[claydavisss]

I hope you don't fly on any airline that uses Boeing or Airbus planes - both firms routinely dump inventory on the Saudis.

I hope you don't fill your car with gasoline - chances are, even in 2018, it came from Saudi Arabia.

I hope your security is not supported by American military technology - once again surpluses of which are commonly sold to Saudi Arabia.

HN really needs to follow through with action behind the pompous grandstanding. Start your finger wagging with the man in the mirror.

[LeifCarrotson]

My individual purchase of an arline ticket and filling my car with gas - or choosing not to - are completely invisible signals to the huge markets at play here.

"Activism" in the form of posting a comment to HN or sending a tweet to Elon is hugely more likely to have real-world effects. And actual activism - driving a car around and talking to people, perhaps - is still more effective than a 0.000000014% drop (1 in 7 billion) in their budget sheets.

[JabavuAdams]

You make a good and useful argument, but it would be much better without the last bit.

[claydavisss]

Why? Does it make you uncomfortable to know that you must be the change you demand in others?

HN has become a constant barrage of tirades against Google, China, Facebook, Tesla...any government not Canada or Norway etc etc. Yet following-through is always left to everyone-else. HN is children. Thirty year-old children.

[JabavuAdams]

> Why?

Because it is more convincing, and will have a wider reach. By stating your initial points, you already make people think, but without triggering their emotional defences.

Arguing "A, B, C, and by the way you're a bad person" is less effective than arguing "A, B, C, think about it." If you want to "be the change", you should see the benefit of effective communication, no?