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Comment by pmarreck | Hacker News Reader

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pmarreck

Sounds just like something a North Korean would say

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Honestly, sounds like a red flag if even a legitimate applicant is unwilling to voice an opinion on the Kim regime.

Without context it seems like a weird trick question, like phishing tests and most corporate training.

Replace North Korean leader with Biden and Trump, how that sounds?

Pretty sure a huge number of Americans would happily curse both with the fire of a thousand suns.

On demand? Also will this trigger some discrimination law?

You can legally discriminate on the basis of political views.

In California?

(IANAL.) Whether that is legal depends on jurisdiction, in the US. CA has protections, for example.

It sounds like you are supporting those villains, justifying their atrocities.

I don't consider myself to know enough to criticize.

Of course what little I do know is all negative. But I've paid only limited attention, and I get nothing from primary sources.

I expect the same from practically everyone -- perhaps excepting South Koreans who at least speak the language. I'd consider it good judgment to say that you just can't meaningfully answer the question.

I'd read a statement you hand me, if you thought that would suffice. But I'll admit I'd consider that weird and likely useless.

If you know so little about a major, long term authoritarian dictatorship, consider this evidence you need to educate yourself.

This was dead because?

Because it was a low-effort, uselessly snarky answer to a valid opinion.

Especially when the reality is everyone “knows” so much that isn’t true or that is true but they could never personally confirm it.

I am not 100% that North Korea exists. I’m pretty sure, but I can’t KNOW it without going there.

So while dictators are bad, the Kim’s are probably bad, sorry if I don’t go to the deep end repeating everything that someone else taught me.

Because "educate yourself" is quite possibly the most annoying, low effort thing you can say to someone whom you think should know something that they don't. Either share the information with them or don't engage at all; there's no need to be a dick about it.

Please do not foster this concept that I have a responsibility to proactively criticize ever fascist regime of the past century in order to dispel implicit notions that I am "supporting" them in vague undefined ways.

To be basically informed about, yes. An educated person should probably have a view about broad topics like North Korea, and whether Pyongyang is more worthy of criticism than praise. And I don’t want to work with someone who is open to the morality of the Kim regime.

It isn't your place to know the political sympathies of everyone, nor is it your place to decide what constitutes 'support' about every possible issue. It is simply not viable to do this if you want to work together with large, diverse groups of people. There are people with objectionable but private views in the world and in the workplace, deal with it. This is entirely separate from people's public views.

I would find that question extremely weird in a job interview for a normal job, and I have no problem saying that the Kim regime is one of the most horrible regimes ever.

100%

It's not a false positive. It's a true positive

If the person is so obnoxious as to not be able to give such a silly statement, imagine how they would be fun in your team

I can ask people to criticize trump before hiring them?

Most AI's would have a light but informed opinion on the Kim regime. Here's ChatGPT's:

https://chatgpt.com/share/687a8963-81e8-8004-b457-432fae79d4...

I would never allow any potential client ask me ANY political questions. Not because I like any political figure but because I am trying not to encourage fucking thought control. I hope we are not on Nazi Germany yet. It is just simply not their fucking business. On the other hand if they offer me a million in cold hard cash just for that I would tell then anything they want to hear.

> I would never…

> … if they offer me a million…

This is exactly like that famous joke! :D “Mam I believe we’ve already established that. At this point, we’re just negotiating.”

You nailed it. If they want to pry into my private things they better pay for it ;)

The punchline of the joke isn’t that it’s weird to put a price on X, but that it makes it rather hollow to start that same paragraph with four different variations of “I would never do X!”.

It’s kind of like an Abbott and Costello routine. I would never do that! How dare you suggest that. You’re a commie. The scum of the earth. I’m above that. Gimme five bucks I’ll do it right now.

There is a big difference between saying you gonna do it and actually doing it.

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