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Just wondering if you would say the same of people protesting in Hong Kong, Russia, or Saudi Arabia. Should they also "act like adults" and "go out there and pu

Just wondering if you would say the same of people protesting in Hong Kong, Russia, or Saudi Arabia. Should they also "act like adults" and "go out there and put in the hard work?" Depending on a person's life experiences, it causes them to draw the line at different places. So I don't think it's fair to say those people display "feigned outrage and pearl clutching," while _this_ specific way is the adult way.

general_ai 10y ago
Speaking of Russia (which is the only one of those countries/localities that I can speak for, since I grew up there), I will say that Putin is inarguably the best thing that happened to Russia in the past 100 years.
- khuey 10y ago
  Not very many good things have happened to Russia in the last 100 years.
  - general_ai 10y ago
    That's exactly right. And if someone is going to protest Putin, may I suggest that they peruse the following graph: https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=russia+per+capita+&aqs=chrome.4.0j69i57j0l4.6467j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq.... That's Putin.
    - tobltobs 10y ago
      No, that's the price of oil. Anyway, to use GDP as the prove for how good a president is, is nonsense anyway. Eg.: https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=venezuela+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=venezuela+per+capita+gdp+ppp https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=venezuela+per+capita+....
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - general_ai 10y ago
        Some of it is price of oil, sure. But if you're going to compare to Venezuela, you should be comparing PPP GDP, and not just GDP at exchange rate, which is kinda meaningless. Scroll down to "GDP at parity" here: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=venezuela+russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp+2000-2016 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=venezuela+russia+per+c.... As you can see, price of oil alone doesn't guarantee that the economy will get any better. And Russian economy did get dramatically better under Putin. I go back every 3-4 years, and the country is barely recognizable now compared to how things were 15 years ago. I could now actually imagine living and working there.
        nl 10y ago
        https://www.google.com.au/search?q=poland+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=russia+per+capita+gdp https://www.google.com.au/search?q=poland+per+capita+gdp+ppp... Look at that. Russia and Poland are almost exactly the same. Czech Republic looks somewhat better, Romania somewhat worse but all are similar shape. I guess Putin is a pretty amazing president! Or maybe there is something else going on...
    - cromulent 10y ago
      There's a lot of other countries that are not led by Putin with similar curves.
- woof 10y ago
  Even better than Stalin? Or was your use of the word "inarguably" some kind of code?
  - scrollaway 10y ago
    Even though most people in the US don't understand why, Putin is really liked in Russia. I guess those same people will have a lesson on what it's like to have a leader most of the world doesn't like/respect/understand :)
    - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
      It's very hard for people to step into the perception of another locale. One of the examples I see is in Congress, people often lament members of Congress and wonder why they continually get reelected. But while everyone else all over the country may hate that Congressman, there's a pretty good chance the locals love him and feel that he's representing their community well.
probablybanned 10y ago
I would say the same things if they were merely pitching a fit about being on the losing side of a free and fair election! You've got one thing right, which is that not all of the outrage is feigned, and some peoples view of the world is so distorted that they would place their "struggle" under Western democracies with that of the some of the most oppressive societies on Earth. Of course they're completely mistaken, and you try to cover for this cognitive failure with this feeble argument from "life experience" which can be used to justify nearly any kind of ridiculous behavior. Think about it: Our experience of the world is fundamentally subjective, so who are we to say that one way of acting is better than another? Fine, enjoy your postmodern intellectual paralysis if you want but I'm not playing that game. The facts are what they are, and Donald J Trump may be a formidable political opponent but he's not the god damn Chinese Communist Party.

general_ai 10y ago

Speaking of Russia (which is the only one of those countries/localities that I can speak for, since I grew up there), I will say that Putin is inarguably the best thing that happened to Russia in the past 100 years.

khuey 10y ago
Not very many good things have happened to Russia in the last 100 years.
- general_ai 10y ago
  That's exactly right. And if someone is going to protest Putin, may I suggest that they peruse the following graph: https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=russia+per+capita+&aqs=chrome.4.0j69i57j0l4.6467j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.google.com/search?q=russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq.... That's Putin.
  - tobltobs 10y ago
    No, that's the price of oil. Anyway, to use GDP as the prove for how good a president is, is nonsense anyway. Eg.: https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=venezuela+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=venezuela+per+capita+gdp+ppp https://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=venezuela+per+capita+....
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - general_ai 10y ago
      Some of it is price of oil, sure. But if you're going to compare to Venezuela, you should be comparing PPP GDP, and not just GDP at exchange rate, which is kinda meaningless. Scroll down to "GDP at parity" here: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=venezuela+russia+per+capita+gdp+ppp+2000-2016 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=venezuela+russia+per+c.... As you can see, price of oil alone doesn't guarantee that the economy will get any better. And Russian economy did get dramatically better under Putin. I go back every 3-4 years, and the country is barely recognizable now compared to how things were 15 years ago. I could now actually imagine living and working there.
      - nl 10y ago
        https://www.google.com.au/search?q=poland+per+capita+gdp+ppp&oq=russia+per+capita+gdp https://www.google.com.au/search?q=poland+per+capita+gdp+ppp... Look at that. Russia and Poland are almost exactly the same. Czech Republic looks somewhat better, Romania somewhat worse but all are similar shape. I guess Putin is a pretty amazing president! Or maybe there is something else going on...
  - cromulent 10y ago
    There's a lot of other countries that are not led by Putin with similar curves.
woof 10y ago
Even better than Stalin? Or was your use of the word "inarguably" some kind of code?
- scrollaway 10y ago
  Even though most people in the US don't understand why, Putin is really liked in Russia. I guess those same people will have a lesson on what it's like to have a leader most of the world doesn't like/respect/understand :)
  - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
    It's very hard for people to step into the perception of another locale. One of the examples I see is in Congress, people often lament members of Congress and wonder why they continually get reelected. But while everyone else all over the country may hate that Congressman, there's a pretty good chance the locals love him and feel that he's representing their community well.

probablybanned 10y ago

I would say the same things if they were merely pitching a fit about being on the losing side of a free and fair election! You've got one thing right, which is that not all of the outrage is feigned, and some peoples view of the world is so distorted that they would place their "struggle" under Western democracies with that of the some of the most oppressive societies on Earth. Of course they're completely mistaken, and you try to cover for this cognitive failure with this feeble argument from "life experience" which can be used to justify nearly any kind of ridiculous behavior. Think about it: Our experience of the world is fundamentally subjective, so who are we to say that one way of acting is better than another? Fine, enjoy your postmodern intellectual paralysis if you want but I'm not playing that game. The facts are what they are, and Donald J Trump may be a formidable political opponent but he's not the god damn Chinese Communist Party.