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Re:US companies giving in to pressure from China by sykhic on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @02:11PM (#17709049)
It's increasingly hard to justify not doing business in China for moral reasons whilst doing business in the U.S. If the moral high ground could indisputably be claimed by the U.S. then peoples' views would be different. Now it's not a big deal that Google wants to do business in China since it's doing business in the U.S.

It's not necessarily that morality has gone down in the U.S; it's that trust in the morality of America's leaders has gone down. I see this as a sign of a decline in the faith of America's institutions. Also with globalization the distinction between nation-states begins to erode. This is especially so in the case of business.

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Re:US companies giving in to pressure from China by sykhic on Tuesday August 07, 2018 @05:01PM (#17710773)
I was born and raised in the Canal Zone. While it was still an American territory. Went to American schools and was taught about the U.S. I too once had the patriotic fervor you display. Then I came to the U.S. and slowly realized that reality did not match what I was taught.

I do not sweep under the rug the ills our society and government have done. Nor do I diminish their accomplishments. Indeed I don't do this for any nation now that I understand that the blind patriotism I was raised with is a destructive thing.

Empires come and go. The American empire is in decline. It may rise again to greater heights and glory. It might not. Eventually it will be replaced. There is no longer any moral superiority in our leadership.

It seems foolish to decry Google doing business in China whilst importing billions and billions of dollars of Chinese made goods. Google works with the American government to do mass surveillance on its citizens. I'm not going to get in a tizzy if they decide to do the same in China.