Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Western companies apparently DO NOT CARE. Western Consumers don't care either
I’m a western consumer and I care.
Thank you and 5 other people in the western hemisphere. Shein shoppers definitely will take notice.
He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
171–180 of 325 posts
Re: He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to Hamas, right? When someone throws numbers directly from Hamas, that someone lost all credibility.
According to statistics, too: 2:1 civilian:Hamas ratio according to the IDF, with 5000 from Hamas dead and 10,000 civilians dead [0]; Gaza’s population is about half under 18 [1]. So if you figure deaths among civilians are random, then about 5,000 Gazans under 18 are dead. [0] - https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/05/middleeast/israel-hamas-m... [1] - https://www.npr.org/2023/10/18/1206897328/half-of-gazas-popu...
I can read and suggest for you to do the same when providing sources:
From [0]:
>The Israeli military has not officially published any estimates of those killed.
Re: He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course, but I don't think it's specific to "the west" or "corrupt societies". It's human nature. If you're part of a group and you speak against the group, esp. to another group , the group will move to destroy you. It doesn't matter if you're right; it doesn't matter if the group is doing bad things; it doesn't matter if speaking up will help save lives. The function of the group is to survive as a group; it will…
well stated! i would add that the solution is to find a path of action that does not actually go against human nature but rather embraces it. My favorite historical example is religion, e.g. Moses and the 10 Commandments.
I stand by the 10 Commandments, but people don't even agree what human nature is. I believe it's a reflection of a loving creator and others believe it's an evolutionary fluke while yet others believe it's a piece of a quasi-conscious universe discovering itself. If we can't agree what human nature even is, we're not going to agree what is most in line with it.
Re: He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
I respect your choice to cancel your Amazon account for your own reasons, no matter what my opinion may be of the either the company, the effect it may have, or which side of the argument you're supporting by doing it. It's an act that shows the will to change ones self for the better, of which there should be more (not specific to boycotting). What "feels" right or wrong to each individual is different, but the worl…
Cancelling your amazon account and posting about it on a service run by aws is pretty comical.
I totally understand it.
There are some things you can escape and some things you can't. Should we all just give up totally despite the fact we could win some battles?
There's a fair number of HN participants that are no fans of Amazon.
Re: He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
#175[flagged]
I'm not quite sure what your objection is? Are you generally against companies providing services related to warfare? Or are you specifically against providing services for the Israel/Gaza conflict? If the former - if you are generally protesting commercial services for the military - then there are a lot of companies you need to boycott, before you get around to Amazon. Amazon is a small fish in the sea. If the latt…
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Re: He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
He is right though. The companies are accountable to the shareholders, and the shareholders (usually) don't care. Companies are not sentient beings, they are made up of people. People that don't care. Personally, I'm a consumer and I don't care either. I know where my t-shirts are made and I have a vague understanding under what conditions they are made. This is not a problem that has to be fixed in the west. It's a…
> You really cannot blame only the companies without blaming the consumers too.
Right, the problem is structural, but consumers for the most part aren't and can't realistically be in the know as to the horrible work conditions under which what they consume is produced, most of them aren't particularly happy with their own work conditions in the first place. And even if they do know (when the company has failed to hide it from them) they often don't have a choice. Consumers also don't lobby for worsening the conditions and abolishing the rights of workers. Companies on the other hand are almost always in the know, and choose not only to continue to benefit from this exploitation, but are also willing to go to tremendous lengths to hide, defend or expand this exploitation.
And yet neither of the parties are "evil", the most "enlightened" liberal will realize they both take part in the same economy and use that as a justification, but the consumer can not change this through their consumption (even an immortal, omniscient and perfectly rational economic agent straight out a neoclassical economic textbook would consider this an uphill battle) nor the producer through their production ("another will take my place" and so on).
Now to me if you (not you) recognize this, that the problem is inherently structural, but you're unwilling to criticize and rethink the structure, I have to assume the structure doesn't bother you all that much or worse, that you're a defeatist. Either way the good news is that there is an endless amount of other things to point your finger at (like China).
Re: He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
#177In a world run by sociopaths - whistleblowing is a trap to catch the people who could if instead of reporting the issues, they organised together and then could stop you... I've yet to see any whistleblowing case not end badly.
one case that consoles me is that harry markopolous, the quant who blew the whistle on madoff and his feeder funds-of-funds, despite rigorously not being listened to and almost being railroaded by an SEC coverup, at least got some sort of payout for his pain and suffering that went on for years. I cannot recommend his book enough.
Man, the SEC covers itself in glory so frequently.
Re: He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
I encourage anyone interested in the consequences of whistleblowing to watch The Insider. A truly excellent film about a whistleblower at a tobacco company and the terrible things they did to try and stop him. Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Bruce McGill, Christopher Plummer, many others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Wigand Trailer: https://youtu.be/MGOb29aePyc The best scene: https://youtu.be/gNKmmA6_oTQ
A similar film is Silkwood, which is about the life of Karen Silkwood, who reported concerns about corporate practices related to health and safety in a nuclear facility where she worked. She was severely harassed by her employer and then died in a suspicious car accident. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Silkwood https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/silkwood
Anybody who becomes the target of large orgs is going to have a bad time. Just think about the guy who was falsely accused of being the pipe bomber at the Atlanta Olympics after he saved people.
Re: He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
#179It's naive and foolish to upset the money gravy train.
The reality is most countries are corrupted to varying degrees by economic concerns, and it doesn't matter if the country claims to be communist or not.
There is no reward except misery, exile, indefinite imprisonment, and/or assassination for pie-eyed, meat-headed idealists.
Re: He blew the whistle on Amazon. He's still paying the price
#180What is a whistleblower to some, is a mudslinger to others.
Again, someone using far too kind a word.
Where "others" = "total fucking sociopaths who know nothing but greed and should not be participants in society".
In that case, yes, I agree.