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Chef CEO Defends Contract with ICE

blog.chef.io

21–30 of 126 posts

Re: Chef CEO Defends Contract with ICE

#21

For the record (if it matters) I am very pro-immigration and pro-immigrant rights, but I don't think denying chef services to ICE will actually do anything - let me explain. Lets look at this from another perspective (couldn't hurt, right?). I am a company that sells paper. Some companies might use this paper for very bad things (printing out patents?). Do I comb through all my clients and determine what they are usi…

Paper is an interchangeable commodity with many suppliers. Specific software products often are not.

Furthermore, there's a difference between "someone bought this commodity from a distributor" and "we have a contract specifically with this entity".

Re: Chef CEO Defends Contract with ICE

#22

> to be clear: I also find policies such as separating families and detaining children wrong and contrary to the best interests of our country. "I simply have all the ability and none of the desire to do anything about it"

I can see where he's coming from: if he refuses to do business with ICE because he disagrees with something they're doing (whether he or they are actually wrong), he's implicitly endorsing every aspect of every customer he does choose to do business with.

This is common 'tech guy' thinking where an action is immoral and impossible unless it can be generalized to apply to every situation for all time.

It's bullshit though. That isn't how life works, it's not a humane standard to hold people to, and no one does it.

You make judgements. The squeaky wheel gets noticed. And just because you notice one squeaky wheel doesn't mean you are required to inspect every wheel for potential squeaks every time you are aware there may be wheels somewhere in the future.

Re: Chef CEO Defends Contract with ICE

#23

Having read this, I think that Barry Crist's use of "my country's government, right or wrong" in defense of supporting Trump-era ICE's indefensible methods proves that an old adage still holds true. "[false] Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." --Samuel Johnson, 1775 Barry Crist thinks he is doing the principled thing, but I see him for what he is: the most despicable of cowards, a man who has the power t…

That's not what he's saying at all. He's saying that Chef is in the business of providing devops software. They're not a government watchdog. They're not the ethics police. They're not political or social activist organization. I fail to see the problem. Finally, not selling chef to ICE won't change anything.

Re: Chef CEO Defends Contract with ICE

#25
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sure if chef withrdrew their services then suddenly the entire DHS would become sane and kind.

You're suggesting that nobody should every take a stand for what they feel is right and good because their actions are too insignificant anyway? Grim.

No, the above poster is pointing out the dishonesty in claiming that Chef has the ability to stop family separation and detainment.

Re: Chef CEO Defends Contract with ICE

#27
Good. Every company which refuses to work with ICE makes their job more difficult. That's not going to make ICE go away, it's just going to increase the likelihood that they make beaurocratic mistakes (e.g. detain US citizens), inappropriately secure their data, or a million other little operational failures.

Re: Chef CEO Defends Contract with ICE

#28

> to be clear: I also find policies such as separating families and detaining children wrong and contrary to the best interests of our country. "I simply have all the ability and none of the desire to do anything about it"

What ability does Chef have to change family separation and detainment? These things would still be happening if ICE had to go back to whatever they were using before Chef.

but they might be harder. Which is the point. Private people can resist abhorrent policies by putting up roadblocks or at least not making it easier

Re: Chef CEO Defends Contract with ICE

#29
post #23

Having read this, I think that Barry Crist's use of "my country's government, right or wrong" in defense of supporting Trump-era ICE's indefensible methods proves that an old adage still holds true. "[false] Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." --Samuel Johnson, 1775 Barry Crist thinks he is doing the principled thing, but I see him for what he is: the most despicable of cowards, a man who has the power t…

That's not what he's saying at all. He's saying that Chef is in the business of providing devops software. They're not a government watchdog. They're not the ethics police. They're not political or social activist organization. I fail to see the problem. Finally, not selling chef to ICE won't change anything.

I bet that's the same sort of sophistry that allowed IBM's management to justify doing business with the Nazi regime.

I know what Crist is saying. And it smells like self-serving bullshit to me. He doesn't want to do the right thing as a human being and as an American citizen because it would cut into Chef's revenues and upset the company's shareholders and investors.

As far as I am concerned, this is unforgivable moral cowardice. As soon as I learned that Accenture was taking ICE blood money, I quit without notice and lived off my savings for three months until I could find another job at a company that didn't profit from human rights abuses at the hands of the Federal government.

I'm just a middle-aged college dropout who doesn't even make six figures, and I still managed to do the right thing as an American and a human being. What's this guy's excuse?

Re: Chef CEO Defends Contract with ICE

#30
I’m genuinely curious - what is the government supposed to do with illegal immigrants before they’re sent back home (after asylum hearing). Are they supposed to be put up in apartments? Barracks? House per family?

I’ve heard that people disagree with the immigrants current treatment, but I expect there’s a spectrum of accommodations which people would consider acceptable.

I haven’t considered the logistics and legalities of housing adults with minors who may or not be their actual parents. Do they need to be separated? I suspect there’s a complexity which I don’t appreciate.

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