
Jeff Bezos Is Wrong, Tech Workers Are Not Bullies - nickpsecurity
https://www.ft.com/content/f4bd1860-e230-11e8-a8a0-99b2e340ffeb
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nickpsecurity
Archive link if paywall blocks people:

[https://archive.is/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcontent%2Ff4bd...](https://archive.is/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcontent%2Ff4bd1860-e230-11e8-a8a0-99b2e340ffeb)

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nickpsecurity
Props for authors risking high-paying jobs to stand up for their principles.
I’m a pro-gun, pro-Constitution, pro-privacy American whose fine with
justifiable, measured actions by U.S. military where actually needed with
minimal blowback expected. I've opposed most of what U.S. military has done
over past two decades. So, I’ll add my reaction to two quotes:

““If big tech companies are going to turn their back on the US Department of
Defense, this country is going to be in trouble,” he said. “

““a defeat for US national security [and] patriotism”.

That’s un-American bullshit supported by a large segment of right-leaning
voters. The very design of U.S. government is to limit trust to any one
branch. Relevant example is Executive branch directing military-industrial
complex daily theoretically kept in check by suspicious Congress and courts.
If there’s argument, ask right-leaning voters if they want liberals or Hillary
Clinton to decide who to kill or not kill for 4 years straight. I bet they
won't be unconditionally supportive.

Further, historical, heavy hitters that led the military like George
Washington and Dwight Eisenhower cautioned us to keep it in check citing prior
and likely outcomes of bad behavior that would hurt America. Most of those
happened, too. The biggest critique [1] coming from General Smedley Butler: a
two-time awardee of Medal of Honor who confessed most wars he led were
specifically for capitalist exploitation, not freedom or democracy. Or as
George Carlin says: “War is rich old men protecting their wealth by sending
lower and middle-class young men off to die.”

I’ll listen to Washington, Eisenhower, and Butler about managing a military
over a Bezos or Bloomberg any day. Hell, have they even shown they understand
the concept of putting their lives on the line and giving up business
opportunities to protect the average American? I don’t know if they have
service records or what they did if they did. Hell, I’ll even count peaceful
organizations or nonprofits that require full-time work at lower-than-tech
pay. Although I lack that data, I do know Bezos was willing to risk killing
Americans [2] just to make himself a bit more money and personal satisfaction.
Dude isn’t much better than terrorists in my book. If it was legal, such an
amoral leader would probably be killing his opponents like his ilk used to
[3].

[1]
[https://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html](https://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html)

[2] [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/amazon-
paramedics/](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/amazon-paramedics/)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_strike)

