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I'm slowly making my way out of tech and going into food preparation for the poor. I previously thought working at one of these companies to extract as much mon
by UncleMeat 14d ago
I'm slowly making my way out of tech and going into food preparation for the poor. I previously thought working at one of these companies to extract as much money from them as possible so that I could provide as many meals to the poor as possible using that money was the best thing to do. I'm less sure about that today.
I'm sure that some of the people I work with at food banks are homophobic because they hold a particularly conservative version of their faith. I'm also sure that they aren't directly working with the government to cause material harm to marginalized people, which I cannot say about my current employer.
- Huarache1 14d agoYou can disagree with someone while still treating them the best they can. A Doctor shouldn't leave a patient mid-surgery simply because he found out he's an Anti-Vaxxer or votes a certain way. Similarly I have no doubt the Food Banks have people who hold such views. But it doesn't matter if they are still willing to give food even to homeless, possibly even homeless people who are homosexual (statistically homosexual people are more likely to be in poverty or homeless). It's still a net positive action if they are giving food to those they deem as against their beliefs. Praying for your "enemies", both real or imagined, is a tenet for Christianity.
- UncleMeat 13d agoA doctor refusing to heal a bigot is not even remotely the same thing as refusing to work for a megacorp because of their direct involvement in military action that kills children.
- Timon3 13d agoWhile the action itself maybe be positive, that does not mean the net sum of their actions is positive. It's entirely possible to earn money doing something good or neutral, only to use it in ways that cause comparatively greater harm. > Praying for your "enemies", both real or imagined, is a tenet for Christianity. At the same time, a lot of Christians find great satisfaction in the idea that their enemies will be damned to an eternity of suffering. Not the majority of Christians, but I'd be very surprised if it's less than 10%.
- Huarache1 13d agoI think Foodbanks giving food to the poor, regardless of who the poor genuinely are (arguably not caring about what they believe or vote for, but still choosing to help them), is still a net positive action. Actions often speak louder than words.
- Timon3 13d agoDon't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing with you that giving food to the poor is almost always a good action! My objection is strictly with the "net" part, because IMO calling almost anything on its own a "net positive action" is a category mistake. To give a fictional yet IMO realistic example, what if the food bank is specifically created by investors to squash locally-owned businesses in very poor neighborhoods, only to then be closed down once everyone has to buy everything externally again? Those food banks would be a net negative action if they succeeded. This is not meant as a critique of real food banks, it's just meant to show that the context must be taken into account to judge the "net effect" of any action.