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Comment by Blaiz0r | Hacker News Reader

Maybe the right thing to do is to change your opinions on anti-abortion, and come to understand Sammy better?

In that example yes, but are you really telling me that I should change my views on whether it's okay for governments to hack journalists and activists to publicly smear them and arrest their sources?

Nope, but you should judge individuals on their individual actions

How is choosing to work for a company that sells surveillance software to despotic governments not an "individual action"?

It's an interesting position but one with unpleasant implications. Do you think it is morally wrong to work for, say, a terrorist organization planning a chemical weapons attack if all you do is manage procurement for them — you don't make chemical weapons or use them, you just make phone calls and manage a few spreadsheets.

Also, do you have the same feeling for the reverse situation? If instead of being an employee, you're the boss. You're aware that your employees are doing something morally wrong and you do nothing to stop them, but you aren't doing it yourself. Do you have any responsibility? In the ethics of war, there is the concept of command responsibility[0], where leaders are responsible for the actions of people under their command. Do you think that is a bad doctrine because the leaders aren't the ones shooting people? No one dies through their individual actions even if their subordinates commit war crimes.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_responsibility

But choosing to work for a company who helps authoritan governments to prosecute journalists and dissidents is an action, and I will judge you for it.

Regardless of how one feels about abortion, or whatever the issue at hand is, "just change your morals so that whatever your friends do is ok" is not a solution at scale.

Or maybe the right thing to do is to try to help Sammy see the evil she is committing. That could involve a Socratic approach that will help uncover the underpinnings of her position. If that fails and Sammy either obstinately refuses to see or for some reason cannot see, then it makes sense to part ways. You gave it a shot, you tried being charitable, but you ultimately cannot force another to accept the truth, nor should you want to. Everyone is morally responsible for his or her own views at the end of the day.

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