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"Both these obstacles exist in every large country known to me, except China, which is the last refuge of freedom." Good to see how well that worked out ;-)
by feurio 6y ago
"Both these obstacles exist in every large country known to me, except China, which is the last refuge of freedom."
Good to see how well that worked out ;-)
- andrepd 6y agoIt's depressing how bad early 20th century China fucked it up
- coldtea 6y agoCompared to some paradise that was 19th century China? If anything, they improved a lot, in sovereignity, wealth, education, infrastructure, commerce, science, and tons of other fields besides...
- ta988 6y agoAs well as concentration camps.
- coldtea 6y agoIf we are to believe the same "enemy of the day" embedded reporting that gave us WMDs, the Nayirah testimony, the Steele Dossier, and other such truths...
- andrepd 6y agoThe evidence is overwhelming, unlike the case with Iraq's WMDs.
- coldtea 6y ago"Evidence" like satellite photos of school complexes, markets, and such being reported (in mainstream media nonetheless) as "concentration camps" and debunked by on-the-field checks?
- andrepd 6y agoI'd love to see that "debunked" evidence, sadly there's more than sattelite imagery, such as survivor's testimonies and on-the-field images. The most incontrovertible evidence is: if there's no genocide, why don't you allow a team of reporters free unmolested access to Xianjing. Of course, you know this. Why you seek to deny it it's anyone's guess.
- andrepd 6y agoI hear that a lot. Wealth, science, infrastructure are better ergo the political system and decisions were good. I hear that from such diverse sides as Bill Gates and capitalism apologists as well as Soviet apologists. The truth is things improved in general in the last century because technology improved in the entire world in the last century. More efficient production, better medicide, massively more know-how in all fields of human endeavour. Yeah things got better in the entire world, but probably despite the system, not because of it.
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoNot saying I agree with it, but: A frequent answer to that from proponents of a strong unitary state (e.g. China, but also Russia and a few other countries) is that society there is too divided for the state to survive without a heavy hand. And then, once the state breaks down and the country splits into fiefdoms ruled by warlords, the collapse of infrastructure and violence means that the average person wouldn't be getting much benefit from modern technology. Just look at Somalia.
- coldtea 6y agoOr states where the strongmen were toppled by "democracy by bombing (and get their resources)" operations, that turned half a century stable places like Iraq, Libya, etc. into civil-war hellholes...
- coldtea 6y ago>The truth is things improved in general in the last century because technology improved in the entire world in the last century. Available level of technology doesn't magically improve things, and doesn't make you #2 global economy from a distant developing world one. Just check other developing world countries that had 1/1000 the success, regardless of 20 and 21st century technology being what it is. >More efficient production, better medicide, massively more know-how in all fields of human endeavour. Yeah things got better in the entire world, but probably despite the system, not because of it. There are tons of countries that don't even have running water and stable electricity, never mind "more efficient production and better medicine". Technology and infrastructure improvements don't apply magically by themselves.