[DannyBee]

Ah, the ole "sitting on the sidelines is helpful" argument. It's morally defensible for sure, and neutral, but pretending it is actually helpful is wrong. It doesn't help in any meaningful way to change things (in any direction) if you sit on the sidelines. Ironically, people who are the ones who always seem to think the have the moral high ground.

Of course that doesn't mean you have to join google to make a difference, but pretending that you have to not be working at Google to be helping change things is just silly nonsense.

[lallysingh]

No it's different. It's closer to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-cooperation_movement

It has an effect, you just need to have a large mass of people to make it work.

[DannyBee]

I agree you can have an active non-cooperation movement. That does not appear to be suggested here.

It's the difference between "i won't participate in patenting software" vs "i'm actively avoiding any companies or software that file patents"

The former i see a lot, and it does not help in any meaningful way, in part because their participation is not required. It doesn't help, it's just something people do to pretend they are helping without having to do anything real.

The latter would be something useful, though it does take large groups.

Not working for google "as a way of helping" is clearly the former. Google doesn't need their help, they will do no good by leaving. They have plenty of other jobs, so it's not hard either. They likely can do more good by staying and agitating than by leaving and being ignored.

Additionally, the argument that they must leave google to have an impact is also clearly silly.

[bogomipz]

>"Ah, the ole "sitting on the sidelines is helpful" argument."

That's not even the OPs argument, nor is it some "ole" argument. You have both put words in their mouth and framed it as some classic well-known fallacy of which it is not.

The OP is making the distinction between "voting with your feet" which takes real commitment and has immediate effects versus "signing a letter"[1] which involves nothing more than a few seconds of your time without having to leave your desk.

If Google has trouble attracting talent due to matters of conscience it directly impacts its abilities to build new services as well as improve existing service in order to increase revenue.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-...

[DannyBee]

I have done neither, nor has OP retorted, so ...

Also, voting with your feet takes no real commitment when tech jobs for googlers are plentiful and easy. Avoiding working for Google does precisely nothing on it's own.

The closest you get is the non-cooperation type of movement the other reply mentions, which is an active thing, but that's not being suggested here.