• socsa
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    2416 hours ago

    It’s not like China is going to stop making weapons if I refuse to make weapons.

    • @[email protected]
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      25 hours ago

      “I can’t force the world to behave as I would like it, so I may as well not have morals”

      • @Valmond
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        12 hours ago

        You know, every country has an army. Either their own, or another country’s…

      • ZeroOne
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        45 hours ago

        Ask the dead about honour

    • @bitwaba
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      2615 hours ago

      My parents said the same thing about air pollution and carbon emissions

      • socsa
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        1515 hours ago

        I suppose the difference is that a country doesn’t just get conquered by force if it stops polluting.

      • @finitebanjo
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        14 hours ago

        Almost all pollution is by industries and not your parents, so…

        If anything you could criticize them if they voted to keep the pollution going.

        • @[email protected]
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          212 hours ago

          Buying a big SUV, shopping at h&m, eating red meat multiple times a week, and flying to the other side of the world during summer, are all worse than voting for climate change. Companies don’t pollute for the sake of it.

          • @finitebanjo
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            12 hours ago

            Check out the EPA’s stats on ghg emissions at this LINK. 28% of emissions total are from non-agriculture/shipping transportation, and if you break that down then 57% of the 28% are light duty vehicles, all larger road vehicles are 23%, and aircraft are 9%.

            Since 2005 emissions carbon-equivalent total of the USA has fallen about a billion metric tons thanks to awareness and federal programs to reduce and eliminate emissions, almost exclusively in the Electrical Power sector.

            So even if you cut out all consumer non-business transport you’re left with 72% of emissions. A person who votes to curttail polution does more good than a person who drives a hybrid.

            • BigAssFan
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              49 hours ago

              Hybrids don’t reduce CO2 emissions that much anyway. Better to go all electric and vote for climate protection.

      • stebo
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        15 hours ago

        yeah this is a really stupid argument

        “It’s not like Israël is gonna stop killing Palestinians if I refuse to kill Palestinians”

        • @finitebanjo
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          414 hours ago

          I mean

          That’s true tho, pretty much nobody else murders Palestiniains but Israel still does.

          Change on all of these scales has to come from societies around the world, not from individuals.

          • @UnderpantsWeevil
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            4 hours ago

            pretty much nobody else murders Palestiniains but Israel still does.

            https://afsc.org/gaza-genocide-companies

            Shortly after Oct. 7, the U.S. government started transferring massive amounts of weapons to Israel. By Dec. 25, Israel received more than 10,000 tons of weapons in 244 cargo planes and 20 ships from the U.S. These transfers included more than 15,000 bombs and 50,000 artillery shells within just the first month and a half. These transfers have been deliberately shrouded in secrecy to avoid public scrutiny and prevent Congress from exercising any meaningful oversight. Between October and the beginning of March, the U.S. approved more than 100 military sales to Israel, but publicly disclosed only two sales. A list of known U.S. arms transfers is maintained by the Forum on the Arms Trade.

            Much of these weapons were purchased using U.S. taxpayers’ money through the Foreign Military Sales program, while some were direct commercial sales purchased through Israel’s own budget. An undisclosed amount of weapons was also transferred from U.S. military stockpiles already stored in Israel, known as War Reserves Stock Allies-Israel (WRSA-I). The use of WRSA-I to provide Israel with weapons serves to further obfuscate the full picture of U.S. arms transfers, as there is no public record of these stockpiles’ inventory.

            This is a form of corporate welfare not only for the largest weapons manufacturers, like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, and General Dynamics, which have seen their stock prices skyrocket, but also for companies that are not typically seen as part of the weapons industry, such as Caterpillar, Ford, and Toyota (see below).

            • @finitebanjo
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              24 hours ago

              I’m not saying the US government and US citizens aren’t contributing, but almost nobody, and I did specify that earlier, is going to get out of their chair, fly to Israel, and pull the trigger. At the end of the day, Israelis are the ones killing people no matter where the weapons come from. Whether or not each individual american decides to fly to palestine to commit a war crime doesn’t have any impact on the war crimes being committed: votes do.

              • @UnderpantsWeevil
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                11 hour ago

                almost nobody, and I did specify that earlier, is going to get out of their chair, fly to Israel, and pull the trigger

                Why would you need to fly to Israel when you can pilot a drone bomber from Langley?

          • stebo
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            314 hours ago

            yes but I’m saying that doesn’t mean you should just start killing Palestinians as well

    • @[email protected]
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      613 hours ago

      Doesn’t make you any less responsible when the fruits of your labor are used to murder civilians.

      • @stoicmaverick
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        89 hours ago

        What if I have only ever worked constructively on anti-missile defense systems?

        • @[email protected]
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          38 hours ago

          That’s a harder question to answer and depends more on your own moral compass. Do you believe that having better defensive capabilities empowers the users of your creation to feel safe enough to do evil things? I certainly don’t think you could absolve the makers of anti-missile systems who supply militaries that are committing genocide.

          • @BigMikeInAustin
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            18 hours ago

            Such as if Trump would start to send anti-missile systems to Russia.

    • @UnderpantsWeevil
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      112 hours ago

      If we don’t build the bombs dropped on Gaza, China will.

        • @UnderpantsWeevil
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          4 hours ago

          https://afsc.org/gaza-genocide-companies

          Between October and the beginning of March, the U.S. approved more than 100 military sales to Israel, but publicly disclosed only two sales. A list of known U.S. arms transfers is maintained by the Forum on the Arms Trade.

          Much of these weapons were purchased using U.S. taxpayers’ money through the Foreign Military Sales program, while some were direct commercial sales purchased through Israel’s own budget. An undisclosed amount of weapons was also transferred from U.S. military stockpiles already stored in Israel, known as War Reserves Stock Allies-Israel (WRSA-I). The use of WRSA-I to provide Israel with weapons serves to further obfuscate the full picture of U.S. arms transfers, as there is no public record of these stockpiles’ inventory.

          This is a form of corporate welfare not only for the largest weapons manufacturers, like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, and General Dynamics, which have seen their stock prices skyrocket, but also for companies that are not typically seen as part of the weapons industry, such as Caterpillar, Ford, and Toyota (see below).

    • @PugJesus
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      215 hours ago

      I wonder how many arms companies aren’t involved with Israel.

      • Mr Fish
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        515 hours ago

        Potentially the prosthetic arm companies

        • @dx1
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          15 hours ago

          When you realize they actually have an adverse incentive to support indiscriminate bombardment…