Ethics and Job-Hunting

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

With so many people losing jobs and everyone else worried about keeping 
them, I'm curious: are there any types of tech-writing jobs that people 
wouldn't take?

Off the top of my head, I wouldn't take tech-writing or marketing jobs 
in the following areas:

- pornography: So far as I'm concerned, not only the viewed, but also 
the viewer are being exploited. Both are generally being manipulated by 
their needs. It's an industry that takes advantage of people where 
they're most vulnerable. But my overall impression is one of immense bad 
taste.

- gambling: Another area that exploits people where they're vulnerable.

- weapons: I almost wrote "defence," but then I thought that I would 
have no trouble writing for medical software that was used in war, or 
even documenting neutral hardware, such as rust detectors that might 
save lives. But, while not a pacifist on a person-to-person level, I 
don't like the thought of my work helping to kill.

- snooper ware: I'm thinking here of software that collects information 
on people, whether in e-commerce or in programs like the FBI's 
Carnivore. In the wrong hands (and virtually everybody's hands are the 
wrong ones, so far as I'm concerned), this information can be easily 
abused, and violate privacy.

Probably, there are people whose reaction to this list is simply: "Good. 
That's one less competitor." And, probably, too, these reservations 
don't help career building. But, then, I don't really care much about a 
career as opposed to making a living. Anything you build over the years 
can be torn apart in days by enemies, bad luck, or the government 
anyway. I'd rather live with myself. Besides, I've had the chance to 
work for both gambling and snooper ware companies, and my distaste was 
so strong that I would have done a poor job if I had tried to ignore it.

Other people, of course, might feel differently about these areas. Fair 
enough. I'm not trying to convert anyone to my viewpoint, much less 
start a debate about side issues such as whether these areas can be 
judged objectively wrong. I'm only delineating my personal limits.

But enough about me. Does anyone else have areas that they would have 
scruples about?

--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"Humpty Dumpty was pushed: head over heels all over the wall,
Humpty Dumpty was pushed: nobody noticed at all,
And all the king's horses and all the king's men
Gathered round Humpty and kicked him again;
And they called for a priest and a couple of friends,
And they all stood around and chanted, Amen."
-Tommy Sands, "Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed




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