zlacker

You're being an apologist for slavery?

Alright then, where do we draw the line? Can I go buy a person? If not, can I invade Sudan?[1]

> Ethical consumption is a dead end.

Should we give up even thinking about it and just do whatever is most convenient?

Will that solve all our problems?

You know Amazon treats its employees like disposable shit. If you buy from them anyway you are putting your self-love above the love you should have for the folks working there. You know Uber is extracting value from their drivers[2] and will discard them without compunction when the robots come online. And they killed Elaine Herzberg. If you ride Uber you're rewarding them for all this and putting your self-love above the love you should have for those folks driving.

I'm gonna keep fighting for what I think is right. That means telling people that they are moral cretins when they are blithe about it. (I don't think violence solves anything, but a good rant can shake up a body's thoughts. I have friends that shop through Amazon and ride Uber and I don't chide them too harshly or often.)

Working at FB or one of the other emerging technocracies isn't an instance of "Never let ideological purity prevent you from effective action." It's a case of putting money above core values, or not having those values in the first place, or simply not paying attention.

If you're going to be a Morlock at least be a self-aware Morlock, eh?

> You can't even buy slavery-free clothing or food reliably.

You can try.

If you don't even try you're a moral cretin.[3] It's a common malady in this empty and abortive age.

[1] One of the few places where outright slavery still occurs in modern times. If that's not grounds for attack what is? Oil?

[2] "They don’t pay the cost of their capital. The wages they pay to their drivers are less than the depreciation of the cars and the expense of keeping the drivers fed, housed, and healthy. They pay less than minimum wage in most markets, and, in most markets, that is not enough to pay the costs of a car plus a human." https://www.ianwelsh.net/the-market-fairy-will-not-solve-the...?

[3] "Origin Late 18th century: from French crétin, from Swiss French crestin ‘Christian’ (from Latin Christianus), here used to mean ‘human being’, apparently as a reminder that, though deformed, cretins were human and not beasts." https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cretin

>>carapa+(OP)
I'm not defending slavery. I'm saying that if you buy food or clothing you almost certainly are buying goods that used slave labor in the supply chain, whether or not you're aware of it. Ethical consumption is impossible and trying to whip people to do it is a distraction from actual solutions, which would involve state intervention.

>>carapa+(OP)
Between accusing others of being apologists for slavery and moral cretins, you've dived into full-out flamewar of the kind that we ban people for on HN. It's unacceptable, regardless of how morally correct you are or feel you are. Flamewars burn what they burn regardless of how righteous the flames, so please don't post like this again.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

>>dang+Lf
Dang, you're right and I'm sorry. I won't do it again and I'm gonna give myself a 24 cool-down period before I post on HN again (on any subject.) I let my passions get the better of me and I should have known better.

Between you and me, I pulled a muscle in my neck/shoulder this morning and I've been in a devil of a mood all day. I'm not trying to make excuses, I shouldn't have taken out my bad mood here. Today's B.S. is not indicative of my best efforts.

HN is an incredible forum (I interacted with Alan Kay the other day!!!) and I'm ashamed to have added such counter-productive negativity. It won't happen again.

I'm sorry for being part of the problem today. Have a great weekend.

>>emoden+Na
Ah, okay, I get it. Sorry for being such a jerk.

>>carapa+Jl
It happens. I hope you feel better soon.

>>dang+Dn
Cheers :)