
Jeff Bezos says big tech employee activists are wrong - ignoramous
https://www.businessinsider.in/defense/news/jeff-bezos-says-employee-activists-are-wrong-and-silicon-valley-firms-should-feel-comfortable-doing-business-with-the-us-military/articleshow/72439867.cms
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malvosenior
I find it refreshing that he's coming out and saying this.

I 100% don't _ever_ want to hear my co-worker's opinions on politics (even if
I agree with them). I work to make a living and survive. Activism can happen
outside that framework, otherwise people will be forced to endure it under the
threat of losing their livelihood.

It's a distraction at best and a massive disruption to the business and
people's personal lives at worst. Look at Google. People are threatening each
other, stalking each other, slamming each other in the media... Google created
an environment that promoted a particular brand of politics and this is how it
ended up. A company that promoted right wing politics would be just as bad.

If you don't like a government policy, take it up with the government not your
place of work. It's only fair to your co-workers.

~~~
jakelazaroff
_> I 100% don't ever want to hear my co-worker's opinions on politics (even if
I agree with them). I work to make a living and survive. Activism can happen
outside that framework, otherwise people will be forced to endure it under the
threat of losing their livelihood._

Taking on the DoD as a client is a political act. If your coworkers don’t
speak about it, you are still hearing their opinions on politics — they are
just expressing their tacit support. And if you can’t speak against it at
work, then you _are_ telling your coworkers to endure it under the threat of
losing their livelihood.

~~~
cinquemb
>Taking on the DoD as a client is a political act… they are just expressing
their tacit support…

I agree with this statement, but one could say the same of the choices people
face when choosing to work for any given company: it's a political act. There
are those who choose to work at companies who engage in all sorts of
activities they don't find appealing politically and stay, and those who don't
bother applying to work at such companies (all trade-offs considered).

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harry8
"Amazon is currently appealing a Pentagon decision to award a 10 billion
defense contract to Microsoft over Amazon."

As a part of that pitch Bezos makes statements in favour of the Pentagon.

Now let's look at how the Washington Post reports that. I'm guessing there'll
be a slant trashing Sanders somewhere but maybe they'll leave that out as a
distraction from uncritical support of Bezos' interests.

How much is enough Bezos? You've got more money than 5 future generations of
your family can ever spend on anything. Unless things get a lot worse. Go
dodge some more tax. You give capitalism a bad name.

~~~
brogrammernot
Common practice to sue or appeal the decision to make sure your company didn’t
get screwed out of it based on unfair terms. You can also find out where you
went wrong on your RFP and make adjustments for the future. Knowing why Amazon
lost to MS is just good business practice and understanding how to be better
next time.

~~~
harry8
I'm sorry, we don't have shared assumptions. I'll be explicit about mine. It's
a Pentagon contact. It's completely corrupt from top to bottom. Being involved
suggests criminality. You may think differently, of course and good luck. Who
paid the bigger bribes? Who made the right promises in future job offers? Who
can put the most pressure on to make people afraid for their jobs? No way a
contract that big goes on merit. Zero chance. Have you ever seen Washington IT
up close? It's utterly sickening and the Pentagon is the very worst offender.
Hi Oracle! No you should still not exist.

So why do you think Bezos thinks making this speech, devoid of content but a
pledge of alliance to the Pentagon is a worthwhile investment of the time of
the world's richest man? Consider travel time etc as well.

Why does he even want this contract at all because it's clear he does.

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mindslight
A powerful beneficiary of the US empire expresses continued moral support for
it, advocating for both his current revenue as well as the future prospect of
newly conquered markets. How is this in any way noteworthy?

The people at the pointy end of the stick similarly wish the bombs would stop
falling. They just lack the power to get this opinion published by mainstream
propaganda rags as if it were profound.

