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by daxorid 3581 days ago
Your aversion to threatening employees reminds me a bit of the old "just following orders" canard.

Developers are not sweatshop workers beholden to the company store. They have a plethora of employment options. If they willingly choose to work for such a company, the case could be made that they have made themselves legitimate targets for having made this choice.
2 comments
throwanem 3581 days ago
That case could indeed be made. It has been in the past, many times, with results whose nature I do not find an endorsement. But perhaps you feel differently. If so, I would urge you to consider the possibility that immoral actions, in response to immoral actions, do not themselves become more moral. There's also the more utilitarian concern that to threaten people in this fashion is not likely to engender sympathy among the undecided, or those who have simply not considered the question, and it most certainly will not engender sympathy among those whom you choose to target.

I might also counsel a certain restraint in your rhetoric, such that you fight shy of hyperbole such as likening Facebook to the NSDAP; ideally that would be your lookout and no one else's, but since we're arguing at least nominally on the same side of the issue, your statements reflect somewhat on mine, and I would prefer they not do so negatively.

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kafkaesq 3581 days ago
Your aversion to threatening employees reminds me a bit of the old "just following orders" canard.

It's not that. It's that in this very short life we have, it's not only not helpful (in the longer run) to pursue actions which knowingly hurt people for the sake of some perceived greater good (unless absolutely necessary) -- it leads one down a very dark path.

My solution? I'd prefer to educate people about the simple fact that most of these social media sites just don't do very much to improve our lives, are a huge soul-suck and time sink generally, and basically not worth the gargantuan amounts of time and emotional energy we invest in them.

So that eventually FB, WhatsApp and all the others will hopefully just die of starvation without a single shot fired (or employee being threatened or doxxed).

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