5 ms·

It's like they want the rest of the world to hate them.

koolba 5y ago
Not quite. They just don’t care what anybody else thinks outside of game theory analysis of how they will act. If the country was a person, we’d label their personality as a high functioning manipulative sociopath.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  And yet, we don’t do what is best practice for dealing with such an actor: disengage. We (the US primarily, but also the rest of the developed world) have a tremendous opportunity with a still productive labor force and cheap capital to boot up manufacturing capacity we offshored to China, and we won’t have the chance again when China decides to act against other countries (economically or militarily).
  - SuoDuanDao 5y ago
    Disengaging takes a while. If there's a strong desire to avoid things going kinetic, it takes even longer. I feel as though the post-Obama era of US politics is oscillating around the best amount of caution WRT avoiding a hot war with China.
BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
Authoritarian regimes love fostering us vs the world narratives; it helps them maintain control.
- staunch 5y ago
  It's not a bad trick. Lots of historical examples of an external enemy bringing internal stability. It often ends in genocide, sure, but it does seem to work!
- dvlsadvoxate6 5y ago
  US v China US v Russia US v Vietnam US v Middle East US v Cuba US capitalism v everyone I see what you mean about authoritarian US v the world Edit: polite society = don’t mention how we’re like everyone else
whimsicalism 5y ago
Do you all really not see how our media has a hand in this at all?
- dang 5y ago
  Could you please not post flamewar comments to HN? Several (I'm not saying all of them) of your comments in this thread have been doing that. This is not what this site is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    Fair, and I can see that we've diverged from the subject of the article. I might suggest that > It's like they want the rest of the world to hate them. is a pretty incendiary comment, but I will avoid fanning the flames in the future.
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  Maybe, there surely are double standards, but maybe you do not see, how their politic still really asks for it?
- smoldesu 5y ago
  No. Enlighten me.
  - whimsicalism 5y ago
    China was organ harvesting in the early 00s. You didn't see anywhere near as many negative articles constantly about China, Chinese enroachment, etc. etc. then. It is only now that we are afraid China will eclipse our spot on the global stage that anyone gives a crap about Chinese human rights abuses, because of coverage largely driven by the media. We've also switched to spinning things that China does that we also do in a much more negative light, for instance, how the media discusses Chinese loan programs to Africa (compared to how IMF/World Bank programs are just not discussed) or Chinese attempts to build a military base on the Atlantic coast (compared to the dozens of military bases we have in the South China Sea area).

Not quite. They just don’t care what anybody else thinks outside of game theory analysis of how they will act. If the country was a person, we’d label their personality as a high functioning manipulative sociopath.

toomuchtodo 5y ago
And yet, we don’t do what is best practice for dealing with such an actor: disengage. We (the US primarily, but also the rest of the developed world) have a tremendous opportunity with a still productive labor force and cheap capital to boot up manufacturing capacity we offshored to China, and we won’t have the chance again when China decides to act against other countries (economically or militarily).
- SuoDuanDao 5y ago
  Disengaging takes a while. If there's a strong desire to avoid things going kinetic, it takes even longer. I feel as though the post-Obama era of US politics is oscillating around the best amount of caution WRT avoiding a hot war with China.

BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago

Authoritarian regimes love fostering us vs the world narratives; it helps them maintain control.

staunch 5y ago
It's not a bad trick. Lots of historical examples of an external enemy bringing internal stability. It often ends in genocide, sure, but it does seem to work!
dvlsadvoxate6 5y ago
US v China US v Russia US v Vietnam US v Middle East US v Cuba US capitalism v everyone I see what you mean about authoritarian US v the world Edit: polite society = don’t mention how we’re like everyone else

whimsicalism 5y ago

Do you all really not see how our media has a hand in this at all?

dang 5y ago
Could you please not post flamewar comments to HN? Several (I'm not saying all of them) of your comments in this thread have been doing that. This is not what this site is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  Fair, and I can see that we've diverged from the subject of the article. I might suggest that > It's like they want the rest of the world to hate them. is a pretty incendiary comment, but I will avoid fanning the flames in the future.
hutzlibu 5y ago
Maybe, there surely are double standards, but maybe you do not see, how their politic still really asks for it?
smoldesu 5y ago
No. Enlighten me.
- whimsicalism 5y ago
  China was organ harvesting in the early 00s. You didn't see anywhere near as many negative articles constantly about China, Chinese enroachment, etc. etc. then. It is only now that we are afraid China will eclipse our spot on the global stage that anyone gives a crap about Chinese human rights abuses, because of coverage largely driven by the media. We've also switched to spinning things that China does that we also do in a much more negative light, for instance, how the media discusses Chinese loan programs to Africa (compared to how IMF/World Bank programs are just not discussed) or Chinese attempts to build a military base on the Atlantic coast (compared to the dozens of military bases we have in the South China Sea area).