Revision 1 · Sep 14, 2022 5:38pm · View this (the most recent) version (v2)

Following Moritz Wa's suggestion, link to definition of the term 'blood money'. Also, fix typo.

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ From David Deutsch's *The Beginning of Infinity*, chapter 15, section 'Living wi

> [W]henever we find ourselves enacting a complex or narrowly defined behaviour that has been accurately repeated from one holder to the next, we should be suspicious.

Fourth, as much as I have criticized corporations, corporate donations – such as [the ones by Google](https://archive.ph/y6I4F) – are still infinitely better than government donations. Why? Because corporate donations are *voluntary*, whereas governments extort money from their subjects at gunpoint – taxation is theft – and so whatever government money goes to Ukraine is -blood money.+[blood money](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blood%20money). Of course, no American is morally *obligated* to help fix the misery in Ukraine, but if they *want* -do,+to, they're free to. As of March 16th, 2022, however, the Biden administration has spent [$2 billion](https://archive.ph/Ub482) in blood money on Ukraine, without the American people's consent.

From what I've read, it certainly *seems* to me that Russia is aggressively attacking Ukraine and that Ukraine should defend itself. I know virtually nothing else about these countries, so I won't comment further, except to say that before this war started, Ukraine wasn't this angel of a country it seems to be perceived as now – it definitely wasn't considered one of Europe's finest. Does that justify war? No, that's not what I'm saying. But I certainly won't blindly 'stand with Ukraine' like everyone else who's stopped thinking for themselves.

Original · Apr 07, 2022 5:31am · View this version (v1)

# Ukraine

I want to make some observations on how people have been reacting to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

First, I am no expert on what's happening there, which brings me to my initial observation: that many of those who tweet about the war speak with the confidence of an expert. But they can't all be experts because there aren't millions of them not residing in Ukraine.

Second, big tech companies, in their pathetic left-wing desire to belong and be 'the good guys', jump on the opportunity to signal their support even though their business has virtually nothing to do with the war.

GitHub, a collaboration tool for software engineers, has a prominent banner on their homepage when you're logged in, with their logo in the colors of the Ukrainian flag:

<img alt="GitHub's Ukraine banner" src="/assets/github_ukraine.png" class="mx-auto d-block">

Oh good. But what does collaboration in software engineering have to do with war or humanitarian aid?

They link to an [article](http://web.archive.org/web/20220406050644/https://github.blog/2022-03-02-our-response-to-the-war-in-ukraine/) titled 'Our response to the war in Ukraine'. GitHub, you don't need to respond to that. You're not a press secretary. You're in the business of building tools for developers, not commenting on global politics. The author starts the article by saying "I wanted to share [something oh-so relevant in these challenging times] with our *Hubbers*" (emphasis added). Hubbers! 'Yes, it's a response to war, but that's no reason for us not to have fun, right guys?' The article piggy-backs on *others* using GitHub to provide humanitarian aid, showcases what goody two-shoes GitHub are by complying with any and all regulations, and then closes with a Corona-esque section on how they prioritize "Hubber safety and well-being". Corporate virtue signaling at its finest.

Slack, a site for chatting with coworkers, has likewise [changed their logo](https://archive.ph/aOUFL) to match the Ukrainian colors.

React, a popular (but awful) *library for web development* created by Facebook – again, nothing to do with war or humanitarian efforts – has a prominent [banner](http://web.archive.org/web/20220406045657/https://reactjs.org/docs/getting-started.html) at the top of their homepage:

<img alt="React's Ukraine banner" src="/assets/react_ukraine.png" class="mx-auto d-block">

A *competing* (and comparatively less awful) product, Angular, created by Google, has the identical [banner](https://archive.ph/g4RXg) on their website. I'm no lawyer, but whoever posted it first may well have a valid copyright claim against the other:

<img alt="Angular's Ukraine banner" src="/assets/angular_ukraine.png" class="mx-auto d-block">

It's the same banner, down to capitalization and punctuation! It seems as though one rushed to imitate the other so as not to be behind in the social-justice-warrior popularity contest. At least Amazon has [shown](https://archive.ph/ZCm78) a little more creativity:

<img alt="Amazon's Ukraine banner" src="/assets/amazon_ukraine.png" class="mx-auto d-block">

Google has published a [statement](https://archive.ph/y6I4F) on Ukraine. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has [tweeted](https://archive.ph/TkjNN) about being "deeply concerned" about it. Cook in particular posts lots of social-justice-warrior content on his Twitter page, such as the altruist "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" quote by MLK and the pronouns in [his bio](https://archive.ph/OmD1F), and his tweets about [Ramadan](https://archive.ph/OwZaT) and ['trans visibility day'](https://archive.ph/CJdvO). Can you imagine Steve Jobs tweeting any of this if he were still alive?

Only a few weeks ago, every big tech company was an expert on immunology and the spread of viruses. Now they're experts on foreign policy. The same goes, as others have pointed out, for all those Twitter users who comment on the situation in Ukraine as if they knew what they're talking about, even though they've never once tweeted about Ukraine before.

The whole thing is a bit reminiscent of when a celebrity dies. Suddenly, everyone tweets about how that death has impacted them personally and how much they admired that celebrity. Only they never once spoke about that celebrity when he was still alive.

It's also reminiscent of big tech companies unanimously supporting an [anti-American, revolutionary organization](/posts/what-to-do-in-the-face-of-corporate-wokeism) known as Black Lives Matter. Tech companies had similar banners proclaiming that black lives mattered.

These corporations' support feels orchestrated and insincere. It seems to come from a place of: 'if we *don't* post these banners or make these statements, people will judge us for it'. It does not feel like people coming together in a beautiful display to fight injustice – it feels *fake*.

Third, when behavior is repeated so accurately, rapidly, and on such a large scale, that should make us *skeptical*. The two competing projects posting the same banners are a prime example of that.

From David Deutsch's *The Beginning of Infinity*, chapter 15, section 'Living with memes':

> [W]henever we find ourselves enacting a complex or narrowly defined behaviour that has been accurately repeated from one holder to the next, we should be suspicious.

Fourth, as much as I have criticized corporations, corporate donations – such as [the ones by Google](https://archive.ph/y6I4F) – are still infinitely better than government donations. Why? Because corporate donations are *voluntary*, whereas governments extort money from their subjects at gunpoint – taxation is theft – and so whatever government money goes to Ukraine is blood money. Of course, no American is morally *obligated* to help fix the misery in Ukraine, but if they *want* do, they're free to. As of March 16th, 2022, however, the Biden administration has spent [$2 billion](https://archive.ph/Ub482) in blood money on Ukraine, without the American people's consent.

From what I've read, it certainly *seems* to me that Russia is aggressively attacking Ukraine and that Ukraine should defend itself. I know virtually nothing else about these countries, so I won't comment further, except to say that before this war started, Ukraine wasn't this angel of a country it seems to be perceived as now – it definitely wasn't considered one of Europe's finest. Does that justify war? No, that's not what I'm saying. But I certainly won't blindly 'stand with Ukraine' like everyone else who's stopped thinking for themselves.

You're not supposed to criticize Ukraine. You're supposed to go along, support the underdog *uncritically* (and pay his expenses along the way). This uncritical attitude is dangerous, especially in foreign politics, where one hasty decision due to cultural pressures can change the course of history for the worse.

Think for yourself.