5 ms·

So is working with the US, or Britain, or like 90% of the governments in the world (hell, probably closer to 100%)

by zajd 8y ago

everdrive 8y ago
You're either extraordinarily naive, or an intentional troll.
- dang 8y ago
  This breaks the site guidelines. Please read and follow them when commenting here, regardless of how wrong you think another comment is. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
craftyguy 8y ago
It's bad to ignore countries who are actively participating in human rights abuses, but it's not nearly as bad as actively participating in human rights abuses. Even though the US does participate to some degree (vast homeless populations, the whole separating families at the border thing, etc), it's no where near the scale/magnitude that you see in China.
- lovich 8y ago
  The US has the largest number of imprisoned citizens despite China and India having populations that are multiples larger as well as how the US deals with collateral damage with things like drone strikes, actual concentration camps for children after it was taught in schools about how bad it was last time the US put japanese in camps, police black sites in Chicago, and various other abuses. China is not good but the US has zero ground on to say it's better. If you are a business operating in either nation you are actively participating in human rights abuses or you close down ala Lavabit
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    In China, they just kill many potential prisoners rather than, you know, inprisioning them. So if you want to compare some unrelated metric, go ahead.
    - lovich 8y ago
      In America they just enslave them and have them work dangerous jobs. I don't see much difference morally
  - known 8y ago
    #1 The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the largest total prison population on the entire globe. #2 According to NationMaster.com, the United States has the highest percentage of obese people in the world. #3 The United States has the highest divorce rate on the globe by a wide margin. #4 The United States is tied with the U.K. for the most hours of television watched per person each week. #5 The United States has the highest rate of illegal drug use on the entire planet. #6 There are more car thefts in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world by far. #7 There are more reported rapes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. #8 There are more reported murders in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. #9 There are more total crimes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. #10 The United States also has more police officers than anywhere else in the world. #11 The United States spends much more on health care as a percentage of GDP than any other nation on the face of the earth #12 The United States has more people on pharmaceutical drugs than any other country on the planet. #13 The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world. #14 Americans have more student loan debt than anyone else in the world. #15 More pornography is created in the United States than anywhere else on the entire globe. 89 percent is made in the U.S.A. and only 11 percent is made in the rest of the world. #16 The United States has the largest trade deficit in the world every single year. Between December 2000 and December 2010, the United States ran a total trade deficit of 6.1 trillion dollars with the rest of the world, and the U.S. has had a negative trade balance every single year since 1976. #17 The United States spends 7 times more on the military than any other nation on the planet does. In fact, U.S. military spending is greater than the military spending of China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined. #18 The United States has far more foreign military bases than any other country does. #19 The United States has the most complicated tax system in the entire world. #20 The U.S. has accumulated the biggest national debt that the world has ever seen and it is rapidly getting worse. Right now, U.S. government debt is expanding at a rate of $40,000 per second.
- zajd 8y ago
  I mean, you could make an argument that the UK or Germany might not participate as much as China, but the US is certainly one of the world leaders in stomping on human rights. Forget the homeless population and separating families, just look at our mass incarceration programs. We have something like five times the percentage of our population in prison as opposed to China. My point isn't to say China is good, only that participating in human rights abuses and authoritarianism are endemic to all the major powers and there's no point in singling China out here. If you're working for the government chances are you're working for an organization that is authoritarian and abuses human rights.
  - kofejnik 8y ago
    It's very easy to criticise US from the high moral ground of your home, where your safety and freedom are guaranteed by the same US of A. But let me ask you: would you rather be a dissident in China or an anti-establishment protester in US?
    - zajd 8y ago
      My safety and freedom aren't guaranteed, they are rewarded by me working in a lucrative job. If I wasn't fortunate to have the career I do there would be no safety or freedom. I'll agree it's easier to be critical of the US in the US as opposed to being critical of China in China but that's not the only thing that matters if you're talking about authoritarianism and human rights abuses.
      - kofejnik 8y ago
        Nothing is guaranteed, however I can't see how this leads to US - China equivalency w.r.t human rights. > that's not the only thing that matters Maybe, but you prefer to ignore it altogether when equating China and US
        deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
    - 8y ago
- redial 8y ago
  Let's just forget Guantanamo, Iraq, Kuwait, Vietnam, South America, etc. and just focus on the recent border thing, that is way way tamer than what China has done or is doing you know. The truth is there's plenty of guilt to go around many times over probably centuries back in both cases, but let's blame a cellphone company for oppression, that seems logical. This reminds me of the time when the Taliban were all driving stolen Toyota trucks and congress asked them to explain why they were aiding terrorism. The makers of the automatic rifles they were carrying were never even mentioned of course.
  - deathhand 8y ago
    Because they were Klashinkakovs, a Russian design and not made by the American War Machine.
    - redial 8y ago
      Toyota is not an American company.
      - Cpoll 8y ago
        I'd wager the trucks came from Texas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Manufacturing_Texas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Manufacturing_Tex...) I'd also wager the AKs didn't. I'm not making a case either way, I'm not entirely sure what your argument is.
        redial 8y ago
        That factory is mainly for the american market. The trucks paramilitary groups love is the Toyota Hilux, not sold nor produced in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Hilux#Use_by_militant_groups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Hilux#Use_by_militant_g...

So is working with the US, or Britain, or like 90% of the governments in the world (hell, probably closer to 100%)

by zajd 8y ago

So is working with the US, or Britain, or like 90% of the governments in the world (hell, probably closer to 100%)

everdrive 8y ago

You're either extraordinarily naive, or an intentional troll.

dang 8y ago
This breaks the site guidelines. Please read and follow them when commenting here, regardless of how wrong you think another comment is. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

craftyguy 8y ago

It's bad to ignore countries who are actively participating in human rights abuses, but it's not nearly as bad as actively participating in human rights abuses. Even though the US does participate to some degree (vast homeless populations, the whole separating families at the border thing, etc), it's no where near the scale/magnitude that you see in China.

lovich 8y ago
The US has the largest number of imprisoned citizens despite China and India having populations that are multiples larger as well as how the US deals with collateral damage with things like drone strikes, actual concentration camps for children after it was taught in schools about how bad it was last time the US put japanese in camps, police black sites in Chicago, and various other abuses. China is not good but the US has zero ground on to say it's better. If you are a business operating in either nation you are actively participating in human rights abuses or you close down ala Lavabit
- craftyguy 8y ago
  In China, they just kill many potential prisoners rather than, you know, inprisioning them. So if you want to compare some unrelated metric, go ahead.
  - lovich 8y ago
    In America they just enslave them and have them work dangerous jobs. I don't see much difference morally
- known 8y ago
  #1 The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the largest total prison population on the entire globe. #2 According to NationMaster.com, the United States has the highest percentage of obese people in the world. #3 The United States has the highest divorce rate on the globe by a wide margin. #4 The United States is tied with the U.K. for the most hours of television watched per person each week. #5 The United States has the highest rate of illegal drug use on the entire planet. #6 There are more car thefts in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world by far. #7 There are more reported rapes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. #8 There are more reported murders in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. #9 There are more total crimes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. #10 The United States also has more police officers than anywhere else in the world. #11 The United States spends much more on health care as a percentage of GDP than any other nation on the face of the earth #12 The United States has more people on pharmaceutical drugs than any other country on the planet. #13 The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world. #14 Americans have more student loan debt than anyone else in the world. #15 More pornography is created in the United States than anywhere else on the entire globe. 89 percent is made in the U.S.A. and only 11 percent is made in the rest of the world. #16 The United States has the largest trade deficit in the world every single year. Between December 2000 and December 2010, the United States ran a total trade deficit of 6.1 trillion dollars with the rest of the world, and the U.S. has had a negative trade balance every single year since 1976. #17 The United States spends 7 times more on the military than any other nation on the planet does. In fact, U.S. military spending is greater than the military spending of China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined. #18 The United States has far more foreign military bases than any other country does. #19 The United States has the most complicated tax system in the entire world. #20 The U.S. has accumulated the biggest national debt that the world has ever seen and it is rapidly getting worse. Right now, U.S. government debt is expanding at a rate of $40,000 per second.
zajd 8y ago
I mean, you could make an argument that the UK or Germany might not participate as much as China, but the US is certainly one of the world leaders in stomping on human rights. Forget the homeless population and separating families, just look at our mass incarceration programs. We have something like five times the percentage of our population in prison as opposed to China. My point isn't to say China is good, only that participating in human rights abuses and authoritarianism are endemic to all the major powers and there's no point in singling China out here. If you're working for the government chances are you're working for an organization that is authoritarian and abuses human rights.
- kofejnik 8y ago
  It's very easy to criticise US from the high moral ground of your home, where your safety and freedom are guaranteed by the same US of A. But let me ask you: would you rather be a dissident in China or an anti-establishment protester in US?
  - zajd 8y ago
    My safety and freedom aren't guaranteed, they are rewarded by me working in a lucrative job. If I wasn't fortunate to have the career I do there would be no safety or freedom. I'll agree it's easier to be critical of the US in the US as opposed to being critical of China in China but that's not the only thing that matters if you're talking about authoritarianism and human rights abuses.
    - kofejnik 8y ago
      Nothing is guaranteed, however I can't see how this leads to US - China equivalency w.r.t human rights. > that's not the only thing that matters Maybe, but you prefer to ignore it altogether when equating China and US
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
  - 8y ago
redial 8y ago
Let's just forget Guantanamo, Iraq, Kuwait, Vietnam, South America, etc. and just focus on the recent border thing, that is way way tamer than what China has done or is doing you know. The truth is there's plenty of guilt to go around many times over probably centuries back in both cases, but let's blame a cellphone company for oppression, that seems logical. This reminds me of the time when the Taliban were all driving stolen Toyota trucks and congress asked them to explain why they were aiding terrorism. The makers of the automatic rifles they were carrying were never even mentioned of course.
- deathhand 8y ago
  Because they were Klashinkakovs, a Russian design and not made by the American War Machine.
  - redial 8y ago
    Toyota is not an American company.
    - Cpoll 8y ago
      I'd wager the trucks came from Texas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Manufacturing_Texas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Motor_Manufacturing_Tex...) I'd also wager the AKs didn't. I'm not making a case either way, I'm not entirely sure what your argument is.
      - redial 8y ago
        That factory is mainly for the american market. The trucks paramilitary groups love is the Toyota Hilux, not sold nor produced in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Hilux#Use_by_militant_groups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Hilux#Use_by_militant_g...