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How does this analogy work? As I understand it, the reason a physical business would ban someone engaging in the behaviour you described is that it would creat
by 4bpp 6y ago
How does this analogy work?
As I understand it, the reason a physical business would ban someone engaging in the behaviour you described is that it would create costly first-order work for the business (cleaning up) and result in a second-order loss of profits due to deterring other customers until the cleanup is complete. Does anything of the sort apply in the case of politically questionable entities using a near-monopolist payment processor to process payments?
- ceejayoz 6y agoProviding services to groups like this can be a PR disaster far more revenue-impacting than having to mop a floor.
- kypro 6y agoProviding services to African Americans and homosexuals would have been a PR disaster historically. You shouldn't be denied access to critical services like this because of unpopular political beliefs. Honestly, it's worrying I even have to say this. It's utterly nuts people here are defending this.
- ceejayoz 6y agoYou can't stop being African American, and it's generally accepted that homosexuality is the same. You can stop being a Proud Boy. If you look at what are deemed by law to be "protected classes", they are generally things that can't be readily changed - age, gender, disability, race.
- wernercd 6y agoAnd next year, when the political winds change... businesses can stop working with you because insert random reason here. Nice standard of intolerance we are building here.
- kypro 6y agoHow does one change their political believes? I'd argue that some of my political beliefs are as firm and unchangeable as my sexual preferences. But to play along with your logic here, what if someone was a member of a feminist organisation? Do you believe it would be acceptable for a company to refuse to do business with people who are members of feminist organisations? And if your argument is that it's possible to pretend not to be a feminist, can the same not also be said for someones sexual orientation?
- ceejayoz 6y ago> Do you believe it would be acceptable for a company to refuse to do business with people who are members of feminist organisations? On a legal level, yes. I would avoid doing business with that company as a result, but they'd be well within their rights to do it. I'd be well within my rights to boycott and tell my friends about it. > And if your argument is that it's possible to pretend not to be a feminist, can the same not also be said for someones sexual orientation? My employer's health insurance would allow me to add a same-gender spouse, but doesn't ask if they're a feminist.
- NovemberWhiskey 6y agoOn the other hand, you think it's fair and reasonable that a business be compelled to transact with customers that they believe might be net bad for business? You say "unpopular political belief", I say "DDoS target, litigation risk, potential product boycott".
- 4bpp 6y agoCan it, though? I think a key argument being made is that Paypal is essentially without alternative. People may have convulsions on social media and write angry messages to support hotlines, but hardly anybody is in a position to actually reduce their usage of it in order to make a point. This precludes the second-order effect; no first-order effect exists to begin with, because Paypal has no meaningfully limited physical resources that are occupied or rendered unusable by political poop.
- wernercd 6y agoGot any proof of actual loss of business because Mastercard/Visa/Paypal took a credit card transaction from a "hate group"? no one is going to stop using those platforms...
- ceejayoz 6y agoEach of those companies spends tens if not hundreds of millions on advertising a year. It’s quite clear they care about their reputations.