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The false dichotomy of comparing the “evils” of USA whenever horrifying news comes out of China is worrying. Stretched to the extreme it’s the equivalent of bri
by rhegart 8y ago
The false dichotomy of comparing the “evils” of USA whenever horrifying news comes out of China is worrying. Stretched to the extreme it’s the equivalent of bringing up Obama droning killing innocents when comparing The Nazis and Hitler. Our minds conflate the 2 things as bad and we compartmentalize them as such together.
There is a world of difference between the 2. Imagine if the world order was not created by US and instead China, things would be 10000x worse. When you are the sole superpower, other countries would abuse that privilege to benefit themselves a thousand fold more than the US does. We didn’t think about China as a serious threat 10 years ago because they were poor and not powerful yet the barbarity was worse then. It’s just more pronounced now because they have more power.
The same is true for all countries going to the world stage. Nigeria doesn’t seem like a threat now but in 50 years when it’s more population than the US the racism and backwards beliefs will result in terrible world crimes. The same can be said of Vietnam, and India too. (I am Indian). If these countries get as powerful as China you’ll see them expanding military, bullying neighbors, petty tribalism stuff.
It seems nationalist but I agree with trump to bring our economic industries home. Improve quality of life in these countries and improve human rights, wealth etc. but not to the degree where they are untouchable militarily and economically. Because China is not the worst to come, they are not even close. We don’t think of Vietnam and others as a threat but their tribalism runs deep as well. It takes 1 nationalist leader to increase the pace but when they have power like China almost everyone will abuse it.
- vkou 8y agoThe US had plenty of its own Nazi Germany moments, and - unlike Nazi Germany - which was completely dismantled by the Allies - the repercussions of them are still being felt today across its native and black populations. In more recent history - of the 21st century, at least, China hasn't started any conflicts in the Middle East, that have killed hundreds of thousands of people, and turned millions more into refugees. On the scale of 'how much harm has each empire done', it is not three orders of magnitude away from the competition. China's repression is targeted internally, for reasons of internal security. The Department of State targets it externally, for reasons of national interests. Comparing the two, or trying to argue which is worse, is apples and oranges. Both groups, here, justify their behavior, by claiming that if they didn't take action, something worse would happen.
- rhegart 8y agoYour comment is exactly the false comparisons I was talking about. Get the emotions out of the way and rationally evaluate what you just wrote. China can not start the conflicts because the world will sanction them. Yet they did exactly that to Tibet. They killed so many, took it over and have brainwashed or arrested everyone who clings to Tibetan culture. They invaded India, did you know that? And would have killed or enslaved all of it until the US stopped it (or was it Russia). China if sole superpower would have concquered Japan, Vietnam, South Korea no doubt in my mind and likely attempted the rest of the world as well.
- throwba43yt 8y agoIt is not a false comparison just because you say it is. I also disagree that China would try to conquer the world. Sure, they invaded India. So did the British. Are you saying if the UK became a superpower again, they would try to conquer the world like they did before?
- jerf 8y agoVery seriously, if you make a list of why you hate the Nazis, and then ask how many of those things apply to the current Chinese government, and carefully research the matter rather than just consulting what you may happen to think you know about the current Chinese goverment (i.e. not falling prey to "if I haven't heard of it in my newsfeeds, it doesn't exist")... well... actually it's pretty hard to tell them apart.
- EthanHeilman 8y agoI think you are being downvoted for being off-topic. >It seems nationalist but I agree with trump to bring our economic industries home. It's worth a try although the chance of it happening given the complexity of modern industrial good is near zero. I don't think Trump actually wants this and if he does his actions are having the opposite effect. To seriously grow an industrial base in the US would require very open borders, a massive federal investment + subsidy and a complete elimination of tariffs.
- tropo 8y agoIt would require very open borders on BOTH sides, or at least on the side that the USA doesn't directly control. With the heavy tariffs imposed by China and others on goods from the USA, manufacturing naturally moves there unless the USA retaliates.