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submitted 5 months ago by Smackyroon@lemmy.ml to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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[-] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 73 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

When will Westerners realize that the common characture of the brainwashed, thought controlled, information controlled, constantly surveiled citizen that we attribute to China/The USSR/etc... IS US?! You clutch your pearls at people in other countries potentially being treated like that but are inclined to do nothing about OUR OWN countries treating US like that.

[-] kibiz0r@midwest.social 57 points 5 months ago

A Russian is on an airliner heading to the US, and the American in the seat next to him asks, “So what brings you to the US?” The Russian replies, “I’m studying the American approach to propaganda.” The American says, “What propaganda?” The Russian says, “That’s what I mean.”

[-] whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.com 41 points 5 months ago

Snowden showed they realized but didn't care

[-] eldavi@lemmy.ml 17 points 5 months ago

and the epstien files have shown us how little americans care about anything besides themselves.

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[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

You can be against US and Chinese fascism simultaneously.

[-] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 18 points 5 months ago

Chinese fascism

Just say you don't know what you're talking about.

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago
[-] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 14 points 5 months ago

You didn't make one you just stated something wildly incorrect so why should I take the time to give you a well thought out response trying to explain how truly idiotic is?

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

I did make one, that you can oppose two things at the same time.

I could explain, but wait, you already said that authoritarianism was meaningless to you. If it doesn't matter to you, well, seems pointless to try to convince that it is actually fascist.

[-] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 12 points 5 months ago

You have to be a troll.

You can appose 2 things

Sure not what I took issue with. I took issue with you calling China fascist which is just an untrue statement.

Authoritarian is a pejorative. All countries and states in class society are "authoritarian" by necessity. Fascism is a specific thing arising from the tendency for the rate of profit to decline in capitalist society.

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

You can keep insisting I'm a troll if it helps you deal with not being able to engage with arguments.

China is authoritarian, but authoritarianism doesn't matter to you, so that shouldn't matter to you. Consistency, please.

And no, countries aren't "authoritarian" by necessity. Even if some amount of policies etc that would be considered such exist everywhere, you have countries that are freer and countries that have more political suppression, censorship of media outlets, etc etc.

China does censor it's media—political and entertainment— heavily. Just one small example.

[-] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 12 points 5 months ago

How much Chinese media do you watch? How much time have you spent on Chinese social media? How fluent are you in Chinese? Or did you just get told this by other white people and decided to just go along with it because it confirms your biases.

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

https://www.equaldex.com/region/china

Please take a look through this page that elaborates on the oppression of queer people under the Chinese regime before you make any more personal attacks or assumptions about me. Just as an example.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 11 points 5 months ago

Find a graph of these views over time, history is not a series of static snapshots. The PRC has been regularly improving with respect to queer rights and representation over time, showing no signs of stopping.

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

They're still banning TV shows/clips that feature queer stories or characters, there's been literal police raids where people have been asked to remove rainbow articles of clothing, rainbows are censored on TV. This is all very recent stuff within the past five years.

Idk man, seems like they're desperate to erase our existence if you ask me.

Even if it's not "as bad" as it once was, and if it "has potential", that's not where it is right now. Which is that it's an oppressive place for queer people right now, factually. Stop defending that.

China isn't the perfect haven free from all criticism that some people make it out to be.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 10 points 5 months ago

I'm not defending repression, I'm pointing out that you're using queer identity as a club to beat a country that is steadily improving and showing no signs of slowing or stopping that growth. It's the same logic on your part that Zionists use to say queer advocates for Palestine are "defending homophobia." History and social progress exist as a progression of time, not as a static snapshot.

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

If you're not defending repression, then please call it what it is: repression.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 9 points 5 months ago

I already have. Do you think history is a series of static snapshots, or something that moves over time?

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[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 13 points 5 months ago

In what way is China fascist? It's a socialist country, public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy and the working classes control the state.

[-] Akasazh@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago

Authoritarianism, violent oppression of minorites and dissenting movements, deeply ingrained surveillance state with state censorship.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 14 points 5 months ago

China does not violently oppress minorities, and wielding state authority, censorship, and surveilance against capitalists and fascists is necessary for a socialist state, and doesn't make it fascist. Fascism is capitalism violently defending itself from decay and solidifying bourgeois control, not proletarian.

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 months ago

But enough about the US.

projection

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 6 points 5 months ago

Surveillance and political suppression for one. Media, journalism, etc.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 11 points 5 months ago

That's not what fascism means, especially when these are used against capitalists most of all, and not against the working classes nearly as much. Fascism is capitalism violently entrenching itself when it finds itself in crisis, it isn't when a socialist state uses state power to keep capitalists under control and expropriate their property.

[-] LwL@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

That's not what fascism is either lol

I wouldn't call china fascist, though doubtlessly authoritarian. But I don't have nearly as much info on china, it seems to me the persecution of minorities is less of a central political scapegoat and more some weird side thing. But without speaking chinese, I might be wrong. The US had plenty of fascist characteristics at this point and is rather open about the persecution.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 8 points 5 months ago

The US is fascist because it's in crisis. Imperialism is decaying and austerity is being brought inward.

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

I'm not trying to fuss over what to call something. My intended point stands.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 8 points 5 months ago

It doesn't, though. Socialism is not fascism, and all socialist states need to exert authority against capitalists and fascists to continue to exist. Class harmony is a lie.

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

My point is that the forms of oppression that occur in China aren't exclusive to the capitalist class, and remain something I oppose.

Which stands.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 9 points 5 months ago

But all of what you listed is used as a means to control the capitalist class, not as an arbitrary measure to oppress people. In your country, those same measures are used by the capitalist class against the working classes.

It does not stand because you rely on erasing vital context, that being which class uses it against which.

[-] Yliaster@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

What are you even saying? Preventing independent journalism is oppressive towards the working class now? Censoring the media is oppressive towards the working class?

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 9 points 5 months ago

Letting private press say whatever they want in a country where capitalists would love to take over the state would be suicide. Capitalists have a muzzle placed on them. Legitimate criticism from the working classes is not censored, while misinformation and pro-capitalist speech is.

this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2026
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