Things that made you laugh today (Political Version)

[FlayedAngel]

Can't possibly imagine why I say the word "racist" has been rendered meaningless.

It hasn't.

We've had this discussion already -- refusing to acknowledge any nuance to a word does not equate to meaninglessness, nor does the fact that every application isn't meaningful.

[Parkbandit]

"Communist government that unleashes a plague on the world" is a stupid way to skew that, how it's racist should be plenty fucking obvious.

So, it wasn't China that unleashed this virus? Where did it come from then?

And she didn't call out Japanese or Koreans or any other Asians.. just China. That's not racist, even if you believe the virus originated from somewhere else.

Maybe stop calling something racist as your first defensive mechanism...

[~Rocktar~]

"Race" refers to a variety of social categories and characteristics; it's racist because it erodes those distinctions in the interest of negative stereotyping, rather than supporting them in the interest of cultural nuance. The framework used there is propaganda intended to bolster and support that mentality, foist accountability, and vilify another group of people.

That has to be one of the most ridiculous and broad definitions of racist I have ever heard and it amounts to the propensity of the Left to redefine things to suit them so they can better control the narrative and force an emotional response. While I may agree that there are some idiots out there that will attack anyone who might "look Chinese" I disagree that concealing or diluting the responsibility for this virus is worth the possible harm. And yes, renaming it, couching the name in nice terms and refusing to acknowledge that it did in fact come from Wuhan, China is in fact trying to hide it.

My concept of free speech -- as a general principle -- is fine. Your point is not invalid (in fairness to you), but it's implying direct correlation to national security exclusively without accounting for the broader picture concerning misapplication for political purposes.

There must be a line somewhere. There can be no nebulous or grey area in this kind of thing. We already suffer from that in numerous ways about laws, so called "rights" and other situations. Since there are ultimately hundreds if not thousands of alternatives to using the app that don't suffer from the same clearly defined links and vulnerabilities I fail to see how it's banning would be an impingement of the freedom of speech. No matter what you think of Snowden, Handler, congressional aids or congressmen, if they are leaking materials, or putting them in jeopardy, it's a national security issue. In this case, the data being collected is far and above what is related to the person, including voice and sound data from the surroundings, position tracking, relation tracking and a lot of other data that typically requires a search warrant. OH, and AT&T has a program that does something similar with tracking phone call origins and destinations and correlating it to criminals, which they sell in a suitable sterilized form, to law enforcement so they can get warrants. Also, a likely violation of rights but hey, our legal system is stuck back in the days of fax machines and hasn't caught up to a lot of electronic communication law.

I also disagree with your assertion that this is purely for political reasons since a lot of governments are looking into it and other apps. I imagine that we will see a multitude of other apps blocked or quietly removed over stuff like this in the coming years.

[Parkbandit]

It hasn't.

We've had this discussion already -- refusing to acknowledge any nuance to a word does not equate to meaninglessness, nor does the fact that every application isn't meaningful.

You and your ilk have so diluted the word that when there is real racism that goes on, it falls mostly upon deaf ears because you and your ilk call everything you disagree with as racist.

Sometimes, things aren't racist.

[Tgo01]

It hasn't.

We've had this discussion already -- refusing to acknowledge any nuance to a word does not equate to meaninglessness, nor does the fact that every application isn't meaningful.

And yet here you are calling someone a racist because they referred to the Chinese government as a communist government and said they unleashed a plague on the world, both statements are true. Maybe the latter statement sounds a bit accusatory but it's not like they are just completely making this up or anything.

And the kicker here? Nothing in their comment had anything at all to do with race.

Would you be saying the comment was racist if the country in question was Russia? Of course not because that's dumb. The best you could come up with is that it's just obvious the comment was racist.

[FlayedAngel]

So, it wasn't China that unleashed this virus? Where did it come from then?

And she didn't call out Japanese or Koreans or any other Asians.. just China. That's not racist, even if you believe the virus originated from somewhere else.

Maybe stop calling something racist as your first defensive mechanism...

Did you read what I wrote?

And how was that criticism in any way a defense mechanism?

[FlayedAngel]

And yet here you are calling someone a racist because they referred to the Chinese government as a communist government and said they unleashed a plague on the world, both statements are true. Maybe the latter statement sounds a bit accusatory but it's not like they are just completely making this up or anything.

I didn't call anyone a racist, I even explicitly qualified that I was not doing so, and was explaining how the meme itself had racist overtones -- I'm not sure how much more clear you need me to be.

Do I need to draw you a diagram?

And the kicker here? Nothing in their comment had anything at all to do with race.

If you don't understand how race and geopolitical factors relate to things, that's hardly on me.

Would you be saying the comment was racist if the country in question was Russia? Of course not because that's dumb. The best you could come up with is that it's just obvious the comment was racist.

Why would I do that? A discussion about Russia would have entirely different sociopolitical connotations, and nothing to do with the current relations between the US and China.

[Tgo01]

I didn't call anyone a racist, I even explicitly qualified that I was not doing so, and was explaining how the meme itself had racist overtones -- I'm not sure how much more clear you need me to be.

You weren't calling Dana Loesch racist, you were just calling what she said racist? Okay.

Why would I do that? A discussion about Russia would have entirely different sociopolitical connotations, and nothing to do with the current relations between the US and China.

What exactly are you even saying anymore? It's racist specifically because of the current relations between the US and China?

[FlayedAngel]

You weren't calling Dana Loesch racist, you were just calling what she said racist? Okay.

I don't give a fuck about Dana Loesch -- maybe she's racist or maybe she's not, I was critiquing the meme itself. I even stated that, too.

What exactly are you even saying anymore? It's racist specifically because of the current relations between the US and China?

Oh, hi... welcome to the conversation.

[Tgo01]

Oh, hi... welcome to the conversation.

You realize that doesn't make any sense right?

Care to explain at all what you even mean?