Things that made you laugh today (Political Version)

[FlayedAngel]

You realize that doesn't make any sense right?

Care to explain at all what you even mean?

I've done plenty of that, you're either being either obtuse or idiotic.

[Tgo01]

I've done plenty of that, you're either being either obtuse or idiotic.

By "plenty" you mean not at all? If so then I totally agree.

I can't even begin to fathom what you are talking about. So if the US and China were on better terms it wouldn't have been racist? If China didn't go out of their way to cover up the virus that originated in their country the comment wouldn't have been racist? If China weren't a communist regime the comment wouldn't have been racist?

Humor me here. Give me something to hang my hat on.

[FlayedAngel]

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.

Slow down there, cowboy.

"Racism" has a broad definition, inherently -- I have no issue with applying that definition where it fits, with further qualification or explanation as necessary, especially considering that "race" is a somewhat archaic term itself. Given that I didn't suggest you should have any particular emotional response to it, I would hardly call that "controlling the narrative and forcing an emotional response" or whatever; at no point in there did I suggest you should flip the fuck out about it or respond to it in any way other than how than you see fit.

It was even explicitly clarified that I was not implying that you were racist.

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.

Even if I ultimately disagree with your conclusion, you do make some sound points in there; banning is the purview of governmental styles that I believe we both largely disagree with, but it might be time to acknowledge -- myself included -- that the approach to how we view things in an increasingly digital landscape needs to be widely updated.

[FlayedAngel]

Chinese is not a race, it's a nationality made up of many races and over a hundred cultural minorities.

I absolutely agree that China has a variety of ethnic groups, but I'm referring more to race as a social construct -- in reference to a population that shares physical or social qualities viewed as distinct by society.

Again: "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.

You can have a different opinion, if you want -- I stand by my statement.

I can't even begin to fathom what you are talking about. So if the US and China were on better terms it wouldn't have been racist? If China didn't go out of their way to cover up the virus that originated in their country the comment wouldn't have been racist? If China weren't a communist regime the comment wouldn't have been racist?

Humor me here. Give me something to hang my hat on.

Fine, but your credibility for requesting such is wearing thin.

So if the US and China were on better terms it wouldn't have been racist?

There would still be slight racist overtones (in the sense of a doctrine or political program based upon racism and designed to propagate its principles), in the manner I explained before, but I don't think they would be quite as pronounced in this case were it not for current events.

The US and China have been in economic conflict for some time now; I'm speaking of the ongoing trade war as political motive to encourage antagonistic agendas that stoke geopolitical (and subsequently, racial) divides. The specific phrasing used continues certain attributions and assertions, such as referring to the "same communist govt" (there's no specific reason to mention communism in this context unless doing so plays to your audience's extant fears about said government) and "unleashing a plague on the world" (which implies an aggressive and/or deliberately malicious act rather than something that is a product of the natural world), which serves little purpose other than to foster an "us versus them" mentality. While a lot of that is obviously conjecture and demonstrates little on its own, the principle behind the latter is the same racist bullshit that motivates the continued insistence on referring to COVID-19 as the "Wuhan" virus in order to continue directing subtle blame at China, even though geographical proximity no longer has anything to do with what is assuredly a global pandemic... and we have little room to throw shade given our current position in the worldwide standings.

The fact that the meme was shared from Facebook, an American-owned company with a multitude of comparable privacy issues, is an example of how there might be political motive to undermine anything presenting as "Chinese" or China-adjacent; that instance may or may not have any direct connection and is certainly arguable, so take that however you want, but there's a vast precedence of this sort of purposeful and widespread undermining as political propaganda. To Rocktar's credit, such absolutely does not preclude aspects of this being a matter of national security (which was his prior stated concern), nor disprove that "stealing our data" in this case doesn't point exclusively to IP theft on the part of China; the takeaway isn't that China (as a governmental entity) is in any way blameless in any of this, but rather, that the position the meme asserts is not without external context.

The racism in support of its agenda is consequential, not direct.

If China didn't go out of their way to cover up the virus that originated in their country the comment wouldn't have been racist?

That has little direct correlation to what I said, regardless of whether or not the accusations of covering it up are true -- which, given China's governmental propensity for censorship and propaganda, may be the case.

If China weren't a communist regime the comment wouldn't have been racist?

Again: Not an argument I made, and only related insomuch as I stated above.

The assertion made that anyone "cheered" states banning church services, gatherings, and businesses not reopening is another ridiculous attribution, and it's been significantly demonstrated that mandating face coverings was the right thing to do in the circumstances. In short, the meme is trying to shove these dissimilar facets into one singular (and dishonest) portrait of hypocrisy by doing little other than putting words in their opposition's mouth and making racist jabs.

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

"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.

It is not plenty obvious how it's racist. Or are you saying communist governments are racist?

[Tgo01]

(there's no specific reason to mention communism in this context unless doing so plays to your audience's extant fears about said government)

Yes there is because she then goes on to say these same people celebrated the closure of church services, gatherings, and businesses, something a communist regime would do. You don't have to like the fact that she pointed these things out and made a connection, but it's there.

and "unleashing a plague on the world" (which implies an aggressive and/or deliberately malicious act rather than something that is a product of the natural world), which serves little purpose other than to foster an "us versus them" mentality.

Which again has nothing at all to do with race.

motivates the continued insistence on referring to COVID-19 as the "Wuhan" virus in order to continue directing subtle blame at China, even though geographical proximity no longer has anything to do with what is assuredly a global pandemic

So you're one of those people who thinks it's somehow racist to refer to the Wuhan virus as the Wuhan virus, even though China themselves referred to it as the Wuhan virus, the media and politicians all over the world referred to it as the Wuhan virus. Never mind the fact that viruses and diseases are often named after the region in which they originated. None of that matters! Democrats have decided to take up China's talking points in insisting it's racist to refer to the Wuhan virus as the Wuhan virus. Got it.

Some Democrats sure do love to try and control people. Just look at you go.

The fact that the meme was shared from Facebook, an American-owned company with a multitude of comparable privacy issues, is an example of how there might be political motive to undermine anything presenting as "Chinese" or China-adjacent

Yes her post was very clearly political in nature. In fact just about everything you have mentioned is political in nature and I haven't seen you really explain how her comment was racist. I guess your point basically boils down to that it's racist to be meanie heads towards China, even in a political sense, because, what, China isn't a white nation?

Not that I would agree with such an assertion either, but it sure sounds like what you're trying to describe is jingoism, not racism.

[Methais]

Her point is valid. I mean, whachu gon do when Hulkamania runs wild on you?

Fixed.

[Methais]

"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.

Was coronavirus not unleashed on the world, regardless of if accidental or on purpose, by a communist government though?

Still not seeing how this = meme with "racist overtones," even after reading your walls of text and massively broad definitions of "race" after this post.

[Solkern]

Was coronavirus not unleashed on the world, regardless of if accidental or on purpose, by a communist government though?

Still not seeing how this = meme with "racist overtones," even after reading your walls of text and massively broad definitions of "race" after this post.

Meh, no it wasn’t. The Chinese govt played no/small role in unleashing it, either on purpose or on accident, imo
By the time anyone was really aware of the full extent, 5m+ already left Wuhan for Chinese New Year.
Did the virus come from a communist country? Yup. Unleashed by the Chinese govt? Meh, poor choice of words.
If you are talking about trying to cover it up, every country tries to cover shit up.

[Tgo01]

If you are talking about trying to cover it up, every country tries to cover shit up.

The US is far from perfect, but I think if the US did even half the shit China did in regards to covering up this virus the entire world would be giving us shit nonstop until the pandemic was over and even for years afterwards. But with China we are still in the middle of the pandemic and most people are like "Well whatcha gonna do? EVERY country does this shit."

And a big part of that I think is because of this nonsense that it's somehow racist to remind people where this shit started.