You don't seem very consistent here. Either "all" developers have ethical standards, meaning that there are things they will stand up and fight for, or they're

You don't seem very consistent here. Either "all" developers have ethical standards, meaning that there are things they will stand up and fight for, or they're people who are much more concerned for their jobs and will do whatever managers say. But you can't really argue for both at once. You also talk as if you aren't at risk of losing your job now. People lose their jobs all the time. It's something any responsible adult has to be prepared for. And yes, of course when I say "we used our power to fix process and organizational issues" I definitely meant the "we" part of it, not some half-assed random individual behavior. A suggestion for happy dialog: try assuming the person you're talking to has thought of the obvious implications that just occurred to you.