• MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    You know it’s possible for multiple evils to exist, right? And sometimes they are also adversaries. Yes, the U.S. is evil. Yes, China is evil. Yes, Russia is evil. So in and so forth.

    • klao@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      Classic case of whataboutism, it was a common “technique” very often used by the far-right in the 2015 US presidential elections

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      You know it’s possible for multiple evils to exist, right?

      What would you say about a newspaper that spread salacious rumors about a foreign country’s nuclear weapons program, months before the newspaper’s domestic government launched a full scale military invasion? What about a newspaper notorious for promoting narratives that have contributed to homophobia, racism, and moral panics aimed at religious minorities? Or a newspaper that had damning information about domestic leadership and deliberately covered it up until the end of an election cycle? A newspaper that regularly promoted the interests of its corporate sponsors ahead of the well-being of its readership? One that promoted misinformation in the middle of a pandemic? Or one that shamelessly promoted financial con-men in the middle of their most brazen acts of fraud?

      Is that evil?

      Yes, the U.S. is evil. Yes, China is evil.

      But we have to side with the US, because it is the lesser of two evils! So trust the NYT, uncritically. Again. In this new drum-beat towards war.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          You don’t have to support any evil.

          That’s why I cancelled my subscription.

          Why is it a dichotomy to you?

          Because the article is arguing for further US sanctions on Chinese trade goods. If you’re telling your neighbors, at the point of a US gun, not to buy Chinese products then you’re 100% supporting one of these evil institutions.

          This becomes even more dire when you’re talking about blocking Chinese solar panels and wind turbines so that you can defend US coal plants and gas stations.

          • MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 hours ago

            What? Not buying Chinese products is somehow evil? I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. Regardless of what the article is advocating for, it’s making a really crucial point about Uyghur slavery, which is fucking evil, and you’re choosing to ignore it

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              9 hours ago

              Not buying Chinese products is somehow evil?

              When you’ve boycotted the Uyghurs so you can buy all your goods from occupied Kashmir and the sweatshops of Indonesia and Bangledesh, you’re not buying ethically. You’re just buying into the propaganda.

              it’s making a really crucial point about Uyghur slavery

              Is it? Are we doing anything to raise wages, improve working conditions, or enforce ethical standards on imports at long last?

              Or is this just an effort to whip liberal support for Trump tariffs?

              • MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                8 hours ago

                Don’t try to make this about ethical consumption. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. Most Americans don’t even KNOW about the Uyghurs in China. Literally any exposure this horrible situation is doing something.

                I think I’ve just come to the conclusion that there is no way you’re going to concede the point that the Chinese are committing atrocious human rights violations, are you?

                • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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                  8 hours ago

                  Don’t try to make this about ethical consumption.

                  What do you think the sanctions of the Uyghurs was intended to accomplish? This was the explicit intent of the policy.

                  there is no way you’re going to concede the point that the Chinese are committing atrocious human rights violations

                  When I’ve seen what the NYT refuses to call genocide, I’m force towards skepticism when they finally do.

                  • MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                    8 hours ago

                    More than one state can commit a genocide at the same time and they don’t even have to be friends. Ignoring human rights violations because you overcorrected when you found out America was bad is a shitty position, and I advise that you reevaluate your values

          • MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 hours ago

            It what ways? By literally opposing both the U.S. AND China and recognize both of their complicity in massive human rights violations? Why are you trying to whataboutism this?

            • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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              4 hours ago

              Sometimes I wonder why .ml people are so american pilled, its like they can not think of English speaking person from outside the us, let alone that most us think the us and their odd ways are bad.