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Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

(blog.emojipedia.org)
1456 points pulisse | 1 comments | 07 Oct 19 16:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.53s | source
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tibbon ◴[07 Oct 19 18:36 UTC] No.21184395[source]▶
What's it take for an engineer in the US to actually do something like this?

If my boss/product manager wanted me to do something like this, I'd be calling them out for shitty politics, and telling them they need to find a new engineer because I'd quit immediately - and likely incite others to come with me.

Maybe I have a higher sense of morality than others, but I'm no shill for China's power over Taiwan. I can use my entitlement/privilege as an engineer to say "fuck off" to anyone who wants me to do things I find immoral. Furthering the needs of a power hungry regime looking to assert dominance over others? Nope. I spend all my day working to further democracy and freedom, not to enable free thought and self-determination to be squashed.

Whoever coded this change and approved this PR, shame on you.

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L_Rahman ◴[07 Oct 19 19:12 UTC] No.21184784[source]▶
There is way for engineers to exercise their power to prevent things like this from happening, but it can only happen through collective action.

Getting fired for not acceding to a demand like this isn't the result of an individual manager making a decision but the entire apparatus of corporate governance coming to bear on the person. It can be only be meaningfully resisted and fought with an equally organized group of engineers.

If you're on Hacker News, and our industry's willingness to compromise on fundamental values to maintain access to "the world's largest market" upsets you -

Join or start a union.

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1. AmericanChopper ◴[07 Oct 19 19:53 UTC] No.21185243[source]▶
So you’re proposing a union that engages in political activism? I presume people who didn’t agree with the political stances adopted by the union would be expected to start their own competing union to represent their own political interests. Would sure be interesting to see one union threatening action if an employer chooses to do something, with a competing union threatening to take action if they choose not to. Or perhaps this just isn’t a problem you can solve with a union, and would be better addressed by having individuals putting consideration into where they work. Something I believe people already do.