| > The other problem with thinking "this is what everybody does" is there's the unstated "so keep your mouth shut and just go along with it" that's really unhealthy for us all. I agree with you that most people have status quo bias making up the majority of their moral compass. But I disagree with your defense of isolated demands for ethical behavior, which are dangerous and counterproductive. First off, they cheapen principle by making it a conditional bludgeon, used to attack only unpopular entities. Participating in the lie that FB is doing something uncommonly nefarious implicitly shields every other actor that (eg) HN doesn't feel such obsessive hate for. Secondly, it provides a scapegoat so people can ignore the difficult work of actually addressing systemic rot. If this is a widely-used tactic, and we agree that it's harmful, then perhaps there's a structural issue to be addressed. You can't even have this conversation if everyone thinks it's just something uniquely evil that FB did. This was my problem with the way my social milieu handled Trump. I think the guy was a dangerous lunatic, but my friends/family's tendency to immediately assign all of the world's ills solely to him (kids in cages! 100s of ks of covid deaths!) gave them an excuse to ignore the systemic rot underlying society's actual problems (borders inherently rob people of their humanity, and our public health agencies have severe cultural issues). It's not "defending the bad guy" to say that turning them into the literal Devil, solely responsible for all evil, is harmfully letting others off the hook. |