The parent is being a bit of a dick, but he does have a point. Not every job in the world is ethical, and simply being good at something is not always enough reason to do it for a living.

This is ultimately a deeply personal choice that everyone has to make, but sometimes we really can't both have our cake and eat it too.

I also work at a government sponsored R&D lab, so I'm familiar with the conundrum (not for myself - I'm just a dumbass programmer whose skills are so pitifully generic I could go literally anywhere in the world... some of my colleagues - not so much)

It is a deeply personal choice. It's also one that doesn't get any easier when people insist on being dicks about it.

I don't know why it's so important that some random HN contributor be polite about this. Isn't everyone here speaking to you, and not your friends? Why does their tone matter so much?

Given that the context is that culture matters and that HN attitudes are relevant, I'm attempting to make the point that being rude does not help shape the attitudes in the way we-the-commentariat want.