Time to take a stand

Tech companies helped stop SOPA through coordinated messaging to users DIRECTLY through their services.

It's the only industry that has so much leverage for so little cost (free effectively)

Let's put it to use.

Some ideas where Stackoverflow could have some influence:

• Figure out a way to solve the hard problem of how do people have constructive, respectful political dialog online that doesn't turn into personal attacks. Seems adjacent to Q&A with lots of community building aspects. See also Neutral Politics
• Advertising/Campaigns to support ACLU and other resistance groups (not excluding conservative organizations, such as Evan McMullin's Stand Up Republic)
• Provide guidance/areas where techies can contribute their skills to resisting Trump/Banon, helping their colleagues internationally, etc.
• Pressure large multinational corps like Google to more forcefully do what they can
• Organize an international developer strike/walk out on one day.

Joel - we'd love to see some big companies join our cause and resist the hateful policies and ones that separate instead of unify. What can we do to encourage more to join us in that effort and what do you see as some good next steps to stopping the hate?

Joel,

Thank you. Thank you for creating Stack Overflow. Thank you for teaching this much, and for taking it political. I hope all business owners will speak out loud.

I just wanted to add one more thing: it doesn't matter if there's bad mean people. There will always be evil. There will always be trolls and haters in the internet. Still, Stack Overflow community has the best out of being open and free, and border-less. We protect each other. We review each other. We edit each other. We help each other.

We (amongst many other communities and companies) have already proven that it is a good thing to be diverse.

All my life i've been working with people from different nationalities and cultures i'm pretty sure that one of the ways to develop an enterprise, region, community, country, etc. is the inclusion.

"The only way to build a successful world today is to allow the contributions of everyone."

i can say that i'm against the people who break the rules, but in this case we are talking about to stop the diversity, contribution and the comunion between the people who live in this planet.

this day i can say that i'm so proud to be into this great community, and i hope not see some kind of wall here.

I propose organize an international developers movement to promote an inclusive society.

United we stand!

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

That includes here, at Stack Overflow.

So what does taking a stand look like?

Here, perhaps there will not be much change as Stack Overflow itself is already an open and welcoming community focused on content and not user attributes.

From my point of view we of similar belief do have the availability to enact change elsewhere though. There is only one reprieve from the recent unconstitutional acts, and the unfortunate truth is that it is a slow process.

We must commit to pressing for a lawsuit against the unconstitutional executive orders. These acts damage our community here, and challenge our moral integrity.

We must respond to this challenge. State governors or entities who can represent damages have the right to sue the President for these acts. It is up to us to convince them to do so. This is done very simply by taking only 2 minutes out of your day to contact your local representative, and calmly but persistently (daily) explaining how the specific executive order is damaging.

Luckily, there was already a lawsuit from an individual citing damages against the recent immigration ban. Bringing a lawsuit against an unconstitutional executive order is the most effective path towards making the situation right, and we are morally obligated to do so.

Each executive order has a number, here is the list of recent ones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_executive_orders_13765_and_above

Here is where you can find your local representative's phone number: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Or if you would like to look by name or region, here is a list of all of them: http://www.house.gov/representatives/

You are guaranteed to speak with a real person representing the office of the representative you call by using the numbers from those lists.

But the root cause is Trump.

So what if Trump’s executive order on immigration is lifted. What about the wall between the US and Mexico that's going to be funded by 20% import tax which will end up being paid mostly by American consumers?

What about public health insurance? After all economy is like a pie, if you don't make it bigger, then when someone takes more, someone else will get less.

There are only two ways that you can influence another person or another country 1) reward/help or 2) punishment/war. By removing a country's involvement from world affairs, you also basically remove your influence in the world. So maybe Trump's vision is for the US to become a stand alone country.

But Trump is a business man and good business man adapt. Let's hope he can figure out what does work vs what does not work fast even if that means breaking most of his election promises.