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Looking at a problem and saying "for the effort I could put in here, the benefit would not be worth it" is prudence, not cowardice. There are huge numbers of t
by jefftk 4y ago
Looking at a problem and saying "for the effort I could put in here, the benefit would not be worth it" is prudence, not cowardice.
There are huge numbers of things that are wrong in the world: should I call someone a coward for not working on malaria prevention or pandemic mitigation? For living well while others suffer?
- noman-land 4y agoNo, I don't think this analogy is apt. It would be like someone thinking that preventing themselves from getting malaria isn't worth the effort so they go out and get infected on purpose. Maybe that's not cowardice but it's still incredibly stupid. To reference the Snowden quote again, it would be like giving up your freedom of speech because it's too annoying to defend. That is cowardice.
- jefftk 4y agoExtending your analogy, I think it's more like if someone decides it's not worth sleeping under a bednet. Or my deciding not to wear an N95 at the supermarket. I might agree or disagree with them on whether the risk they're taking is a smart choice, but "cowardly" is a bizarre angle to criticize it from. My argument is not that I have nothing to hide. Instead, it's that hiding has enough chance of not working that none of us should rely on it.