Your account has been flagged for CCP tankie shill-like activity. Please review These Nuts and never forget that Mao killed more people than Stalin and Hitler combined!
Your logic is baffling. Hitler killed millions of people in the Holocaust. Mao killed millions more, yet he’s still a folk hero. Where is the disconnect here?
That the only way you can come to the conclusion that Mao “killed more” is if you’re deliberately downplaying how many Hitler killed, aka Holocaust denial.
I may have missed the lesson where numbers aren’t allowed to be bigger than other numbers, so let me rephrase this in a way you might be able to understand. The most conservative estimate of famine deaths during the Great Leap Forward (backward) is greater than the ENTIRE European Jewish population in 1933 by at least six million.
I also like how you’re deliberately trying to whitewash Hitler by ignoring all the non-Jewish deaths he was responsible for.
Seriously, you’re trying to argue that Mao “killed” every single person who starved to death in a famine, but Hitler is completely innocent of any of the deaths that occurred in World War 2. It’s a double standard no one would employ unless they were trying to downplay Hitler’s crimes.
That’s how it works in a dictatorship right? The fish stinks from the head.
To address your disingenuous bad-faith argument, counting non-Jews you have 11 or so million total dead in the Holocaust, we are still nowhere near it. Fuck Hitler, fuck Stalin, fuck Mao, the CCP, and fuck the US federal government.
Again, you’re saying Mao is guilty of every death in a famine because he was a “dictator”, but Hitler isn’t responsible for any of the deaths in WW2 (even the deaths by famine it caused).
Famines were extremely common before the CPC came to power. Most Chinese people lived in extreme poverty, and life expectancy was less than 35, with no significant improvement under the KMT. In between Mao coming to power and his death, life expectancy in China nearly doubled. Today, average life expectancy in China has exceeded that of the US, a feat that would’ve been unimaginable back then.
It’s true that Mao made misteps (which the CPC readily admits), but those specific, dramatic events have been disproportionately elevated to obscure the more general trend, which has been drastic improvements in the lives of the people of China.
Of course, in addition to minimizing the frequency and severity of famines in pre-industrial China, your history books likely did not place the same level of blame on the British for the intentional famines which Ireland and India were subjected to, in which Britain did not only refuse to provide aid to their colonial subjects (often on the express basis that it would motivate people to work harder), but also did not cease their plundering - in both cases, food was exported out of the country while the people starved.
You’re right, what does it matter that every Chinese person gets to live twice as long as they used to, if the process of getting there wasn’t perfect?
Your carefully researched and insightful rebuttal has convinced me. I hate massive increases in life expectancy now. Clearly, we have no choice but to abandon communism no-choice
I read somewhere that Mao’s family was considered well off for peasants because they could afford eggs a few times a year. I have no idea if there’s any truth to that.
the GLF was economic policy made in response to withdrawal of soviet technological and financial aid during the sino-soviet split, one of the primary motivating factors of which being soviet insistence on china essentially allowing the soviets to recolonize the port of dalian to build a naval base from which to deploy its pacific fleet.
on top of being under sanctions from the west, the sino-soviet split further deprived china of markets with which to support its all-important capital intensive industries and so china was forced to resort to agricultural export as a method of making up the shortfall. collectivization was also pursued simultaneously to pool domestic capital for internal consumption, but due to various geographical, technical and political considerations, internal consumption was not sufficiently stimulated to support manufacturing, and so agricultural export became the primary way to finance china’s continued industrialization. most accounts that are not hysterically anti-communist (including liberal darling amartya sen) of the period around the 1958 famine have records of aggregate production being more than sufficient to sustain the overall population, with the primary points of failure being overzealous local governments in highly productive areas, as opposed to popular western conceptions of overbearing central government mandated directives.
all this to say that hitler and the holocaust’s relevance as a point of comparison to mao and the GLF as anything beyond ‘people died when he was in charge’ is laughably superficial and mostly only functions as a thought terminating associative fallacy for juicing your dopamine receptors in order to immunize your brain against more correct opinions.
Hitler killed millions of people in the Holocaust.
Fascism did this, not Hitler alone. Fascism and Capitalist Imperialism (western as well) started a world war that killed nearly 100 million people in WW2. Mao did not kill anywhere near that much, it’s reactionary nonsense. China experienced the greatest increase in life expectancy in history under Mao
Mao killed trillions of people!!1!1!1111 Stalin killed zillions and Xi is killing gorillions!1111!!1! Omgomgomg wake up sheeple, time to inbade chyna! Heil Amerikkka, Heil Anglostani!
It’s funny how you clowns keep pretending that the only deaths Hitler caused were the ones that specifically happened in the death camps, as if he didn’t literally start WWII. And meanwhile you insist that every single stubbed toe and premature ejaculation that ever happened in a socialist country should be added to the “victims of communism” death toll.
Wow you’re such a :LIB: that you can’t even be bothered to read what you yourself write susie-laugh
Does your brain turn to mush every time you’re questioned or only the times you get quoted? Did you use words that were too big for yourself? michael-laugh
Cancel culture is just changing the channel when there’s someone on your TV screen that you don’t like.
You want go clockwork orange and strap people down, tape their eyes open and force them to watch the things you want them to watch? Because that would ensure the freedom of the people on TV to say whatever they want, right? The freedom of Hollywood assholes are more important that our freedom to change the channel, amirite?
What the fuck are you even talking about with Hollywood and television? Are you on a script? Bitch, you’re the one complaining about cancel culture. You’re the one equating being made fun of for having stupid reactionary opinions to literal torture. Can you please put in the absolute bare minimum of effort when you speak to at least remember the topic of fucking discussion??
I haven’t been so befuddled by a completely deranged and incoherent reply since I last posted on reddit-logo. Buddy I do not miss dealing with dipshits like you.
I understand the liberal brainpan isn’t capable of maintaining a thought or any information for longer than a few sentences, but this is really exceptional. Why are you acting like you weren’t the one crying about cancel culture in the first place? Why do you compare being bullied for your reactionary opinions with torture? Are you stupid?
It’s a problem idiots like to whine about as if it’s actually an important thing and I demonstrated how ridiculous it is because any solution to this “problem” would be insane.
I suggest you read Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” so you’ll be better able to understand this kind of rhetorical device. It’s meant to make you think about what the actual issue is, but apparently you’re unwilling or unable to think.
Hint: If you’re not willing to strap people down and force them to watch what you want them to, then what’s the solution to the “cancel culture” problem? Or maybe it’s not actually a problem that needs to be solved. It’s literally just people not watching things they don’t like.
I’m almost tempted to spend this time mocking you for being so fucking stupid as to believe that some idiot offering a cartoonish solution to a problem is proof that it can’t be solved. Because that’s a real fucking stupid thing to say and you’re a real fucking stupid person for saying it.
But it’s more important that I tell you to shut the fuck up and go back to read what the thread you’re replying to is about. You were the one who whined about cancel culture. Turn off the chatbot in your brain and actually pay the fuck attention to what’s going on around you. Holy shit dude.
Britain has committed a lot of killings in my country for 2 centuries. Winston Churchill also orchestrated the well known Bengal famine induced genocide.
My dude calls people statists but then also cites death tolls spouted by the US State department on Mao’s casualties is a level of mental gymnastics that may finally dethrone the Maga morons.
I’m sure there’s some explanation for how Mao killed 100,000,000 people but somehow the population of China went up and the life expectancy doubled under him. It can’t be because the US stat dept. exaggerated the deaths by an exponent tho.
China is fascist now, they can go on calling themselves communist in a vain attempt to have something resembling legitimacy. But any fool knows that when the ruling party is full of billionaires, that’s no communist system.
They Chinese people are a great people and deserve a better government than the fascist regime lead by Winnie Xi Pooh.
Idk how to tell you this, but the CPC and the Chinese state have like 90% approval from the Chinese people according to western academic sources beloved by libs.
Because it’s not saying Chinese people look like Winnie the Pooh. It’s only Xi looks like Winnie the Pooh. Do you understand the distinction between insulting an ethnicity and insulting an individual?
And you must’ve been living under a rock (or behind a firewall in an authoritarian country) if you’ve never heard of Xi being compared to Winnie the Pooh. I hear he’s sensitive about it, and it’s banned to make such statements in China. But since I’m not in China and Xi is a piece of shit, this incentivizes me to insult that shithead in ways that hurts his fragile little ego.
What a useless definition. It doesn’t even consider the class character of fascism.
Authoritarian is a useless word. It literally could be used to describe any state.
China is actually highly democratic, but that would require expanding your bourgeois ideas about democracy and understanding how their system actually works in practice.
Misogyny is a problem everywhere and is in no way unique to fascism or any political economy, is predates capitalism by thousands of years. I agree it should be abolished, and that is what socialism aspires to do. But the idea that it can be eliminated by flipping a switch is idealist and unrealistic. There is plenty of truth to the critique that patriarchy still exists in China, but the PRC has maybe also done more than any other state to end some of the most oppressive forms of misogyny, for the most number of women, in history.
Propaganda about past grievances? That is too vague to be meaningful either. Some past grievances, like the Japanese war crimes in China, are legitimate. Others, like conspiracies about “judeo-bolshevism” are not. The term “propaganda” here is loaded too, like if the US government does its best to bury its history of chattel slavery (like it is doing in florida, for instance), would it be “propaganda about past grievances” to fight back against that? Would you tell the grandchild of a slave in Florida that by spreading information as wide as possible to the people about the crime of slavery it is somehow fascist? it makes no sense
If you’re living in a place where they will drive over you with a tank if you protest the rulers, you’re living in an authoritarian state. This isn’t exacltly a subtle thing.
Misogyny is a problem everywhere and is in no way unique to fascism or any political economy, is predates capitalism by thousands of years.
I’m not talking about a few weird comments here and there. I’m talking about the ruling class in China raping women and getting away with it because it’s considered ok for the rulers to rape women in their society. Because it’s a fascist society. Communism is supposed to espouse equality between men and women. But China isn’t communist anymore.
Propaganda about past grievances? That is too vague to be meaningful either.
“Century of humiliation! We must allow strongman Xi to rule over us for as long he wants to fight back against the westerners trying to humiliate us!”
This is standard fascist propaganda, fear of outsiders, citing past grievances as a reason for needing a strongman ruler.
In reality it’s the CCP is humiliating the Chinese people. It’s a garbage government. The people of China deserve better.
Nah I live in a democratic country where women aren’t treated like property and we aren’t constantly butt hurt about some bullshit that happened in the past. In fact there are billions of people living in similar countries as mine.
Maybe it’s just you and the people around you that are fashy which makes you think everyone is this way. We aren’t.
I encourage you to learn about how fascism works so you won’t be so easily manipulated by fascist assholes like Xi and Putin.
You have it wrong. The Communist Party isnt producing billionaires or getting rich through corruption (at least not in the recent decade of anti corruption). Billionaires join the CPC for THEIR benefit, clout and image.
China is the only country that actually punishes billionaires for their crimes instead of giving them a slap on the wrist, house arrest or just straight up not punishing them. China executes billionaires when they commit a crime. Liu Han ordered a Mafia hit on a villager who protested one of his illegal real estate expansions, as well as a business rival. He was executed for murder. China is the only country in the world that would sentence someone worth $40 billion, let alone to death, let alone not given a presidential pardon. Jack Ma regularly oversteps and gets punished by the CPC.
The only billionaire the west has executed is Jeff Epstein (for entirely the wrong reasons). China’s executed 14+ in the last decade.
If there was a snap election todaty in China with 100% voter turnout, the Communist Party would be re-elected tonight. The party responsible for improving the lives for 1.4 billion people actually isn’t disliked in China. The Chinese are not without grievances with the government but literally no other political system in the world has matched Chinese progress over the last 70 years. The average Chinese person isn’t unaware of western Liberal democracy, it simply isn’t appealing. A system that’s basically a popularity contest that elects senile old men, cowboy actors and reality TV stars that have no business being statesmen is actually not a good system. Having lifetime appointed judges to interpret the words of long dead slave owners is not a good system. Having a leadership spill and a change of prime minister every year is not a good system. We can improve on freedom of expression, sure, but the Chinese people aren’t sheep who need to be liberated. Neoliberalism is the failure in the world, not the Chinese model.
Billionaires join the CPC for THEIR benefit, clout and image.
Yeah that’s how it works in a fascist system. The wealthy join the ruling party and gain connections to other wealthy people so they can all become wealthier.
The existence of billionaires in China indicates that China is not communist. If it were communist the wealth of the billionaires would be seized and redistributed to the people. China is a country where billionaires are legal and labour unions are illegal.
And your obsession with executions is indicative devaluing life. And it’s interesting that you buy into the conspiracy that Epstein was killed to silence him but haven’t considered the possibility that executions happen in China for the same reason.
If there was a snap election todaty in China with 100% voter turnout, the Communist Party would be re-elected tonight.
Then why isn’t there an election? Why aren’t opposition parties allowed in China? If the CCP would easily win an election, why not have them?
It’s because China is fascist. I think you’re confusing fascism with corporatism. They’re not at all the same. in fascism there’s a hierachy and corporations benefit by falling in line with the hierarchy. Winnie Xi Pooh (who shouldn’t even be leader, but pesky rules bout term limits don’t apply to autocrats) is at the top. Questioning his authority gets you executed. The leadership of China is most certainly misogynistic. The propaganda in China is all about century of humiliation kind of things. China is anti-democracy. These are all the properties of a fascist system.
And yeah fascists will lie about being left wing. See “National Socialism”.
Billionaires exist as a necessary evil, they’re not deities like they are to the west like Gates or Bezos, or a pillar of power like Russian oligarchs. China may not be Marxist as it is, but to completely cut away from the rest of the globe would be suicide. Market socialism relies on being a necessary part of the global economy, and China being able to manufacture in it’s current state while being able to raise the conditions of the proletariat makes it either the worst socialist state or the best capitalist state. Neither is worth of the vitriol it has received. If they must exist, better they exist for the benefit of the people rather than own media companies that push right wing agenda.
The fixation with executions comes from the accusation that billionaires are in charge. It they truly were, they wouldn’t be subject to the same laws as the common folk, and yet herr they are. Unlike Russia or the west, they are held accountable for their actions to a higher degree. All else equal, the CPC treats billionaires worse than any other form of government, and that’s not a bad thing.
For your second point re: elections: Why? The US doesn’t even have free elections, an electoral college overrules pupular vote, nor does the UK, the king and house of Lords aren’t subject to democracy. The Soviets had a free election in 91, voted to remain socialist,nand it was hijacked by the west. Allende was democratically elected and the west supported the usurper. An election while liberalism exists is just inviting interference. Taiwan didn’t have elections for 4 decades and were still beloved by liberalss. The house of Saud doesn’t have elections, did 9/11 and is a close US ally.
If the outcome is obvious, why waste time and resources to indulge western sensibilities, as if bourgeoisie democracy is a human norm, when you can skip that step and move on with increasing society? If it just leads to a Chinese Jan 6th, or worse, why would that possibly be on the table? The CPC would win and somehow the losers would obtain US military grade weapons and seize power. And even if there were no interference and the CPC won anyway, guess what? Every paper in the west would claim it was rigged.
Ren Zhengfei, the CEO of Huawei, has had people arrested and thrown into a dungeon. Billionaires here don’t have that level of power.
You keep imagining yourself as some communist revolutionary, but you’re just another useful idiot that’s been fooled by fascist propaganda.
You should know that fascists are liars and will even label themselves as “communist” if it furthers their goals of acquiring power.
After the ruling party of China did the Tiananmen Square massacre (en.wikipedia.org/…/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests…) and got away with it, they shifted to being fascist thugs whose only goal was to maintain and expand their power.
If you’re gonna support fascist thugs, at least be honest about who they are. You look really silly otherwise.
Source? Zhengfei couldn’t even keep his own daughter out of prison. Xi has been the one to crack down on billionaires (part of why a lot of my family like him better than Hu) so if it happened ages ago, I don’t remember. Even so, he’s less wealthy than Jack Ma, who is subject to the CPC’s rules, not vice versa.
All I know is the CPC has done more for the working class, lifted more workers out of poverty than any of the government’s that have earned your respect.
If all they wanted to do post 1989 was to maintain and expand power why the fuck haven’t they? Mongolia is right there, the Qing annexed it, the ROC annexed it, but the PRC can’t? Why forgive loans for Africa?
Why exempt Tibetans and Uyghurs and Mongolians from the One Child Policy? What kind of fascism does population control on the Han majority but not the minorities in their country?
If the goal was to acquire power, there are dozens of regimes that have done a better job at seizing absolute power, but instead the CPC open up more? The Juche government of the DPRK has absolute power, why didn’t China cloister itself from the world like pre Deng? Or start proxy wars in foreign countries to push nationalist jingoism?
I support my countrymen, no fascist thugs. If you’ve ever been to China you’d know it’s not some Orwellian nightmare state. Listening to the media’s portrayal of China when they lie or twist the truth on just about anything else is the brain worm talking. China’s fascist like Saddam has WMDs.
Think about where you’ve gotten your conception of China from and question whether or not they’re biased. You’re talking to someone with first hand experience in China.
I think you make some excellent points and I was glad to read much of what you wrote. If you don’t mind, I am curious about how concerned you are about the points raised above regarding women in positions of power and Xi’s unprecedented (to my knowledge) third term?
I’m not an expert on the gender dynamics of the political system, so it’s something I’ll have to look into, but to address the term limits thing, I kinda have to explain how the political system of the PRC works.
The way the President of China is decided is on the system of the People’s Congress. Starting from the lowest, most local level (will refer to as level 1), grassroots civilians will elect a congress representing the village/town. Larger populations elect people to a congress representing whole smaller cities, municipal districts or a county. This is level 2. Then for level 3, it’s a congress for cities and prefectures. Level 4 is a congress for provinces and autonomous regions. Level 5 is the National People’s Congress.
Depending on where you live and how populated, as a grassroots/civilian voter level, you elect someone to level 1 (more rural areas) or 2 (cities). Then, candidates from 1 & 2 elect someone among them to move up to level 3, level 3 select someone among them to move up to level 4, and so on. Its not possible to “skip” levels, you can’t get elected into a position of power unless you’ve held a lesser position of power and was competent enough for your equals deem you worthy of advancing. Level 5, the National People’s Congress consisting of around 3000 delegates, then elects the Central Committee for the PRC as well as the President of China by majority vote. The move to abolish term limits was put forth and passed by the National People’s Congress. They must have thought it was inconsequential, or it was more important to consolidate power during rising tensions with the west. Whatever the reason, this did not increase the powers of the office of President. If it was a malicious power grab by Xi, this was a poorly done one since General Secretary (the leader of the executive branch of government) had no term limits to begin with and holds more power (for reference, Deng Xiaoping was never President, but served 3 terms as General Secretary but was the most influential man in China during his active years)
Now, term limits in and of themselves aren’t necessarily good or bad. They were never in the original constitution of the PRC to begin with, were added I believe in the 80’s and abolished in 2018 since its effectiveness is questionable. German Chancellor’s have no term limits, nor most countries with Prime Ministers.
Thanks for answering and for trying to contextualize the answer as well. I think the latter in particular was very helpful. You are very much correct in your assertion that term limits are not a part of many democratic institutions, and I do not see any inherent issue with this. I imagine it might also depend on the particular mechanics and dynamics of the systems in question. Countries such as Germany and those with prime ministers often have a system of representation that allows for smaller political parties, which I think makes it harder for a single candidate to stay as head of state for a prolonged time (though I know of at least one case of this happening even if it isn’t necessarily a bad thing).
I did not know about the way you (to me) seem to choose representatives who then iteratively elects further candidates representing them. If my understanding is correct, then I would say that the first election seems to form the basis for the subsequent ones, which I think is a neat idea. However, that would also imply that how the first election is conducted is quite important for the composition of government. What limits are there to who can be a candidate in the first and second stages of the elections? I assume of course you had to make some simplifications, so I might be off track a bit here.
Well instead of minor parties, there are simply different factions in both the CPC (the executive branch) as well as the People’s Congress. Although there are actually minor parties in the National People’s Congress, but even to me they seem like tokens.
There are more hardline Leninists vs more free market liberals, among other stances for the way China should move forward in both branches. Nanjie, for example is still Maoist because the people chose leadership to remain Maoist, compared to Shenzhen or Shanghai which is far more liberal. Although as a whole, in recent years “centrists” (by Chinese standards) have been more likely to be elected upwards beyond a regional/county level, but that might be due to the fact that the status quo, although not perfect, has been more beneficial than detrimental to the average Chinese.
As far as I’m aware, the lowest levels of election would be the equivalent of like a village council (although villages in China may be considered a small city in other countries), and candidates I believe have to be citizens that have no prior convictions. Relevant background also helps.
Biden didn’t have a bad debate. He and his team showed America that he’s had a significant decline in mental capacity and instead gaslit the public and media about it.
Seriously. Can NYT Op-Ed run 100% “Trump should drop out” articles every time he does something far more disqualifying? They’ll never run another opinion again.
You’re being willfully obtuse. It wasn’t a bad debate, it was 90 minutes of confirmation that Biden was unfit for office. It was a 90 minute confirmation of what had been dubbed “right-wing propaganda” until that very moment.
It was likewise 90 minutes of confirmation that Trump is unfair for office: a non-stop steam of rambling nonsense and lies. A vote for Biden is a vote for a capable administration to do the actual work while grandpa sunsets. A vote for Trump is a vote for an administration of lackeys and con-man champing at the bit to turn the loot the country and turn it into a Christo-fascist kleptocracy.
If you think a Commander in Chief who is definitely going to betray the country for personal gain is an acceptance alternative to one who might make a mistake because he’s old, you deserve the hellscape you’ll get. The rest of us don’t though.
And an old sleepy man with a competent administration is still preferable to an old corrupt man with a Christo-fascist administration. It’s a sucky choice, but an extremely easy one.
Oh absolutely agreed, but the more discouraged apathetic voters, the more likely the Christo-fascists win. I have no interest in exacerbating that right now.
Biden dropping out could actually lead to Trump’s, defeat is the right person is chosen. If he dies of old age before the election, however, then we may see a landslide defeat.
That said, Trump is just as likely to die of old age at this point, if not moreso due to his propensity to indulge in hamburders and rage-fueled rants.
I guess stay I’m saying is fuck all of this. I’ve never felt less patriotic on the fourth of July than this year… What a fucking shitshow.
Edit: But hey, maybe Biden is right. Stubbornness and self-aggrandizing behavior worked out great for RBG, right?
It’s because Democrats don’t worship Biden as some Jesus reborn patriot whereas Republicans worship a literally prideful, envious, slothly, wrathful, greedy, gluttonous, and lustful old man as some Jesus reborn candidate.
So what stops New York and California from issuing citizenship certificates and work permits to immigrants? After all SCROTUS just accepted immigration can be under state jurisdiction
Texas and Florida have been using state emergency funds to pay private companies 10000x markup to ship illegal immigrants around the nation for over a year and have not been charged for it. They are lying about jobs to trick migrants into this plot. This falls under the terms for human trafficking.
So no, it’s perfectly legal for a state to move migrants around. Especially if you are not coercing them.
Called this awhile back, this is why Reddit has such a high evaluation.
Poisoning your data won’t do anything but give them more data, do you seriously think reddit servers don’t track every edit you make to posts? You’d literally just be providing training data of original human vs poisoned. They’d still have your original post, and they have a copy of everytime you edit it.
Whoever buys reddit will have sole access to one of the larger (I don’t think largest though) pools of text training Data on the internet, with full licensed usage of it. I expect someone like Google, FB, MS, OpenAI, etc would pay big $$$ for that.
“But can’t people already scrape it?”
Well yes, but it’s at best legally dubious in some places
Scraping Data off reddit only gets you current versions of posts (which means you can get poisoned dara, and cant see deleted content), and is extremely slow… if you own the server you have first class access to all posts in a database, including g the originals and diffs of everytime soneone edited a post, and all the deleted posts too.
Think about if you perhaps wanted to train an AI to detect posts that require flagging for moderation, if you scrape reddit data, you can’t find deleted posts that got moderated…
But, if you have the raw original data, you 100% would have a list of every post that got deleted by mods and even the mod message on why it was deleted
You surely can see the value of such data, that only owners of reddit are currently privy to atm…
They’ve also got vote counts and breakdowns of who is making those votes. This data will be worth more for AI training than any similar volume of data other than maybe the contents of Wikipedia. Assuming they didn’t have it set up to delete the vote breakdowns when they archived threads.
Why are those breakdowns worth so much? Because they can be used to build profiles on each voter (including those who only had lurker accounts to vote with), so they can build AIs that know how to speak with the MAGA cult, Republicans who aren’t MAGA, liberals, moderates, centrists, socialists, communists, anarchists. Not only that, they’ll be able to look at how sentiments about various things changed over time with each of these groups, watch people move from one to another as their opinions evolved, see how someone pretends to be a member of whatever group (assuming they voted honestly and posted under their fake persona).
Oh and also, all of that data is available through the fediverse but it’s free to train on to anyone who sets up a server. Which makes me question whether the fediverse is a good thing because even changing federation to opt-in instead of opt-out just covers whether your server accepts data from another. It’s always shared.
Open and private are on opposite sides of a spectrum. You can’t have both, best you can do is settle for something in the middle.
What if reddit also kept all deleted comments and post, im sure there are shit loads of things people type out just to delete, thinking all the while it’ll never see the light of day.
I’d be surprised if they don’t keep all of that. There were a number of sites for looking at deleted posts. They’d just go and grab everything and compare what was still there with what wasn’t and highlight the stuff that wasn’t there anymore.
Which is also possible here, though the mod log reduces the need for it. But if someone is looking for posts people change their mind about wanting anyone to see, deleting it highlights it instead of hides it for anyone who is watching for that.
I think that site was unddit, but yes those were posted then later deleted. Im talking about just typing out a post or comment and never posting just simply backing out of the page or hitting cancel. Im not just if any of that is stored on the site or just locally.
You would be able to tell by monitoring the network tab of the browser developer tools. If post requests are being made (which they probably are, though I’m too lazy to go check) while you are typing a comment, they are most likely saving work in progress records for comments.
They definitely do, it’s common for such systems to never actually delete anything because storage is cheap. It likely just is flagged deleted=true and the searches just return WHERE [post].Deleted = False on queries on the backend.
So it looks deleted to the consumer, but it’s all saved and squirreled away on the backend.
It’s good to keep all this shit for both legal reasons (if someone posts illegal stuff then deletes it, you still can give it to the feds), as well as auditing (mods can’t just delete stuff to cover it up, the original still exists and admins can see it)
Which makes me question whether the fediverse is a good thing
I’d argue it’s good, because it means open source AI has a fighting chance with FOSS data to train on without needing to fork over a morbillion dollars to Reddits owners.
Whatever use cases the reddit data can train on, FOSS researchers can repeat it on Lemmy data and release free models that average joes can use on their own without having to subscribe to shit like Microsoft Copilot and friends to stay relevant.
The problem (for most) was never that people’s public posts/comments were being used for AI training, it was that someone else was claiming ownership over them and being paid for access, and the resulting AI was privately owned. The fediverse was always about avoiding the pitfalls of private ownership, not privacy.
It’s exhausting constantly being “that guy,” but it really needs to be said constantly; private ownership is at the core of nearly every major issue in the 21st century.
The same goes for piracy and copyright. The same goes for DMCA circumvention and format shifting content you own. The same goes for proprietary tech ecosystems and walled gardens. Private ownership is at the core of the most contentious practices in the 21st century, and if we don’t address it shit like this will just keep happening.
So the old trick of “search term +reddit” no longer will work then huh?
I’ve already made a habit of adding date limiters to web results from before before LLMs were made public… The SEO ‘optimization’ game of before was bearable, but the LLM spam just ruins so many search results with regurgitated garbage or teaspoon deep information
During the peak of the great purge, it was quickly becoming pointless. A lot of results were bringing up deleted posts. It took a while for search engines to catch up and start filtering a lot of those results out.
With respect to 2, it would stop others scrapping the content to train more open models on. This would essentially give Reddit exclusive access to the training data.
Sounds like something a bunch of governments would be interested in. As you pointed out you get to see why human mods made certain decisions. Could you an edge in manipulation.
In regards to the editing part, sure, I’m sure they can track your edit history. However, on a large scale, most edits are going to be to correct things. To determine if an edit was to poison the text, it would likely require manual review and flagging. There’s no way they’re going to sift through all of the edits on individual accounts to determine this, so it’s still worthwhile to do.
Although they could sidestep the issue a bit by simply comparing the changes between edits. Huge changes could just be discarded, while minor ones are fine.
My first thought too. I wonder if it’s a clause specific to Israel or if it can even be applied to Ukraine? Maybe they’re testing the waters with the Israel thing, then if that goes through then they’ll do the same thing with Ukraine and anybody that opposes it is also “blocking aid to Israel”?
Not in the detail I would have liked. So declaring it an immidiate risk to US security is seemingly possible, but what are the standards there? Who can check the justification? What pre-defined guidelines for such an assessment exist?
How in the Sweet Jesus is a regional group only interested in a regional conflict more of a national security threat than Russia whose publicly said they want to invade a NATO country next?
It’s kind of insane that a US Presidential candidate would even need to defend themselves from an accusation like that in the first place. Usually that’s just a given, that’s like a basic qualification for the job.
Lol thats why I threw in the scolding at the end. AES-256 or whatever will be cracked and the heat death of the universe will occur well before I run out of shit Trump says/does that infuriates me
If it’s too floppy/greasy to easily hold without getting my fingers all dirty I would rather use a knife and fork. I hate having my hands messy. That’s also why I (unpopular opinion) prefer boneless chicken wings so I can use a fork.
Well you see, his supporters want him to be a dictator. They support him because he’s against everything the system stands for, the same system they feel cheats them and doesn’t work for them. No thought to the alternative mind you, just an anti status quo vote
I purchased an FSD Model 3 a long time ago. For the life of me, I can’t understand why it is still so bad today. How hard is it to stay in the left lane when you’re just about to take a left?
However, that being said, it’s just a tool. The first time I drove (other) cars with cruise control or GPS, I knew I didn’t want to drive without those features anymore, even if it was years before they started working very well. I feel the same thing about FSD, even in its current poor state.
I know that it’s been advertised to be something it’s not, and I think Tesla needs to lose a lot of lawsuits over it, but I need this technology now.
Just like when cruise control and GPS came out, there were people who wrecked because they relied on them too much, the same thing is happening with new technology in a Tesla. There is no autonomous driving mode. The driver is supposed to be in control and paying attention the entire time.
Tesla advertised Full Self Driving, it’s literally what FSD stands for but in reality it was a somewhat better driver assistance. Why was? Well they are now relying almost exclusively on on normal fucking cameras which is why their depth perception is so spotty, they don’t have depth perception anymore the hardware for it has been removed.
It’s still somewhat better driver assistance. Like I said, it was advertised to be something it’s not. My car has the lidar, and I can tell you from personal experience that it’s much better at driving assist now without the lidar than it was with the lidar. That may be due to other improvements, but the point stands.
When you use the “FSD” mode, you free up a ton of your attention. You don’t have to concentrate on staying in the lane. Lots of cars have lane assist now, and it’s definitely the number one feature on the Tesla, as well. You don’t have to focus as much on speed. You rarely have to think about navigation. It does the lane changes for you, and it does the turning for you. You can glance at the display, and it very reliably shows you where all of the cars are near you.
You get to reclaim all of that attention and with that, you can be better aware of what other cars are doing. I was already a very safe driver, the sort who focused on defensive driving, before I got FSD, and FSD has only made my drive even safer. My biggest complaint is that it makes some really stupid lane change decisions, which I can simply cancel. Of course, that’s after it has turned on the signal, which feels embarrassing, although probably nobody else cares. It also has some issues when there are multiple turn lanes. It likes to choose the stupidest turn lane every time.
You use the car. You learn the quirks of the current software, and then you correct when it does something wrong. That’s it. It’s game changing. It’s not as game changing as true FSD, but it’s huge. It doesn’t matter if it only uses cameras. We drive with only our eyes. Could it be better if they also used lidar? Probably, although AI famously can have worse results sometimes with more inputs. But it’s the other things that are more important.
China’s preference was for peaceful “reunification”
Wow, that’s the most direct threat that invasion is also an option I’ve ever seen from China. We prefer #1, but we will settle for #2 if #1 isn’t an option.
Xi is a very dangerous man.
I don’t understand why China can’t accept Taiwan is an independent country?
Yes probably, but that is very easily shown to be irrational.
Taiwan is an independent country now, they have no right to control that by force.
Peace is a better condition to prosper under, and is therefore more profitable than war.
Regarding pride, the rebels won all of mainland China, their enemy fleeing to Taiwan is almost ideal, to avoid a massacre. Wanting a massacre for pride is as evil as you can get.
I think USA and the rest of the international community needs to tell China to kindly stuff it where the sun doesn’t shine.
We gave in to Russia for far to long, both USA and EU. It only created more problems not less.
Stop appeasing authoritarians who desire an ever bigger powergrab.
The big difference being that the South was actually part of the United States of America while Taiwan has never been ruled by the People's Republic of China. A civil war isn't the same thing as imperial conquest.
If you want to use the couples therapy analogy, it would be more like you were forced into an arranged marriage with an abusive person, then you got forcefully divorced and remarried, then divorced again and your first ex-spouse started beating you (again) and trying to remarry you, then after decades of separation that ex-ex is now forcing you at gun point to go to couples therapy because they don’t want you to keep the property you got in the divorce settlement.
If you want to talk about the yankees, it would be more like the south successfully seceded but later decided they wanted to start a war to be one country again.
Taiwan is a ridiculously valuable tech asset. If China can seize control of TSMC, it’d be in an incredible position to make tons of money and potentially spy on the rest of the world. If the factories wind up inoperable for whatever reason… well, most of the chips they produce aren’t being sent to China anyway, so while it wouldn’t be good for anyone, it’d be much worse for the rest of the world. And with TSMC making efforts to offshore its talent and production anyway (even if it has been with very limited success so far), China wants to make a move sooner rather than later.
It’s a very valuable spot geographically in the island chain too. With Taiwan under their control, they basically oversee all cargo ships coming through the South China Sea to East Asian countries like Japan and Korea, not to mention the additional economic area and military potential.
Yeah, I think geography is the main point here. As it stands, China’s coast is fully surrounded by American allies in Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines and owning Taiwan could give them control of the surrounding waters allowing their cargo ships to safely pass through if things get ugly with the US.
TSMC isn’t worth anything without EUV light, only ASML makes the light that makes modern processes possible. Without new lights, TSMC can only run for a few months because the lifetime of those lights are pretty short. Then they would have to revert to noncompetitive processes. Only Canon is somewhat close AFAIK. So no luck there either.
Not totally true. There’s a reason why TSMC chips have better yields and efficiency than Samsung chips, even though they are on the same nodes and also use ASML machines. AFAIK, you still need to develop a know-how to build good chips, and ASML’s tools enable that, true, but they don’t know the rest of the process to make that happen. Neither does Apple nor other chip designers, and that’s worth value.
Without the tools, the knowhow is worthless. Apart from that, Taiwan say they have made sure TSMC will never fall into the hands of China.
I’m not disputing it will cause major disruption in western supplies too, obviously neither Samsung or Intel will be able to replace TSMC immediately, they are behind both on quality and volume, and they are the only existing alternatives to high end process manufacturing. Apple doesn’t know shit in that regard, they are not a manufacturer, and TSMC is not a chip designer.
Seizing TSMC is only a good move in theory. First, they wouldn’t be able to operate it as well. Second, the world would immediately mobilize to divest from TSMC dependence, just as it is divesting from Chinese manufacturing toward Vietnam and India. Third, it would never get as far as China successfully continuing the TSMC dominance but ALSO with embedded spyware. Huawei equipment is being ripped out and thrown away in data centers across the western world. There’s zero chance the world would just sit there and accept compromised chips.
Before some disingenuous comment about chicken or the egg starts flooding this thread, these people were already refugees due to Israel’s action of driving them out of their houses by bombing them in the first place, and then bombing them again in the refugee camp, if that’s not a war crime and precedent of next generation of Palestinians hating Israel, I don’t know what else is.
If I’ve learned anything about global conflicts, it’s that war crimes can only be committed by Non-VINs: Very Important Nations.
I used to do nightclub security in college and it was EXACTLY the same thing with drugs. If you were a nobody who paid $500 for a bottle service table, you can’t do drugs at your table, one warning to stop, the next you’re kicked out.
If you’re Israel America Saudi Arabia Paris Hilton, the bottle service girl will literally help you set up the lines of cocaine you brought to party with for the table to enjoy.
There is not (Art. 16 GG). IIRC the only exception is the fringe case of someone having dual citizenship and enlisting to fight in a conflict involving the other country or some shit.
You can lose citizenship by taking up another (non-EU) one without having jumped through quite some hoops before, have another citizenship and fight in their army without previously asking for permission (there’s a blanket exceptions for EU, NATO, EFTA and a couple of others), by giving it up, or being adopted by foreign parents. In all cases you won’t lose it if it’d make you stateless.
On the flip side if you lost your German citizenship previously due to the Nazis you can get it back no questions asked, some but quite low bars exist for cases like a woman marrying a foreigner (until 1953 that meant she lost citizenship). You can also get citizenship pretty much instantly if you live in a territory that once was Germany, or in the ex soviet block, and still are considered to be ethnically German.
For the rest it’s generally get a work permit, get permanent residence, stay here for eight years, that can be reduced to seven by completing an integration course, six if you’re aceing integration, pass a written test, got sentenced to more than a misdemeanour, know enough German, swear allegience to the free and democratic basic order, and are willing to lose your old citizenship (exception: EU or Swiss citizens, also, hardship. E.g. Iran simply doesn’t release people from their citizenship, the US demands exorbitant sums – but Americans still might want to get rid of theirs to get rid of the IRS).
Iran has this clause that they can technically allow someone to renounce their citizenship: the Council of Ministers has to accept your request and they simply never will, so you have to stay.
I have a friend in Iran that is a born Iranian who wanted to renounce his citizenship for years. First he was told it’s impossible before having completed the mandatory military service (a lie, it is not a requirement by their own laws). He finally caved in and did the 2 years bullshit service. Then, they told him he needed to be 26. Ok, fine, he waited until then. Then they told him his questionnaire form was outdated and he needs to apply again with the new one. How to get the new one? Only way seems to be over the official page that links to a dead link, literally 404.
There was a much smaller town, I believe more in East Texas, that brought such an ordinance up. I was pleasantly shocked that they eventually came to the conclusion that their proposed “papers please” environment was a wee bit too much like what many of their older residents had fought against.
Sadly, I’m not confident that clearer minds will continue to prevail.
Further, as I type this, I’m in an airport in Dallas headed to Nevada where I’m going to gamble, have sex out of wedlock, consume cannabis, and potentially purchase and consume an alcoholic beverage between the hours of two and seven in the morning. Somehow, no Texas legislator has any interest in prohibiting my endeavors. Seems inconsistent.
Exactly their gender hierarchy is simple: cis men having full freedom and protection, cis women having protection as provided by a cis man, everyone else’s existence threatens the legitimacy of this system and must be forced into one of the boxes with violence if needed
I’m betting the gambling prohibition will fall in Texas in the next 10 years. Same in other states that ban it. There is just way too much money going to their immediate neighbors for the politicians to not get greedy.
America is a wonderful place to live. It is not free to live here, but we do have freedom.
I wouldn’t trade my life in the USA to move anywhere else, unless it was an offer that came with a substantial financial incentive that would pay for me to live comfortably without needing a job.
Americans can drive as fast as they want on racetracks. I break the speed limit on highways all the time with no consequences. Therefore we have the freedom which you have claimed we do not.
Keep it coming. I still haven’t heard anyone legitimately name a freedom that Americans don’t have.
To be more specific about the Autobahn, yes that is a form of freedom, but it’s more like a privilege as you must have licensing etc, and it’s only applicable to one road network or system of highways. We have racetracks all over America with no speed limits, possibly even more miles of track than miles of Autobahn but that is just a wild guess.
But you know it’s not common in the US to have this right, you live in those 24 States that give you this freedom. I’ll tell you more, it’s baffling to me that I cannot drink in America (again, in most States, not the whole country, happy now?) if I’m the passenger in a car and you’re driving.
Alcohol is legal in all 50 states, and people drink it as they please in general. Some states do allow passengers to drink in cars, and some even allow a driver to drink if they are below the DUI limit.
So you have a limited case for your point on that one, that some Americans can’t drink alcohol as freely as others wherever they want to. I can concede that European countries have more freedom to drink alcohol than Americans have. We have a similar situation with cannabis laws, where some Americans have more freedom than others.
I have to say, is that all you’ve got? Some countries have more freedom to get drunk and high. That hasn’t been much of an obstacle for the people I know that get drunk and high all the time though.
With the natural resources they have, they could have been a major member of the EU providing their people a lifestyle similar to Norway. But no, after the fall of the USSR they decided to go full speed towards a dictatorship. Such a shame.
Geno in genocide isn’t referring to genetics. It’s gene as in genos as in race not religion. Arab Jews and Arab Muslims are the same race so it couldn’t be genocide strictly defined but rather the UN/international definition. And that’s wholely ignoring that race is a social construct not a objective fact and science does not in fact recognize “race” but rather geographic phenotypical derivation.
These five acts were: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group. Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.[1][2]
In a statement, Egypt states that it did not close its side of the crossing, and calls on all countries and international organizations in the region to provide humanitarian aid to Gazans by flying it through the El-Arish airport in northern Sinai, located about 56 kilometers (35 miles) from the Rafah crossing. source
When you’re talking about getting food, fuel, and water to more than 2 million people, air drops are not going to be remotely sufficient. Convoys of full size trucks might not be enough. 2 to 3 liters of water per person per day adds up really fast.
Edit: Just for fun, I looked up the capacity of tanker trucks to see how many they would need to get enough drinking water to the civilians in Gaza at a rate of 3 liters per person per day, assuming a population of 2.3 million and a tanker capacity of 60k liters. (Keep in mind, this does not account for water needed for hygiene or food preparation, etc.) It turns out that they would need to bring in 115 tanker trucks a day to keep the civilian population supplied with adequate drinking water. Or, y’know, Israel could turn the water back on.
Gaza is not a state, it does not have any of the rights normal countries have, it’s an open-air prison managed by Israel. And it is currently under naval blockade by Israel, so even if Gaza was a state it would still be a war crime.
The Gaza strip has been systematically economically destroyed for over 20 years. The border with Israel has been strictly controlled since Hamas came to power in 2007. Israel does not allow goods to cross the Gaza-Egypt border directly, everything must go through Israel. There are only 2 border crossings, and all import and export is strictly controlled. Import of any goods marked “dual-use” (possibly useful for both military and civilian) is limited. About 80% of business in the Gaza strip has closed doors since the blockade began. Even “internal” trade is hampered by the blockade. Palestinian fishermen in Gaza, who want to sell their fish to Palestinians in the west bank, are restricted by a fish export quotum imposed by Israel. This quotum was halved by Israel last year, cutting income of the fishermen in half.
Infrastructure is periodically destroyed. In accordance with peace accords from the nineties, a seaport was being constructed in Gaza with European funding. However, in 2001 Israeli tanks destroyed the construction site, and bombed the site again several months later. European companies then pulled out of the project. Since 2007 Israel blockades the Gaza strip fully by sea also. A similar fate befell the Palestinian airport: the radar station and control tower were bombed, and bulldozers have cut the runways, rendering it inoperable.
Furthermore, Israel collects tax on behalf of the Palestinian state. These taxes form about 60-70% of Palestine’s income. Israel regularly suspends payments as “punishment” for terrorist attacks. It also keeps part of the taxes collected for itself before transferring the remainder to Palestine. The amount withheld was doubled last year by the Israeli minister of finances.
Another important source of income for Palestinians is labor in Israel. Palestinians are used as a source of cheap labour by Israel in the construction, industrial, and agricultural sectors. When the current war broke out, most of the workers were arrested and deported to the West Bank, even though they actually live in the Gaza strip. Some are stuck there while their families in Gaza die in the retaliatory bombardments.
A senior Hamas official said the group is open to discussions over a possible truce with Israel, having "achieved its targets."
Yep, Hamas managed to entrench both sides in their fucking atrocity competition, so Hamas and the Israeli right-wing can both hang onto power by the fear and hatred stirred in their populations. Great. Same time again next year?
After what happened, I don't think Israel is going to allow Hamas to hang on to power. They are not going to allow Gaza to ever again be in a position to attack Israeli citizens, and that's going to come at the cost of a lot of innocent Palestinians.
reuters.com
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