this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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[–] 420blazeit69@hexbear.net 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You don't disagree with your government; you didn't know what your government's position was until right now.

You still don't really know what your government's position is, otherwise you'd understand that here, as in many cases, there's an official stance for diplomatic relations and then a bunch of propaganda (for both domestic and foreign consumption) that undermines that official stance.

[–] YaBoyMax@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Bold of you to assume what I do and don't know about geopolitics. I'm well aware of the fine line that the US government walks, but I don't speak for the US government and my views aren't informed by "propaganda" but by the simple observations that 1) the PRC is a totalitarian regime, and 2) that Taiwan is a de facto sovereign state which broadly speaking doesn't particularly want to be assimilated into the PRC. Where is the propagandistic angle here?

[–] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

my views aren't informed by "propaganda" but by the simple observations that 1) the PRC is a totalitarian regime,

lol

Just because you agree with it doesn't mean it isn't propaganda

[–] YaBoyMax@programming.dev -3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Do you disagree with either of those observations? They seem fairly indisputable to me.

[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In totalitarian USA the racist police run over protestors with impunity and torture you at a blacksite for made up poverty crimes, president Xi please my people yearn for freedom

[–] YaBoyMax@programming.dev -2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

A disfunctional system isn't the same as a totalitarian one. Both are bad, yes, but they're not one and the same.

[–] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's funny how when the US does something wrong, it's never a reflection on its essential character, and yet the fucking Four Pests Campaign or whatever is a fundamental reflection of the ideology of Chinese Communism.

[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"Ah whoops we killed a million people in Iraq, but you know, insert Churchill democracy quote while throwing tarp over one billion dead indians

[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Aw lol you think capitalism isn't supposed to function this way

One of the most sobering moments of my life was realizing that our system isn't "broken", it's functioning exactly as intended.

[–] Dolores@hexbear.net 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you're only allowed to call the PRC "totalitarian" or undemocratic if you condemn the "democracies" of the english speaking world. the US president isn't even the person who gets the most votes🤡

Taiwan does not "generally" have a stance against reunification, some independence parties are a bit more popular than they used to be, but them becoming a legally independent state requires vast constitutional and international changes no government has even begun to implement

[–] YaBoyMax@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm sorry, but there's no way you can possibly equate the US government to the CCP without arguing in bad faith. The decidedly un-totalitarian nature of the US government is exactly why it's basically not functioning right now. There's plenty of valid criticism there, but to draw any sort of comparison to the Chinese form of government is insane.

[–] carl_marks_1312@hexbear.net 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Of course you believe in American exceptionalism

[–] YaBoyMax@programming.dev -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

On the contrary, I think that totalitarian states are moreso the exception than the rule in this day and age. Hell, I wouldn't even group Russia in the same class. There are varying degrees of autocracy and the US president certainly wields more power than heads of state/government in many European countries, but it's just a bad faith argument to try to draw a comparison to it when speaking about a regime such as the CCP.

[–] carl_marks_1312@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago

I mean yeah one has a bourgeois state (US) and the other an proletarian one (PRC) so technically you're right in that it's not really comparable.

Do you know what hegemony means? And do you think it's a coincidence that you hold the same belief as the US state department?

[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago

regime such as the CCP

People would probably take you at least a little more seriously if you knew the actual acronym of the Communist Party of China. "Le ebil SeeSeePee" just outs you as a redditor, no matter what other gestures you might make toward the appearance of wordliness.

[–] brain_in_a_box@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago

I'm sorry, but there's no way you can possibly equate the US government to the CCP without arguing in bad faith.

"You have to agree with me or you're the one arguing in bad faith!"

  • A person with no sense of irony.
[–] Wakmrow@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

How does democracy in China work

[–] GarbageShoot@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago

"Totalitarian" is a buzzword with a hazy definition at best. Go ahead and substantiate it.

But my point is that using such a buzzword with no further explanation is a somewhat comical display of how propagandized you are for how thought-terminating your use of the word is.

[–] brain_in_a_box@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago

my views aren't informed by "propaganda" but by the simple observations that 1) the PRC is a totalitarian regime,

And how exactly did you observe that?