I can approve of just about any job unless it's about murdering people because some politician(s) want it.
Obviously, it's one thing to be a commander ordering an attack, vs a soldier firing the weapon, vs starting the company to make the weapon, vs being a supplier to the weapons company, vs being an employee at the manufacturer, etc.
What about working for a president who is going to inevitably order hundreds if not thousands murdered? Or voting for said president?
What about paying taxes, knowing those tax dollars will go to missiles and guns used to murder?
(This isn't a criticism of your worldview, by the way. I'm just genuinely curious about how others draw these lines.)
And anyways, nobody _likes_ abortion, even if they are committed to it being a woman’s right
Would you tell Palestinians to stop working on 'killy stuff' for moral/ethical reasons?
Others will have different opinions, obviously, but this is mine.
Now, cutting friends and family off over something this just means you do not want to tolerate people with differing views and opinions on this.
It's more about the side you are on rather than some abstract moral argument against working for companies tangentially related to the defense sector.
But feel free to petition literally all countries to remove words like defense or security from the names of their militaries.
I personally turned down multiple offers/work when it comes to drones for example, I designed stuff back in 2020 that some companies now just knew about it and its potentials, but when you meet with them and discuss what they are trying to build, you know that whatever they are after can be used in bad faith if the company decided to do so, do you sell your soul for the cash or do you prefer to sleep well at night?
The only exception is whatever you built has no direct or obvious bad faith, you build a library, a gstreamer addon, etc., that can get a pass.
Of course you can. It's just inconvenient. You could leave the country, break the law or stop getting a taxable income.
It's not that "playing along" isn't a choice. It's just an easy one.
If the CEO of your company changes and turns out to do evil things with the company and the product of your work, would you switch the company?
If the President of your country changes and turns out to do evil things with the country and your taxes, would you switch the country?
The line you draw is always the one of the level of convenience you are targeting for yourself. Not saying there is no point having a line, but it's highly subjective.
Not if you are a US citizen, you pay taxes even if you’re living abroad.
And yes I would switch companies, it’s exactly what I did before, and I will do it again. I can’t switch countries and I don’t think it’s effective like switching companies, but there are other means if your president or PM turned things evil, from pressuring your MP/senator to campaigning against to others. You never succumb to evil things no matter what.
Afair: Only if you pay less taxes where you live, which won't apply if you move to any European country.
> but there are other means if your president or PM turned things evil
I think that's correct, as long as we are thinking about a functional Democratic country. In an autocratic country this doesn't hold anymore.