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361 points gloxkiqcza | 21 comments | | HN request time: 1.285s | source | bottom
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torginus ◴[] No.45011561[source]
I genuinely do not understand where how the idea of building a total surveillance police state, where all speech is monitored, can even as much as seriously be considered by an allegedly pro-democracy, pro-human rights government, much less make it into law.

Also:

Step 1: Build mass surveillance to prevent the 'bad guys' from coming into political power (its ok, we're the good guys).

Step 2: Your political opponents capitalize on your genuinely horrific overreach, and legitimize themselves in the eyes of the public as fighting against tyranny (unfortunately for you they do have a point). They promise to dismantle the system if coming to power.

Step 3: They get elected.

Step 4: They don't dismantle the system, now the people you planned to use the system against are using it against you.

Sounds brilliant, lets do this.

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specproc ◴[] No.45011763[source]
The West aren't good guys and have never been the good guys. We talked a good talk about democracy when we had communism to compare it to, but without that to contrast with, we look increasingly like the managed democracies you see out East.
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1. baud147258 ◴[] No.45011981[source]
While the West aren't really the good guy, I think there is an argument that could be made that the West is the better guy. Because while government outreach like those discussed are a scary possibility in the West nowadays, in the 'East' (more like Russia & China), it is a given and there are no recourse.
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2. closewith ◴[] No.45012031[source]
The West is the least bad if you live in an area where Western forces aren't currently bombing you or directly supporting the people starving you to death. Then China probably seems a lot better.
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3. throwaway65042 ◴[] No.45012122[source]
So if Germany supports Israel bombing Gazans they are bad, but if China supports the Russian bombing of Ukrainians, suddenly it's a lot better?
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4. buyucu ◴[] No.45012128[source]
Anyone who thinks the West is the better guy needs to look closely at the Western-backed Genocide in Palestine.
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5. closewith ◴[] No.45012166{3}[source]
Maybe re-read my comment.

From the perspective of the Gazan parents watching their children starve to death, yes, China probably seems a lot better than the UK, which is directly responsible for their situation.

The Ukrainian parent suffering Russian bombing is likely has a much better opinion of the UK for their support, but that doesn't make the UK the good guys. Just less bad in that particular situation.

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6. lyu07282 ◴[] No.45012213[source]
> there is an argument that could be made that the West is the better guy

The problem is you don't know how you are actually behaving towards the global south, so your perception is very skewed and people outside the west will have a vastly different perception than you, that you will never understand. Like some people in the west are waking up on Israels behavior now, but the rest of the world was aware of their genocidal terror for over half a century while you lived in innocent bliss. They see your support for Obama and Dove emojis in your profile picture while their entire extended families are getting systematically murdered by your bombs to this day.

Meanwhile in your made up fantasy land, its China that is this great threat to world peace.

7. diordiderot ◴[] No.45012305[source]
Yeah, its amazing how good the isralies are at everything (tech, intelligence, manufacturing) but its taking them years to commit genocide. Despite their massive force advantage.
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8. ◴[] No.45012367{3}[source]
9. random9749832 ◴[] No.45012374{3}[source]
False equivalence. One of them is a (failed) proxy war the other is genocide.
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10. specproc ◴[] No.45012444{3}[source]
Genocide is a process and intent, not an outcome. Are you saying it's not genocide because everyone's not dead or forced off their land yet?

Considerably fewer civilians died in say, Srebrenica. Bosnian Muslims still live there. There are still Jews in Germany, Tutsis in Rwanda. The original inhabitants of the Americas and Australia still live there.

I'd also note -- as someone who's lived there -- that what Israel as a nation really excels at isn't tech, intelligence or manufacturing. Plenty of other countries are equal and above. I'd say it's marketing and comms.

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11. specproc ◴[] No.45012802{5}[source]
You're going to have to explain yourself there, son.
12. whstl ◴[] No.45013195{4}[source]
Forced deportation of Ukrainian children, the rhetoric denying Ukrainian nationhood and massacres in places like Bucha definitely put the Ukrainian war into genocide territory.

But if you want to talk about "real" genocides, China is backing Myanmar.

13. MangoToupe ◴[] No.45013694{5}[source]
> Everyone knows what genocide means.

Yes, it's spelled out very clearly to be based in intent and not outcome here: https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-...

If anyone is trying to "gaslight" anyone, it's going to be in the direction of justifying the actions of Israel (or the West's support of or complicity in it).

14. AlexandrB ◴[] No.45013785{4}[source]
From the perspective of the Gazan parents, the worst of all should be Hamas (who is actually directly responsible for their situation) since they insist on poking the bear and getting Gaza into military conflicts they can't win.
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15. AlexandrB ◴[] No.45013814{4}[source]
> the other is genocide

How is it a genocide? It's pretty clearly a war in an urban environment where there will be a lot of civilian casualties. Was the battle of Stalingrad a "genocide" too?

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16. closewith ◴[] No.45013862{5}[source]
I wonder how quickly people will start to scrub their online presence now that the zeitgeist has turned against the Israeli genocide of Palestinians.

You're on the wrong side of history and a despicable human being.

17. shazbotter ◴[] No.45014031{5}[source]
Yeah, definitely don't blame the country actually committing genocide.

You sound like someone who is excusing domestic violence by saying, "if she didn't want to get hit, she shouldn't have talked back".

Fuck Hamas, I don't support hamas, but like, Israeli actions in Gaza are clearly inexcusable.

18. snapcaster ◴[] No.45014199{5}[source]
Did you ever expect to be making this kind of argument when you were growing up and learning about 20th century horrors? Or did you imagine yourself the kind of person who would have resisted in 1930s germany?
19. ◴[] No.45014260{5}[source]
20. integralid ◴[] No.45019586{4}[source]
Pretty callous. I doubt dying Ukrainians care that you dismiss their war as "proxy". The unprovoked invasion and resulting deaths are a fact. And Russia absolutely wants to destroy the Ukrainian identity, so that actually is a genocide.
21. integralid ◴[] No.45019658{5}[source]
Sometimes I wonder what contemporary Hacker News would say about my country freedom fighters back in the day. If they lost, I'm pretty sure we would call them terrorists or bandits instead.