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Protester shot in chest by live police round during Hong Kong protests

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628 points nodea2345 | 3 comments | 01 Oct 19 11:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.24s | source
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loquor ◴[01 Oct 19 16:03 UTC] No.21126953[source]▶
This might sound alarmist, but do you think China is the biggest upcoming global problem after climate change? For two reasons:

1. China has a totalitarian ruling system. They intend to realize George Orwell's 1984.

2. Present-day China essentially has no ethics. Take the US in comparison. No matter how perverse the people in power become and even if they do messed up things, the US has some founding morals and principles they do not forget. China, in comparison, systematically rooted out these values since the Great Leap Forward. The happenings at Hong Kong and Xinjiang epitomize that.

I do think China's expansionist policy bodes poorly for all of humanity.

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orthecreedence ◴[01 Oct 19 17:23 UTC] No.21128006[source]▶
> US has some founding morals and principles they do not forget.

Excuse my french, but what the fuck are you talking about?

How about imprisoning and torturing US citizens without due process in the name of a nebulous war that only gets worse the more we fight it?

What about all the puppet governments we've set up so that our corporate overlords can make a quick buck at the expense of some country who's resources we want to plunder?

The US is an empire. Not based on governmental control, but based on financial control. The difference between surveillance in the US and surveillance in China is that we've managed to keep our surveillance largely in the private sector; but that doesn't mean 1984 doesn't already exist here! In fact, you carry 1984 with you in your pocket everywhere you go!

I'm not saying I'd rather live in China than the US, but putting the US on some high moral pedestal is extremely ignorant of all the terrible things we've done as a country.

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sbmthakur ◴[01 Oct 19 17:45 UTC] No.21128321[source]▶
> The US is an empire. Not based on governmental control, but based on financial control.

But people in the US can remove legislatures and the top executive(the President). Do people in China have that option?

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1. dillondoyle ◴[01 Oct 19 22:08 UTC] No.21131269[source]▶
This sinister & pervasive line of thought terrifies me. Too many Americans under 40 share similar thoughts: my vote doesn't count, some mysterious corporate/billionaire $$ controls everything so why bother, antipathy etc.

It's scary that many actually believe this and thus self-fulfill their prophecy because they don't get involved and don't vote.

To further amplify this detrimental affect, there are state-sponsored trolls/propagandists actively driving this wedge and these narratives online to attack our Democracy from within.

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2. yourbandsucks ◴[01 Oct 19 22:26 UTC] No.21131501[source]▶
Lying to yourself for the greater good?

I've been involved. Will continue to be. It's still the truth.

Ask yourself, how come when America's chief global rival does bad things, it's cause for condemnation, but America must be protected from criticism?

Nobody cares about Yemen but everyone is very sure Hezbollah are bad guys?

Our system of control is so much more effective than state censorship. And the trains don't even run on time.

3. orthecreedence ◴[01 Oct 19 22:40 UTC] No.21131643[source]▶
Don't mistake my seeing things for how they are as apathy. That's a false equivalence. I absolutely support getting out and participating in the political process, but it's important to understand just how much of what happens is completely out of our control because how else do we fix that? The act of noticing and speaking of this is not the same as the act of giving up.

Also, my responses were a reality check in the face of the propaganda you're speaking of. The "the US is the most free and moral country!" folks are getting a much bigger dose of force-fed freedom than anybody else.