4 ms·

Honest question: why would tech companies oppose those charities in particular?

culi 4y ago
One of the primary strategies activists have managed to successfully deploy against those groups is through targeting advertisers. Also most tech workers are college educated which is a demographic that (increasingly) supports gun control/does not like the NRA
- lockhouse 4y ago
  > Also most tech workers are college educated which is a demographic that (increasingly) supports gun control/does not like the NRA It's less a college educated versus not and more an urban versus rural issue.
  - krapp 4y ago
    >It's less a college educated versus not and more an urban versus rural issue. The general mistrust of academia, liberal arts and mainstream science amongst the rural populace suggests those issues overlap quite a bit.
  - culi 4y ago
    tomato tomato
    - bumby 4y ago
      Tomato potato You might be confusing correlation as something more substantive
      - culi 4y ago
        the point is there's not really a way for us to tell which is the "substance". It's all just correlations and it's all just a matter of what aspect you choose to highlight
        bumby 4y ago
        You don’t think you can isolate variables and analyze effects? For example, you can’t study the opinions of people with high education who live in rural areas?
        AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
        Group A: College Educated + Urban Group B: College Educated + Rural Group C: No post-secondary + Urban Group D: No post-secondary + Rural Fairly simple analysis to do, and I suspect (as I think you do) that the trend will align with a split between A/D vs B/C not A/B vs C/D.
        bumby 4y ago
        Now do it for all the other confounding variables. This is why social science is hard and requires a lot of statistical analysis. I'm not making any claims one way or another. All I'm saying is knee-jerk assumptions based on a simplified mental model probably isn't a good idea unless you have the data to back it up. (Especially true on complex systems like human value systems).
laverya 4y ago
A lot of people really, really hate guns, and some of those charities really, really love guns. (and one has the reputation among ~half the US population of really, really loving guns, and a reputation in the other half as "Negotiating Rights Away") The people who really, really hate guns are more likely to work for tech companies than their counterparts, at least in my experience. Also, Amazon in particular has long banned the sale of a large variety of gun components on their platform - even those that aren't regulated in any state. (bolts, barrels, handguards, stocks... oddly enough they do allow optics)
- giancarlostoro 4y ago
  > The people who really, really hate guns are more likely to work for tech companies than their counterparts, at least in my experience. Depends on the company, I have worked at a Defense Contractor for example, the sentiment towards guns was pro-guns despite the diverse political views of everyone there.
  - systemvoltage 4y ago
    Gun ownership is split between party lines but not as much as people think. There is still a good chunk of Democrats that own guns (including myself). https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/psdt_2017-06-22-guns-01-09/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-dem...
    - kennywinker 4y ago
      Gun ownership isn't the same thing as being anti-gun control. The majority of people, many of them gun owners and haling from both "parties", would like to see some basic restrictions on how quick and easy it is to buy a gun.
      - giancarlostoro 4y ago
        > easy it is to buy a gun. This really needs to be written / said better. It is not as easy as just thinking to yourself, I want a gun, walking into a gun store, grabbing it off a shelf, swiping a card at a self-checkout machine and walking out with a new gun in hand. This is not the case at all. There are states with a wait period, there are background checks, there are forms that if you lie on it is considered a felony, the person selling the gun can say no at any moment, if you are being a total creep, chances are they will not sell you a gun. In some states you cannot buy certain firearms before you're 21. Gun control is a complicated subject. I think the anti-gun / gun control crowd should really step into a gun store and learn first hand what the experience really is when buying a firearm. They don't need to buy anything, but I guarantee the person who sells the gun will be happy to answer any and all questions they have. They literally have to know the process in order to sell guns! You have to be licensed to sell guns in a gun store.

culi 4y ago

One of the primary strategies activists have managed to successfully deploy against those groups is through targeting advertisers. Also most tech workers are college educated which is a demographic that (increasingly) supports gun control/does not like the NRA

lockhouse 4y ago
> Also most tech workers are college educated which is a demographic that (increasingly) supports gun control/does not like the NRA It's less a college educated versus not and more an urban versus rural issue.
- krapp 4y ago
  >It's less a college educated versus not and more an urban versus rural issue. The general mistrust of academia, liberal arts and mainstream science amongst the rural populace suggests those issues overlap quite a bit.
- culi 4y ago
  tomato tomato
  - bumby 4y ago
    Tomato potato You might be confusing correlation as something more substantive
    - culi 4y ago
      the point is there's not really a way for us to tell which is the "substance". It's all just correlations and it's all just a matter of what aspect you choose to highlight
      - bumby 4y ago
        You don’t think you can isolate variables and analyze effects? For example, you can’t study the opinions of people with high education who live in rural areas?
        AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
        Group A: College Educated + Urban Group B: College Educated + Rural Group C: No post-secondary + Urban Group D: No post-secondary + Rural Fairly simple analysis to do, and I suspect (as I think you do) that the trend will align with a split between A/D vs B/C not A/B vs C/D.
        bumby 4y ago
        Now do it for all the other confounding variables. This is why social science is hard and requires a lot of statistical analysis. I'm not making any claims one way or another. All I'm saying is knee-jerk assumptions based on a simplified mental model probably isn't a good idea unless you have the data to back it up. (Especially true on complex systems like human value systems).

laverya 4y ago

A lot of people really, really hate guns, and some of those charities really, really love guns. (and one has the reputation among ~half the US population of really, really loving guns, and a reputation in the other half as "Negotiating Rights Away") The people who really, really hate guns are more likely to work for tech companies than their counterparts, at least in my experience. Also, Amazon in particular has long banned the sale of a large variety of gun components on their platform - even those that aren't regulated in any state. (bolts, barrels, handguards, stocks... oddly enough they do allow optics)

giancarlostoro 4y ago
> The people who really, really hate guns are more likely to work for tech companies than their counterparts, at least in my experience. Depends on the company, I have worked at a Defense Contractor for example, the sentiment towards guns was pro-guns despite the diverse political views of everyone there.
- systemvoltage 4y ago
  Gun ownership is split between party lines but not as much as people think. There is still a good chunk of Democrats that own guns (including myself). https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/psdt_2017-06-22-guns-01-09/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-dem...
  - kennywinker 4y ago
    Gun ownership isn't the same thing as being anti-gun control. The majority of people, many of them gun owners and haling from both "parties", would like to see some basic restrictions on how quick and easy it is to buy a gun.
    - giancarlostoro 4y ago
      > easy it is to buy a gun. This really needs to be written / said better. It is not as easy as just thinking to yourself, I want a gun, walking into a gun store, grabbing it off a shelf, swiping a card at a self-checkout machine and walking out with a new gun in hand. This is not the case at all. There are states with a wait period, there are background checks, there are forms that if you lie on it is considered a felony, the person selling the gun can say no at any moment, if you are being a total creep, chances are they will not sell you a gun. In some states you cannot buy certain firearms before you're 21. Gun control is a complicated subject. I think the anti-gun / gun control crowd should really step into a gun store and learn first hand what the experience really is when buying a firearm. They don't need to buy anything, but I guarantee the person who sells the gun will be happy to answer any and all questions they have. They literally have to know the process in order to sell guns! You have to be licensed to sell guns in a gun store.