4 ms·

Yesterday your vice president referred to the Chinese as "peasants".

by Symbiote 2y ago

greenchair 2y ago
all part of the negotiations :)
- prmoustache 2y ago
  I think the current US government is missing the negotiation part of the word negotiation.
IncreasePosts 2y ago
Something like 35% of China's population works in the agriculture sector, many of whom are poor with little or no land holdings living in small villages. Is there a word for that kind of person?
- blargey 2y ago
  That number has been falling since 2012 and was around 22% as of 2023 (ignoring the hand-wavy conflation of the entire agriculture sector and stereotypical rural farmers) https://tradingeconomics.com/china/employment-in-agriculture-percent-of-total-employment-wb-data.html https://tradingeconomics.com/china/employment-in-agriculture... You could just as easily massage statistics to call the US a nation of gig workers or something, but neither is productive or informative.
- bbreier 2y ago
  Peasant has a more specific meaning than this. More importantly, it has been used as a pejorative for a very long time now and that is clearly the intent the vice president had in mind.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- spaceman_2020 2y ago
  Would you call a midwest farmer in the US a “peasant” or just a farmer? Let’s not pretend that peasants and farmers represent the same thing
  - 9rx 2y ago
    > Would you call a midwest farmer in the US a “peasant” or just a farmer? All peasants are farmers, but not all farmers are poor. So, no, not as a group. Midwest farmers, on balance, are going to be some of the richest people you can find in the country (mostly because of their land wealth, which Chinese farmers don't have). There are likely to be individual farmers in the midwest who you would call peasants, though. Chinese farmers, on the other hand, are likely to be very poor. Some individual farmers in China are rich, but as far as the group goes... It is not as bad as it once was, but as that group they still lag well behind the typical urban dweller. As that group they are peasants.
electrondood 2y ago
Fair, but he's not exactly a shining beacon of the best we have to offer.
- spaceman_2020 2y ago
  Half your voting population deemed him to be fit enough to represent them
  - apwell23 2y ago
    yea all voting population voted. ironic comment talking about intelligence.
    - spaceman_2020 2y ago
      the non voters didn't think he was bad enough of a representative to vote against him then. Equally complicit
      - apwell23 2y ago
        oh you are a mind reader now ? great
- literalAardvark 2y ago
  Unfortunately in a democracy the best we have to offer isn't what we actually offer.
refurb 2y ago
No, he said “"We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants make” He did not refer to all Chinese as peasants. China would like you think that though.
- _t9ow 2y ago
  While it is true that Vance did not literally refer to all Chinese people as peasants, I do worry that such rhetoric will stoke the flames of racially motivated anti-Asian/anti-Chinese attacks. I don't want to discuss whether he is genuinely racist; I think that's besides the point. Words can have a lot of impact, especially when uttered by a public figure in such a powerful position. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the Vice President of the United States to carefully weigh the consequences of his words before speaking.
  - giantrobot 2y ago
    > I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the Vice President of the United States to carefully weigh the consequences of his words before speaking. He did carefully weigh the consequences of his words. He deliberately chose the most inflammatory and insulting of possible words. Knowingly and intentionally.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- mindslight 2y ago
  So then the actual bona fide peasants are the ones owning the T-bills? I thought holding USD reserves was national policy, with strict currency controls and whatnot. So my basic reading of that quote puts it closer to a dog whistle blanket characterization, and your promotion of the equivocation is quite disingenuous.
- unethical_ban 2y ago

Yesterday your vice president referred to the Chinese as "peasants".

greenchair 2y ago

all part of the negotiations :)

prmoustache 2y ago
I think the current US government is missing the negotiation part of the word negotiation.

IncreasePosts 2y ago

Something like 35% of China's population works in the agriculture sector, many of whom are poor with little or no land holdings living in small villages. Is there a word for that kind of person?

blargey 2y ago
That number has been falling since 2012 and was around 22% as of 2023 (ignoring the hand-wavy conflation of the entire agriculture sector and stereotypical rural farmers) https://tradingeconomics.com/china/employment-in-agriculture-percent-of-total-employment-wb-data.html https://tradingeconomics.com/china/employment-in-agriculture... You could just as easily massage statistics to call the US a nation of gig workers or something, but neither is productive or informative.
bbreier 2y ago
Peasant has a more specific meaning than this. More importantly, it has been used as a pejorative for a very long time now and that is clearly the intent the vice president had in mind.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
spaceman_2020 2y ago
Would you call a midwest farmer in the US a “peasant” or just a farmer? Let’s not pretend that peasants and farmers represent the same thing
- 9rx 2y ago
  > Would you call a midwest farmer in the US a “peasant” or just a farmer? All peasants are farmers, but not all farmers are poor. So, no, not as a group. Midwest farmers, on balance, are going to be some of the richest people you can find in the country (mostly because of their land wealth, which Chinese farmers don't have). There are likely to be individual farmers in the midwest who you would call peasants, though. Chinese farmers, on the other hand, are likely to be very poor. Some individual farmers in China are rich, but as far as the group goes... It is not as bad as it once was, but as that group they still lag well behind the typical urban dweller. As that group they are peasants.

electrondood 2y ago

Fair, but he's not exactly a shining beacon of the best we have to offer.

spaceman_2020 2y ago
Half your voting population deemed him to be fit enough to represent them
- apwell23 2y ago
  yea all voting population voted. ironic comment talking about intelligence.
  - spaceman_2020 2y ago
    the non voters didn't think he was bad enough of a representative to vote against him then. Equally complicit
    - apwell23 2y ago
      oh you are a mind reader now ? great
literalAardvark 2y ago
Unfortunately in a democracy the best we have to offer isn't what we actually offer.

refurb 2y ago

No, he said “"We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants make” He did not refer to all Chinese as peasants. China would like you think that though.

_t9ow 2y ago
While it is true that Vance did not literally refer to all Chinese people as peasants, I do worry that such rhetoric will stoke the flames of racially motivated anti-Asian/anti-Chinese attacks. I don't want to discuss whether he is genuinely racist; I think that's besides the point. Words can have a lot of impact, especially when uttered by a public figure in such a powerful position. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the Vice President of the United States to carefully weigh the consequences of his words before speaking.
- giantrobot 2y ago
  > I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the Vice President of the United States to carefully weigh the consequences of his words before speaking. He did carefully weigh the consequences of his words. He deliberately chose the most inflammatory and insulting of possible words. Knowingly and intentionally.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
mindslight 2y ago
So then the actual bona fide peasants are the ones owning the T-bills? I thought holding USD reserves was national policy, with strict currency controls and whatnot. So my basic reading of that quote puts it closer to a dog whistle blanket characterization, and your promotion of the equivocation is quite disingenuous.
unethical_ban 2y ago