> Afghanistan is often described as a “failed state,” but, in light of the outright thievery on display, Chayes began to reassess the problem. This wasn’t a situation in which the Afghan government was earnestly trying, but failing, to serve its people. The government was actually succeeding, albeit at “another objective altogether”—the enrichment of its own members.

A few paragraphs later:

> In the face of flagrant misappropriation, she found, ordinary citizens could experience a sense of grievance so potent that it filled them with something worse than anger—a desire for revenge. Nurallah, an employee at the factory who once worked as a police officer, told her about the humiliation that his brother experienced during a shakedown by Afghan police. “If I see someone plant an I.E.D. on the road, and then I see a police truck coming... I will not warn them,” Nurallah said. This is the central revelation in “Thieves of State”: at a certain point, systemic corruption became not just a lamentable by-product of the war but an accelerant of conflict. All those bribes and kickbacks radicalized the local population, turning it against the Afghan government and, at least some of the time, toward the Taliban.

In america, there appears to be zero diffetence.

Do they? I would like to read more about that, could you please point out an article or source? I'm not a US citizen nor I live in the States, but I am curious.

Ergo, they have an anti-fascist position, which currently also means they have an anti-tech position. And yes, I work in tech as a developer.

What does this all still have to do with Making the World a Better Place and all that other dumb shit Stanford and Google and all these other Silicon Valley institutions blurted out for decades?

Surely there's a difference between demonising people who disagree on the value of mushrooms in meals and demonising people who support a bigot?

Also, you lot conveniently pick and choose when to apply this, as I'm sure no one would make the same arguments for people who supported Hitler.

Like where has the decency gone am I right??

Fascinating how this is only ever used as bludgeon in one direction. Never used when people talk about immigrants eating pets or being “vermin”, or when someone asks that you call them she/her or they/them. I wonder why that is. Surely not an abject lack of moral consistency.

> What he does with his own money is none of anyone's business.

Nah, if I don’t like where my money flows after I spend it, I am perfectly free to spend it in other ways. I’m sorry people like you dislike my freedom of association.

They demonized themselves when they support a demon. There is no negotiating with bad faith sociopaths. Its been 10 years of crime after crime, are you blind? Do you read anything?