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How to say no to a Facebook recruiter (and have it mean something)

4 points by ljw1001 ↗ HN
I sent this reply to a Facebook recruiter. It's equally fitting for Twitter. If you care about democracy, you might send something similar:

Thank you for reaching out, but for ethical reasons I have never worked for defense contractors.

Given how Russia uses Facebook to undermine democracy in the US, promote Brexit in England, and support right-wing extremists in Germany, France and elsewhere, working at Facebook is like working for a Russian defense contractor at a time of open hostility with the US. I don't know how any thinking person could do that.

If you have a channel for sending this message to people who could change that situation, please forward it.

Sincerely,

Larry

4 comments

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prolikewh0a
Your own country undermines Democracy all around the world on a much larger scale, and has been doing so since its inception. It even undermines Democracy inside of itself. This is hypocritical and seriously narrow minded.
angersock
Facebook is still quite the problem though.
ljw1001
If you're arguing that Facebook and Twitter aren't being used to push extremism you're wrong. If you're saying it doesn't matter because the US (and others) are flawed, you're wrong.
prolikewh0a
>If you're arguing that Facebook and Twitter aren't being used to push extremism you're wrong.

I never said any of that.

>If you're saying it doesn't matter because the US (and others) are flawed, you're wrong.

It really doesn't matter. Russia's involvement is so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. $100,000 in Russian ads, vs $6,800,000,000 spent by the campaigns, corporations, relentless Trump media coverage, and large donors, come on.

What country hasn't the USA interrupted a democratic process? Is it OK as long as we do it?