More like if you dont like the 4 prolific posters’ personal take on communism. Lemmygrad gets so much hate because a few peoplewithj nothing better to do post 80% of the political content. Every collective (reddit) have their hive minds but Lemmygrad is like a small town church that prescribes exactly what you’re supposed to see and think. It’s pretty gross.
What do I want? I didn’t threaten to shoot another country’s planes out of the sky if one of their diplomats visited a different country. It sure sounds like the CCP wants your hot war. I want countries to not threaten actions that would result in WWIII in order to double down on a bullshit premise.
I know I’m posting on a server that believes China can do no wrong because they’re at odds with American and they even have “Communist” in their political party’s name, but the CCP is hot garbage and you don’t have to support it just because you recognize that Western capitalism is even hotter garbage. Simple minds see everything as binary with their good guys and bad guys and some very simple minds post here.
Tangentially, I’ve blocked a total of 4 people on this server and now see almost no world news or Communism posts. These prolific posters/commenters are creating the narratives that get acxepted here as “truth.” I know that reddit sucks for its bots and shills but at least you can see a little more than a couple people’s interpretations of what the left “is” and who is and isn’t a fake or undereducated leftist. Having nothing better to do than post and comment all day long doesn’t qualify anyone to be the arbiter of truth in terms of all leftist ideology. There are plenty of people on the far left who see the CCP as a corrupt, violent, controlling, uncaring organization that takes advantage of its citizens (at best) but you wouldn’t know it from spending your time on this server.
I don’t understand how people here can be sold on the idea that the mega-rich use their wealth to corrupt institutions but can’t believe that Chinese billionaires could possibly be using influence to better themselves at the expense of the working class. Surely Mr. Make-Everyone-Work-12-Hours isn’t using his massive accumulated resources to corrupt any facet of Chinese governance. What level of cognitive dissonance is required to believe that he “earned” his wealth, in a socialist country no less.
I’ve found that people here are passionate in their hatred of capitalism and the unlimited ways it makes life worse for nearly every living thing on the planet, and that’s great. Then they’re told that socialism/communism is the answer that the other people who hate capitalism already accept so now they’ve got something to build an identity around. And once that happens it’s nigh impossible to convince them that China or even Russia is doing some heinous shit too because at some point the notion that “since the imperialists are awful, the socialists are perfect” became part of their DNA.
It’s no different thatn someone who sees the horrendous words and actions of America’s Republican party so they become a rabid Democratic, furiously defending anyone with a (D) next to their name. It’s the same polarization but it feels like the right kind to people because socialistis/communists are always the little guys and underdogs in every fight.
Instead of using something closer to the scientific method to learn and iterate on all good ideas from history, the “real leftists” like the one who dismissed my last comment and told me to read theory takes the Communist Manifesto - published 175 years ago - more as an immutable religious text instead of the start of sussing out some good ideas.
Anywho, vote down my comment because I didn’t say how amazing it must be to live in China and even questioned that the socialism itself is imperfect and subject to corruption as we see time and again from - you guessed it - China.
This probably isn’t the best place to ask that. I’ve found that any legitimate criticism of the Chinese government is met with people who will call you a neoliberal, a “useful idiot” (as below), a fake leftist, or being told that you buy into imperialist propaganda. Any source you provide that doesn’t support their personal narrative is fake and any pro-China news is absolute truth.
Nuance is not allowed here. Since capitalism is the bad guys (true) then a country that calls itself Socialist are the good guys and good guys can do no wrong. Therefore as you can see from every other response, “of course” China is socialist and not capitalist at all.
If you live in the west your primary job is to hold your own government accountable instead of perseverating over what Russia or China might be doing.
You didn’t mention that you lived in Ukraine. You should have led with that.
I don’t care than you posted something critical of Ukraine’s government. I don’t have a Ukrainian flag border around my Facebook profile picture, much less a Facebook account.
It would however be disingenuous of you to say you don’t understand why posting a critique on the government during its invasion looks like support for the invaders.
Your claim about providing people with information thst isn’t covered also fails the smell test. That’s literally what everyone says when they push their own beliefs. You cheerypick information, often from less that reputable sources.
I rarely comment because it exhausts me. I won’t keep going with this thread so feel free to get the last word.
I just wanted to put out there that seeing every issue as having 2 sides, one of which being wrong and one of which being your own is naïve at best. The US government sucks hard. So does Russia’s and China’s. You don’t have to pick one side or the other.
And despite their prolific posting OP is not a thought leader or arbiter or truth. They’re just another person on the internet who wants to tell you what to think. They found their truth and they’re not going to share or even give credence to anything that doesn’t support their opinion. It’s not “reporting non-msm news,” its just one person selectively sharing and ignoring information to fit their worldview. It’s not even subtle.
Posts and assertions and comments like these just make me so tired and disheartened. Instead of fighting for a better world people like OP pass off propaganda as fact because they have a mutual enemy with the propaganda’s author. I get that OP is trying to feel like part of a solution but it’s not honest and it’s filled with opinion which muddy the already blackened waters.
You’re right, it wasn’t the perfect article for my response. I was more responding to the general sentiment of you and the posts you make.
You can use the term “straw man” a hundred more times but it would be a very apparent lie for you to claim that you’re as critical of China or Russia as you are of western nations. You’re not fair because you’ve assumed that there’s 2 sides and that you picked the right one. Your black and white view of “good guys” and “bad guys” is no different than the political nonsense that’s on any msm channel or website. You think you’ve picked the right side just like everyone else has.
And before you remind me that I can’t draw that conclusion from this one article you posted, remember that everyone can see your prolific post and comment history.
So you have an opinion, so what. My whole point is that you and the the other China/Russia fanboys don’t hold them to the same standard as you do the West and that undermines the values you’re trying to share. You can be on the left and still think that the Chinese government treatment of Uyghurs are human rights violations. You can be critical of money in Russia that supposed to help people getting funneled to billionaires.
You said I’m ignoring the good like you claim that China is environmentally friendly but I’m not; that’s you projecting. Good things and bad things stand on their own. Hell, Trump did some things that had positive results. If I cite them and and don’t mention anything else was he an amazing president?
That’s how I view you. You picked your team and you you feel good about it because you see the other team as the capitalist hellholes but you ignore the terrible things that your team does.
There’s no teams, there’s just people. Treating them poorly isn’t exclusive to the West.
Sure, both things can be true. But why did you feel it needed to be said?
Everyone: “Did you hear that Sara was raped? Its absolutely terrible.”
You: “Did you know that Sara cheated on most of her exams in college and was jailed after being caught for shoplifting 4 different times? What’s wrong? Both things can be true.”
To more directly answer you question, I felt the need to write that because I often see from the most vocal “leftists” such as yourself an unwavering support of anything that Russia or China does because they say they’re communist nations. This is despite well-documented atrocities and corruption performed by these same noble governments.
It’s the same logic that brings many people to call themselves Democrats: “The Republicans are just awful so I’m going to support Democrat candidates no matter how reprehensible they themselves are.”
In this case, it’s that since capitalism and the governmenta that support it are truly reprehensible (true) then countries that say they aren’t capitalist are good (false). If that logic tracked then the Nazis were the good guys since they were the National Socialist Party.
That greed and mental illnesses that drive capitalism are destroying the planet but Russia and China aren’t the good guys and they’re not saving us either. I don’t see any good guys; I see different shades of bad guys and I’m tired of this notion that the enemies of the US need to be supported. They’re their own flavors of fascist dictatorships where admitting the wrong idea can get you arrested or permanently disappeared.
It’s so disheartening to see people who obviously view themselves as “enlightened leftists” pushing the other fascists’ propaganda. It feels trendy to throw support to the enemies of the US but “the left” shouldn’t and doesn’t mean supporting governments who say they’re communists but blatently violate human rights.
tldr: fuck the US government and fuck capitalism, and also fuck the Russian and Chinese governments
Let’s assume that the blog you linked is totally accurate. So… it’s cool for Russia to invade them? Kill civilians? Kidnap and displace people?
If you were a Ukrainian that has nothing to do with Nazis or corruption would you then welcome your Russian “liberators” because of the things mentioned in your linked blog? Would you be cool with friends and family members dying or (often even worse) going missing due to the invasion because shady money was donated to elected officials?
Which country is free of fascists and corrupt money in the highest levels of government? Since the answer is none, should they be invaded too?
And since you seem pretty concerned with dirty money from rotten sources I’m sure you spend at least an equal amount of time reading and reposting info about widespread corruption throughout the Russian government and oligarchs, right?
Maybe all takes on Ukraine are skewed in the msm but I think the main takeaway is fuck Putin for invading a country and killing innocent people under pretenses that change every few days. If THAT’S the take you have a problem with then please post a more direct argument instead of this proxy blog.
No shady government funding justifies the price that innocent, regular people are paying in Ukraine.
The difference between deciding whether to have children in a past less-than-ideal situation and now while considering climate collapse is hope.
People believed that things could change and get better, and that their own child could help shape a better world.
People who are currently choosing not to have children due to climate collapse don’t see a future where anything but extreme suffering and death is possible. They don’t agree with the author’s assessment that it’ll be bad for people growing their own food but we’ll maybe be OK, and personally I don’t either. We’re here because the rich and powerful decided that short term gains for the few matter more than basic humans needs for all, and that governing notion is only accelerating. No one is going to help or save us.
Sure it might not be an extinction level event, but I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to create life that has to experience a “might not be an extinction level event.”
There’s a lot of great reasons to not have kids but they’re often not accepted by the family, friends, culture, or society as a whole that may he pressuring someone to procreate.
I personally don’t believe that people who highly value reproduction are abstaining because of climate change. The impending environmental (and economic) collapse are both relevant and more acceptable excuses for those who were on the fence or never bought into the notion that pooping out babies is the point of life.
I agree with this entire comment. I use and really appreciate GrapheneOS as my daily driver but if you (OP) require GAPPS it’s not going to work for you. Using LineageOS is a compromise on security and privacy in exchange for the ability to use GAPPS and as mentioned, you’re not degoogling anything while using microG to install GAPPS.
Naw, you’re just a bully who thinks they’re the smartest person in every room. You don’t have an “authoritarian tone” - you’re not an authority. You’re not a leader and you’re not respected. You’ll never be any of those things while you treat everyone as if they’re below you.
You’re the bizarro version of a Trumper, always right, always angry, and ever more insulting when pressed for relevant facts. In fact, if you’re the official spokesperson for China, fuck that place. You make it sound about as appealing as Tucker Carlson’s America.
You’re wasting your life in comment sections screaming at the wall. People don’t learn or change their minds because an omnipresent username tells them how stupid they are. Your voice is one more angry buzz in an ocean of people who no longer know how to see humans behind each username.
For your own sake, consider a different way. You have to be miserable holding all that anger all the time. There’s no way you’re happy. You can have strong opinions and still not be rude or dismissive to others. In fact, I can guarantee that you’ll have exponentially more success getting your point across.
Yes they are surveilled and policed for protection purposes, but the alternative is them becoming terrorists, like some of them did that committed attacks against mainland from 1993-2013.
Whoa whoa whoa. I think you and I have different interpretations of what constitutes “fucked up” because I think what you just said is absolutely fucked and you just casually threw it in the middle of a paragraph. And you worded it like it was fact: “the alternative is them becoming terrorists.” I mean, fuck man.
Are you a fan of the US government surveilling and policing Muslims because “the alternative is them becoming terrorists?” You sound like a talking head on Fox News: “If them Mooslums all wanna be terrorists then the gubment SHOULD be watching them!”
This is my overarching point: you spend a lot of time on here calling people uneducated and bigots and sockpuppets and actors of the state all in the name of unshakable support for a government… which is exactly what the far right in America does for a different government. You/they come off as angry, hostile, and combative. Anything you/they don’t believe is misinformation believed by sheep and you/they are the ultimate arbiters of truth. You weaken your own arguments by equating insult to education and debate.
Most of the times I see you in a thread, you’re stating an opinion as fact or being rude to someone who asks a question or has a different opinion. In your response to me above you said that I “believe blindly that Anglosphere global news press always spoke the truth, and they are the true authority” and that you “have a feeling [I] have made up your mind” because I asked for sources or citations. You “bet I also believe” a bunch of other US-state sponsored propaganda which is a blatent attempt at undermining a platform that I don’t hold and never expressed. I never presented an opinion outside of my hatred for capitalism - I simply asked for information and you jumped on the offensive.
I’m not anti-China. I’m anti-being rude and dismissive when someone asks for information or doesn’t agree with you. You’re a bully and you need to be aware of that. Look at your comment history and tell me I’m wrong.
You’re not changing any minds or any systems by insulting everyone who doesn’t tell you you’re right. You’re obviously angry much of the time, but you’re not using it constructively. Despite your intentions you do more harm than good to your cause.
Strawman is a logical fallacy in an argument’s premise. It has nothing to do with political ideology. You can argue whether it’s a correct categorization of your comment, but its disingenuous at best to associate it with a shitty ideology in order to make a point.
I didn’t say I had any beliefs that needed shattering. I looked through the comments of the linked reddit AMA and some people talked about the spread of propaganda but that’s no more compelling than your comments saying the same thing. I’m not sure what I was supposed to take away from that and I hope that you have more substantial reasoning propping up your beliefs.
Back to my original question, in your estimation what is the level of misinformation about Uighur treatment by the CCP? Are Uighurs treated no differently than anyone else in China? Are Uighurs being detained or questioned due to their religious beliefs? Are reeducation camps real? I’m sincerely interested but calling news articles misinformation is not in itself compelling in any way.
You’re very vocal about your belief that Uighur mistreatment in China is Western propaganda and are quick to discredit any source that says otherwise. As far as I’ve noticed you defend any jab at China in the same way.
Personally I’m very much against capitalism, the destruction its wrought on the world, and the countries that legislate in favor of short term gains for the wealthy over basic rights for the other 99.99%. The US is a shithole and the greatest offender of them all.
That said, just because I’m not on team America doesn’t mean I’m on team China. That stinks of “Republicans are terrible so I have to be a Democrat.” Both can suck and legitimately criticizing one doesn’t mean you’re in league with the other though I don’t get the vibe that you agree with that sentiment. You’re quick to say that anything negative said about China is propaganda.
In this particula case, I’m curious to what degree the information is false. Is it a 100% fabrication and there is absolutely no different treatment of Uighur Muslims by the Chinese government? Are Uighurs asked nicely to consider a different religious belief but nothing more? Are reeducation camps real, but Uighurs are treated really well there?
Please cite your sources and explain why they’re more credible that the sources that claim some fuckery is going on with the Chinese government in respect to Uighurs.
Please cite the passages from the constitution that deny employers the ability to fire whomever they wish for whatever reason they wish. Protected classes aren’t even a part of the constitution, nor does it apply to this situation.
Capitalism kills, maims, and destroys the only known habitable planet, but when it fires people for endangering others, it’s “unconsitutional.” Throw in “socialism” and “but her emails” and you’ve got yourself an airtight argument.
Maybe that’s why you hate it but my annoyance is more at people who reflexively feel they win every argument by calling the other person a liberal because they don’t believe that the CCP is a corruption-free bastion of good will and a perfect example for the world to follow.
You can be a communist and still legitimately criticize the CCP though you wouldn’t know it from the 4 people posting all the articles and leading every discussion at Lemmygrad
Ehh… I just realized I don’t care. I was thinking about how sad it is that people post so prolifically and emphatically to the same 15 people while believing that they’re making a difference and fighting the good fight. Then I realized that arguing with them is equally as pointless. I mean this is the biggest thread I’ve ever seen on Lemmy and it’s about why it’s so unsuccessful. If people want to have a tiny club where they dictate their specific flavor of communism and call everyone else is a liberal, go for it. I’d call it an echo chamber but it’s too small - echoes need some space to generate. Lemmygrad is tiny little groups of people congratulating each other on believing the exact same thing and being obnoxiously insufferable to anyone whose opinions only match 98%. You’re cosplay revolutionaries. You change nothing and inspire no one but you sure feel like badasses while regurgitating the same lines to each other.
I’m out