My boss is currently on a visit to Saudi to drum up business ... the last 12 months has been nothing short of the full on capitulation of western businesses to Saudi money ... all concept of ethics has been completely dropped or 'explained away'.
Edit: It's a gray area of engineering ethics that can only remain intact by avoiding even the appearance of impropriety. If it feels bad, then it's work or business best avoided.
The world is a horrible place.
But nothing about the principle that societies are entitled to decide for themselves how to govern themselves requires people in America to accept Americans doing business with other people who have very different values. That’s a completely different matter.
- this message was made in china, like your shirt, your shorts, your socks, and so on snd so on.
I think there's a difference between doing the minimum that is not a disadvantage and making a relationship with an ethical discount country your competitive advantage.
I don’t think your example supports the point you think you’re making.
By "the Saudis" you mean the ruling family? Those are the only people who are deciding anything in SA.
Source? We don't know the actual skin tone of Ancient philosophers, but it's likely that Greek and Roman philosophers (many of which were born in and lived in Middle East or Africa) were of darker skin than the Germanic barbarians, whom they considered inferior.
If we argue which type of death is more or less pleasant we've directly descended into not just the Middle East, but the Middle Ages.
That being said, I enjoy my individual rights in the US and wouldn’t live anywhere else but there is a valid argument to be made that our ethics are sometimes a little too short sighted/individualistic and not holistic enough.
(I’m also definitely against the death penalty, just trying to make a point)
The deterrence does work and saves countless lives that would have been taken from ODs and cartel-ish activities
Singapore = if you have money all of their supposed laws etc do not apply (just like so many other places).
Who would have thought that cutting someone's limbs off as a punishment would result in nearly very little theft in those countries too.
People that don't realize that can just crawl back to their cave and live out the darwinistic dreams there. (Just speaking/ranting generally here now.)
> Who would have thought that cutting someone's limbs off as a punishment would result in nearly very little theft in those countries too.
Only people that don't read up on the science. Draconian measure affect crime rates much less than immediate negative feedback after the crime (which doesn't need to be draconian).
I don't agree with the point on blacklisting countries. We boycotted South African goods back in the day when were were pushing for the fall of Apartheid. And I'll be boycotting Israeli goods right now. And I'd stop my boss working with Saudi if I could.
Bring the grey'ness ...
but nothing remotely close to that has occurred in 30 years and trade is more interlinked as not to really affect countries the same way even if it did occur
with that in mind, how I feel is that harboring that sentiment requires having major blind spots about all the other places you do business with. and the disdain is 100% misapplied to other people or your employer. For example, its one thing if its the Prince’s investment fund, its another thing if its a random private equity fund or private office in Saudi Arabia. The boycotter’s broad, cognitively negligent, generalizations seem far more insensitive than the person disregarding their complaints about human rights abuses.
…where is your boycott of Silicon Valley? you don’t feel it is an ethical issue to bring money and knowhow into that country? which country passes your standard exactly
why would you vilify other people choosing to do business with those private organizations based on their nexus?
And public beheadings are truly medieval and barbaric.
the unwillingness of boycotters to see that makes me more willing to ignore them