blindedtrickster

blindedtrickster t1_jc2tsga wrote

> we shouldn't blame individuals for the flaws in a system

I still disagree with this mentality. If you recognize that it's a bad system, what reasonable basis is there to conclude that taking advantage of a bad aspect of a system doesn't assign some level of 'badness' to a person?

Elon's system has helped Ukraine, yes, but he's still looking at is as 'how profitable can this be for me?'. Profit as a primary motive is incredibly dangerous and I don't think it's a good thing. Profit isn't inherently bad, but when profit takes the form of price gouging, it clearly is bad. So there is some form of line in the sand where 'don't hate the player, hate the game' stops being a defendable perspective.

Elon didn't create the technology and he almost doubled the cost to Ukraine-based Starlink subscriptions. He saw an opportunity for more profit and had no problem with it. He didn't care about what negative effects that could/would have on Ukraine.

So no, 'don't hate the player, hate the game' isn't a good methodology. It's bad because bad players working to create a rigged game. If you're unwilling to look at the people creating a rigged game and simply blame the game, you won't ever fix the game.

Finally, it's not a game. It's entire economies and real people. It's regular people's livelihoods. It's important.

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blindedtrickster t1_jc29hqd wrote

xD

How many times has any variant of 'Don't hate the player, hate the game" been a reasonable argument?

It's way more valid to recognize, as you may have been trying to do, that responsibility doesn't lie with only one individual. You could have easily said that Elon's actions are rediculous and simultaneously lampooned American capitalism, and government, as being a massively influential in Elon's efforts.

But you didn't. You basically said that Elon's not the problem. That's not true. He's not the only problem. Hell, he's not the biggest problem either! But he's part of a compounding problem.

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