this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2025
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askchapo

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What Do I Say to Someone Who Has a Lead With a Job in the Military Industrial Complex? (hexbear.net)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by Shaleesh@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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Hello Hexbears!

I am acquaintances with a student who has a very likely lead on a software development position with a major military equipment manufacturer. He is VERY excited about this. Now, I don't know him too well but we are close enough to have a conversation and I would like to try to prevent him from going down this path. Especially considering he has other, less blood-soaked leads. His politics are unclear but from what I can gather he is vaguely progressive/berniecrat-ish, possibly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause but that's not 100% confirmed.

I have an idea of how I'm going to talk to him about this but I'm looking to see if anyone here has any experience regarding what is or is not effective in conversations like these.

Disorganized ramblingOk so I'm being vague about what company this is specifically for OPSEC reasons but from what I gather its pretty unambiguous that he would be contributing to the development of guided bombs, police surveillance, and networked weapons systems. Of course he has not actually said any of this. To him, the soon-to-be college grad its a high-paying job with some degree of prestige in a shitty labor market. The banality of evil in the imperial core I guess.

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[–] QuietCupcake@hexbear.net 15 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I'm curious how the rest of the conversation went after the "what do you mean?" question. Was it just a matter of ignorance (which is shocking enough itself for a supposed "anarchist") or did he actually try to argue that those who work for CIA/NSA aren't evil?

[–] GalaxyBrain@hexbear.net 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Wasnt time for a follow up. He should know better.

[–] Wolfman86@hexbear.net 5 points 5 months ago

For me punk means anarchist, but I suppose that doesn't automatically mean left.