3 ms·
I don't think the US is the same as China even if the US isn't perfect. The CCP actually commits genocide, takes political prisoners, and its justice system is
by bagacrap 6y ago
I don't think the US is the same as China even if the US isn't perfect. The CCP actually commits genocide, takes political prisoners, and its justice system is a kangaroo court. Compare that to the US which spies on people and is taken to court for even attempting to kill a citizen who's become an enemy combatant in a warzone and has a justice system which often invalidates the actions of the legislative branch.
Europe with GDPR does set its own rules for how American tech can operate and penalizes them heavily for perceived infractions. So that continent is taking the actions they want to take which is their right. Beyond that, there are more examples: Spain did effectively shut down Google News, and I don't remember any retaliation.
- buran77 6y agoLook at the wars the US continuously waged over the past decades and count the the deaths and destruction. You can rationalize it any way you want if it makes you feel better, you can pretend it's a fight for freedom on one side, and a fight for oppression on the other, you can say those school children were just combatants. But in the end it's the same on either side: those with power kill to maintain it. Some kill locally, some kill globally. On the other hand the examples you gave are absolutely minor and barely noteworthy. I referred decisions with global impact, not inconsequential things like Google News being affected in Spain. Intel never payed the fine the EU imposed for unfair practices close to a decade ago. Facebook and Google barely saw a blip due to GDPR since it was basically (and legally it seems) rolled into their ToS. The real consequential things are the public support the US demands from the EU for sanctions or wars. For political and economical issues that involve far more than you mentioned as a counterpoint. For countless human lives lost.
- officeplant 6y agoThe US isn't the same, it's just worse as a whole over a longer period. What we've done to South America and the Middle East will impact those areas for decades more. We've got a lot of blood on our hands in the name of democracy, colonialism, and oil futures. Even more with how our soon to be ex-president pardons convicted war criminals on a whim.
- trasz 6y agoUSA actually performs genocide; its prisons are full of people convinced for political (mostly racial) reasons, see the justification for war on drugs; and it’s courts can punish convinced murderer with a fee instead of proper sentence. Not mentioning crimes, which often end up with decorating the perpetrators.
- adrian_b 6y agoIt would be nice if US would be taken to court for everything done, but that is very far from the truth. For example the US is guilty of criminal negligence during the invasion of Iraq, when an important part of the historical heritage of the entire humanity has been destroyed. It would have been extremely easy to avoid that, and there were ample efforts to warn the US political and military leaders to take appropriate actions, but all the warnings from competent people were ignored. A common thief or vandal who destroys one picture from a museum might rot in jail, but US presidents or generals who have destroyed historical artifacts far more valuable will never be punished in any way.