Ask Lemmy

39765 readers

1172 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

Bluetreefrog@lemmy.world

Asudox@lemmy.world

lemmy_bot@lemmy.world

beefbaby182@lemmy.world

ModeratorCan@lemmy.world

neidu3@sh.itjust.works

asudox@lemmy.asudox.dev

candyman337@lemmy.world

candyman337@sh.itjust.works

Can someone who works in an industry or for an employer with clear negative impacts on society/the world maintain a clear concience? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 3 days ago by Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

91 comments fedilink hide all child comments

As someone who is currently still in education for their degree looking at the current (and likely future) economic and societal outlook, it seems like employment in fields that cause/perpetuate negative issues in the world (Big Tech/Military-Industrial Complex, industries contributing to climate change, predatory sales/financial firms) continue to maintain strong employment availability and salaries as time goes on.

However, fields that have a neutral or beneficial impact on society and the world (Medical care, Food service, public infrastructure, humanitarian aid work, environmental research), either don't have enough available positions that people are able to transition into, have worsening working conditions due to poor management or limited resources, or just don't pay a living wage to most who work there.

I've read about the broken window fallacy, and I understand how focusing on personal gain without considering the impacts on the wider picture doesn't make for a better world. But can someone feel justified contributing to the "broken windows" of the world knowing that they weren't presented functional alternative pathways, and try to contribute towards the solution in other ways?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] forkDestroyer@infosec.pub 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If people try their best to make it work and fail: I don’t think they’ve made the choice to fail.

yes, but they make the choice to stop trying, and then then are guaranteed to fail.

I never said they stopped trying. You can keep trying and keep failing. There's a point in time where something becomes essentially impossible to succeed at with your current resources (including time).

Take the class example you were giving, where your nephew didn't get a perfect grade and gave up/adopted a bad attitude that made his academic progress falter.

Isolate this time period to one packed class. Some students are going to sleep through class and still get an A. Others are going to try and study every night, yet still get a back grade. Others will be like your nephew, sure. This is the reality of life. That doesn't mean they should give up for the next class, but surely you see what I'm saying, right? Once the class ends, there's no opportunity to go back in time and get a better grade.

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

and what you don't get, is that some people stop trying entirely and basically just fail automatically, and then blame other people for this, because they refuse to take responsibility for themselves.

sorry, have you never known people like this? I haven't known person after person after person like this. They are everywhere.

[–] forkDestroyer@infosec.pub 2 points 1 day ago

and what you don’t get, is that some people stop trying entirely and basically just fail automatically, and then blame other people for this, because they refuse to take responsibility for themselves.

I'm not referring to those people, though. You are. I agree that they exist and that they chose the wrong path.

I'm referring to the people that try and still fail, as per my original post. Can you acknowledge them?