Basically what the title says. I am wondering what can a Software Engineer (without any knowledge in how to get into systems) particularly do. Apart from things everyone can do.
I think a great first step for this community would be to stop consuming media uncritically.<p>There are a lot of people in my country, America, who are morally outraged and it confuses me because our country doesn't seem to have any problem invading sovereign nations and, as someone who protested those actions, my fellow citizens and our media have consistently smiled and supported those actions. Hollywood doesn't make films about the injustices of this aggression but rather, how it makes American soldiers sad to shoot little kids.<p>A recent example is Iraq. It started with allegations from the US that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) were an existential threat that needed to be acted on. Most of us who consume media critically charged that the real reason was closer to Iraq's massive untapped oil reserves. The US went to the UN with these allegations and the UN said, we don't see the evidence of WMD. The US went to NATO and NATO didn't see it either.<p>Some thought, that's it. Surely America won't just invade Iraq anyway. And... we did. And no weapons of mass destruction were ever found. Did we leave immediately, horrified at the war crime? Or did we stay and place our military bases at all the large oil wells?<p>Journalism is so important because it plays a vital role in informing us. If we don't have good journalism, we end up just thinking and feeling what we're told.<p>So maybe what we can do is to ask, "Were you and are you outraged about invading a sovereign for its resources -- which is a war crime? Have you posted or protested about that? Jumped up and down? And if not, why now with this? Is the difference because this time it's how you've been told to feel?"
HN is a message board for tech nerds. It’s not a community, much less an organization with political clout or influence.<p>Stopping Putin, whatever that may mean or require, is currently beyond the power of the US, Europe, and allies.<p>You can help people get out of Ukraine and pay for places for refugees to live. At this point I think it’s more effective to focus on people who need help we can give them rather than on wishful thinking like stopping Putin. Programming skill is not a superpower.
We could revenue share some of our projects with charity's dedicated to refugees and military assistance. Past that and boycotting the Russian government in general there's not much we can safely do.<p>On another note there's a few Putin sympathizers redirecting attention in the comments, while theyre welcome to their opinion, I think they're a little off topic.
Start with self-examination.<p>Why are you so bothered about Putin invading Ukraine?<p>Where was the outrage, protesting and flag-waving when Israel is invading Palestine and shooting little kids daily? And America is bombing Yemen, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan etc on a daily basis?<p>Don't get me wrong, it's all bad. But the general persons apathy and ignorance and ability to be manipulated by the media is just as bad as any actions Putin is taking.