so unchanging, I can paste an old comment I wrote about it (just substitute "corporations" for "wealthy and powerful people"): The "why are people surprised" line is a huge red flag for me that a person is not arguing in good faith. Accusing people of being "surprised" as an implication of naivete seems to be a very common tool of redirection when people are defending something perceived by others to be immoral or otherwise harmful. I'm not sure why such a particular angle became so common, since it seems so obvious to me that what they are calling "surprise" is indignation/anger. It seems to be exaggerated from the general notion that the stronger a reaction is, the newer it is, but obviously that's faulty. I may hear the same story of wealthy and powerful people behaving badly every day, but it doesn't make the behavior any more acceptable with each occurrence, and so my anger does not subside, no matter how un-surprised I am.

paulgb 6y ago
Well said. This is something I've been noticing a lot lately but you put it into words better than I could have.
411111111111111 6y ago
> when people are defending something perceived by others to be immoral or otherwise harmful well, i'd usually be just as surprised as the parent that people on this site are still getting surprised by it, and i sure as hell am not defending the company doing this. all publicly traded companies should be considered amoral by default. if they take moral action, then they dont do it because of morality. they do it either because they wish to portrait themselves as moral for publicity or they have another way to profit off of it. the thing which would surprise me is that people still dont expect that. in this particular case i'm not surprised though. hn readers are extremely positive of apple, no matter what apple does.
racl101 6y ago
Well put. Just cause it's happened a 1000 times doesn't mean people are numb. The protests out there are evidence of this. Yes, some people know some cops in some places are gonna be huge dickheads, but it doesn't assuage our feelings, when a bad experience happens. Nobody should get used to having to experience a shitty situation through no fault of their own.

paulgb 6y ago

Well said. This is something I've been noticing a lot lately but you put it into words better than I could have.

411111111111111 6y ago

> when people are defending something perceived by others to be immoral or otherwise harmful well, i'd usually be just as surprised as the parent that people on this site are still getting surprised by it, and i sure as hell am not defending the company doing this. all publicly traded companies should be considered amoral by default. if they take moral action, then they dont do it because of morality. they do it either because they wish to portrait themselves as moral for publicity or they have another way to profit off of it. the thing which would surprise me is that people still dont expect that. in this particular case i'm not surprised though. hn readers are extremely positive of apple, no matter what apple does.

racl101 6y ago

Well put. Just cause it's happened a 1000 times doesn't mean people are numb. The protests out there are evidence of this. Yes, some people know some cops in some places are gonna be huge dickheads, but it doesn't assuage our feelings, when a bad experience happens. Nobody should get used to having to experience a shitty situation through no fault of their own.