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Comment by jjj1232 | Hacker News Reader

I’m not the original commenter so I’m only speaking for myself here but if a company has shown itself to be ruthless and harmful (to its employees, the environment, small businesses) I don’t think you need to give them the benefit of the doubt when they do a solitary good thing.

I’ll give Amazon props when they start supporting warehouse unionization, lobby the govt for a carbon tax, sell off Whole Foods, AWS, amazon basics + all in-house home goods into separate entities. Of course that will never happen because anything that actually stops the harm that Amazon does would be detrimental to the business.

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So you don't support any big company? Which company is supporting unionisation? Hell, most big tech companies don't even employ non professional workers directly, instead as a contractor.

So which is the noble big company you support? Which has sold of all diversified businesses? A company doing what you are suggesting will not even survive for long.

No, I can’t think of any big company I support.

Amazon, Google, Apple, Exxon, etc. are all built on exploitation.

My point wasn’t that Amazon is more evil than other corporations, I think that’s only marginally true. Probably only because of how much more efficient they are than a lot of companies.

While I agree with you, I think your criticism is better directed toward capitalism, not the winners within it. This is a structural problem.

The problem remains in any other system though. In Communism, the winners would be the politburo members instead of bigco executives.

In fact, that’s the argument for capitalism:

All of these systems suck, so let’s favor people who can lead voluntary large tribes over the politically connected, such as the politburo.

You’re probably right! I do think our culture of praising the wealthy for handing out pennies is a huge smokescreen that avoids actual change, but you’re right that posting comments on HN is not going to do much to change public opinion.

If the companies society relies on are built on exploitation, maybe it's time to revisit the entire notion of exploitation and what it means. I feel exploited by my government because I put in much more than I receive but I have come to terms with it because it's necessary. Worse yet, I have much less choice in the matter than someone using Apple iPhones or Google Search or Amazon Prime.

If it's all or nothing like you're expecting, I expect it will never happen. If the public majority holds your opinion (I suspect it might) then Amazon will continue to operate lawfully but unethically since there's nothing to gain unless they effectively cease existing. The current modus operandi seems to be working for them so I don't see that changing just to have the public spit in their face for not doing enough overnight.

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