There's no such thing as a woke corporation. Corporate wokeness is an illusion created by PR departments to maximize market share.
If that were true, Disney’s shareholders would be a lot happier.
Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
91–100 of 299 posts
Re: Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
> remember not to blame them for "banning western companies" in the future American companies are banned from paying foreign bribes. They’re not given a free pass with suporting genocide or terrorism, regardless of where it happens, even if that’s the law or custom somewhere else. If we place domestic profits over sex trafficking or death penalties for gay people, so long as it’s there not here, then fine, let’s live…
It's quite a stretch to go from banning LGBT searches to death penalties for those same people. The west bans information all the time that it deems dangerous, our value system is just different. I would argue our value system is vastly superior, but I would never demand someone take my values as their own.
> quite a stretch to go from banning LGBT searches to death penalties for those same people
Fair enough. Would note that the death penalty, alongside torture and chemical castration, are sanctioned punishments for being gay in the UAE [1].
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_United_Ar...
Re: Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
>If one’s worldview disagrees, then theirs is simply incorrect on this matter Anti gay muslims in the UAE (and beyond) have the same exact attitude, so that reduces the whole problem to who has the bigger money\stick\media horn, and they happen to be the ones who have on their territory.
They really don't. I always like to remind people it was an American expedition that discovered oil in Saudi Arabia. All empires collapse eventually but for now the West is still muddling on through.
Are you implying that the US or the EU can simply threaten the gulf states militarily to make them tolerate LGBT rights? Why do you think it has never happened till now? From 1973 when the gulf states withheld oil and sent the west into a mini dark age till the murder of a US journalist in a foreign country? You realize that the majority of 9/11 perpetrators were Saudi nationals? Your hypotheses seems flawed.
Re: Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
#94I'd be (genuinely) interested in an answer to the questions: (a) would people here, as individuals, feel comfortable working for a company owned by someone like Mohammed bin Salman? and (b) If not, what is the difference between that and a company changing its working practices to continue making profits in that country?
My sense is that the corporate decisions are easier because they're depersonalised, but I don't see much of a moral distinction between the two.
Clearly there's a difference in the directness of interaction when it's a person or a company. But speaking personally I would never compromise my core ethical beliefs (which include not working in an environment where gay people are executed because of who they love and secret service agents are sent to kill critical journalists overseas) just so my company could make more money.
This isn't to say that I don't think politicians shouldn't talk to those regimes, but that feels quite different.
Re: Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
#95In the west, Amazon restricts search results or drops books critical of gender theory. In other countries, it's the other way round. I would even prefer them having a consitently bad position to being just spineless and opportunistic.
Re: Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
#96In the west, Amazon restricts search results or drops books critical of gender theory. In other countries, it's the other way round. I would even prefer them having a consitently bad position to being just spineless and opportunistic.
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Re: Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
#97I just cannot understand why so many people get so angry about what other consenting adults get up to in a closed bedroom. Live and let live.
I also can't understand why we need parades that share what other people do in their bedrooms. This cuts both ways.
>I also can't understand why we need parades that share what other people do in their bedrooms
Probably a reaction 'what they do in the bedroom' being made literally illegal for a long period of time. I can imagine wanting to throw a parade to show the 'good people of society' that you're just as human as they are, with the expected goal being to ward off further persecution in the future.
Re: Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’d just like them to pick a lane: - sociopathic corporation, profits above people… and stop pushing rainbow symbols all month domestically - actually find your backbone and push rainbows globally I think customers should refuse to tolerate the abuser mentality of corporations screaming at people who already agree about “gay rights” while refusing to actually stand up for them globally.
> customers should refuse to tolerate the abuser mentality of corporations Boycotts work when they’re deep, acute and with agreement on the solution that will lift it. Boycotts won’t do anything here. This requires legislation.
I was thinking shareholder lawsuits against, eg, Disney or Amazon who appear to have lost a substantial amount of market value while focusing on “woke” over success.
Re: Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
#99Do people agree that corporations should respect the customs and values of the local people when operating their business there? If yes, then Amazon is not "bowing", and it is The Guardian who is playing word games here. If not, then it would seem to imply that we are OK with western powers using their capital (instead of gunboats) to impose their ideology on other cultures in the world. Now, one may argue that the c…
My feeling is that if you're going out of your way to promote an ideology/cultural value domestically (Happy Pride Month!, flags everywhere, etc), then yes you need to stick to your guns and not bow to the opposite influence.
If you're strictly in the business of making money, then by all means conduct your business but stfu about it.
Re: Amazon bows to UAE pressure to restrict LGBT search results
#100Is there any argument here in Amazon’s defense? Or is my initial disgust at Amazon truly the appropriate response. I cannot fathom being the person at Amazon who makes that call. Do they sleep well at night? Do they feel good about themselves?
I was in the middle of one of these ethically questionable decisions at Amazon many years ago. Let me explain. Some people are simply sociopaths and do not care- whatever makes money and gets them promoted is fine by them. Some just ignore the problem and defer to those above them: if says it's okay, I guess we have to do it. And some will churn the entire problem in their head until they can justify it. They find so…
"The awful thing about life is this: Everybody has their reasons." - https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Rules_of_the_Game