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Comment by djohnston | Hacker News Reader

i try to be respectful but this is some bs virtue signaling devoid of any nuance and steeped in economic privilege that you were likely fortunate enough to grow up with. you have no right to look down on people working a job you perceive as morally dubious for money. and you seem to think that every job at fb is about glueing eyes to ads. what about people who work on cybersecurity, or counterterrorism, or combating child exploitation? there are thousands of positions where you make measurably good impact on the world.

EDIT: you certainly can look down on people for whatever, i just don't think it's justified in this case.

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People working at Facebook are the ones who are economically privileged

With all due respect, you have absolutely no reason to speak to anyone like this. Phrases like "bs virtue signalling" are not only rude, but they make it extremely hard to engage with you. Part of engaging in dialogue is accepting that people are free to believe whatever they want.

we are engaging fine, it's ok. i removed the harsher wording that was admittedly knee-jerk, although "bs virtue signaling" is still a bit rough around the edges

If you can get hired at Facebook you can get hired anywhere. Seriously.

that's true, there are other opportunities, but i don't think it's fair to make a blanket character assessment of these people just because of the organization they work for.

in a similar vein, i wouldn't condemn someone who works at Exxon building analytics software, or engineering some rig valve, but i WOULD condemn someone who works there with the responsibility of absolving oil & gas from any responsibility for climate change.

is my position wrong? honestly im a bit unsure if it makes any sense.

If you vehemently disagree with the core business of a company and you can easily find an equivalent job at a better company, why does your position in that company have any impact on your decision to work for that company? How is building analytics software for Exxon to help them produce oil any better than a lawyer who works to ensure they can continue producing oil? As the engineer, you know your company is "working to absolve the industry from any responsibility for climate change" You know that's wrong but you can dismiss your responsibility in helping them grow and be successful? This is just lying to yourself.

yeah, i think you're right, particularly with this example. the position i gave of analytics software was a bit contrived and off the mark for the point i was trying to make. a better example would be, "engineer whose job it is to reduce the deleterious effects of burning oil on the environment" or something like that, which is more analogous to the position of trying to remove harmful content at fb

I bet there were Nazi's whose jobs were to feed the poor in Berlin. Doesn't immunize them from what the rest of them were doing.

yeah that's not a false equivalence or anything

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