4 ms·

Not controversial? Obama certainly characterizes it as controversial when he talks about China conducting cyber-attacks on the US.

krapp 13y ago
Well, yes, he's a politician. But not to expect that China's conducting cyber-attacks on the US anyway would just be stupid. I meant not controversial in that espionage is what governments have been doing since the dawn of civilization, it's expected behavior, even if the methods might be new. Yes, of course China's spying on us. Yes, of course they're trying to hack our systems. It's not a surprise is what I'm saying. They're a large, modern communist nation, competing with us politically and economically. There's a lot of political capital to be made playing them up as the successor to the Soviet Union in American minds. The next Red Menace.
- Cadsby 13y ago
  I'm genuinely curious why you seem to emphasize "communist" in all your descriptions of China.
  - krapp 13y ago
    Because, in terms of the politics, that's the red meat (pun only slightly unintended.) Their being 'communist', and communism being percieved as atheistic, anti-capitalist and militaristic, is what makes them the bogeyman, that's why the media and the government go out of their way to make their efforts seem so dangerous and terrifying because being 'communist' makes them our de facto enemies (because we're the God Fearing Capitalist Shining City on a Hill.) If China was a predominantly Muslim country, plug 'terrorists' into the same socket, it would amount to the same difference, in terms of the rhetoric. If we found out Britain was spying on us (ECHELON aside), or Germany or Poland, whomever, it wouldn't have nearly the same sort of ominous sense of 'the other' that the spectre of China/Russia/the Middle East do. I certainly didn't mean to imply anything tacit about China being communist having anything to do with their attempts to expand their influence or anything. It's what they should be doing.
    - tome 13y ago
      One could also present them correctly as a very authoritarian state, antithetical to personal freedom and civil liberties. Maybe there's no political benefit to be gained by saying that.
      - krapp 13y ago
        True.

krapp 13y ago

Well, yes, he's a politician. But not to expect that China's conducting cyber-attacks on the US anyway would just be stupid. I meant not controversial in that espionage is what governments have been doing since the dawn of civilization, it's expected behavior, even if the methods might be new. Yes, of course China's spying on us. Yes, of course they're trying to hack our systems. It's not a surprise is what I'm saying. They're a large, modern communist nation, competing with us politically and economically. There's a lot of political capital to be made playing them up as the successor to the Soviet Union in American minds. The next Red Menace.

Cadsby 13y ago
I'm genuinely curious why you seem to emphasize "communist" in all your descriptions of China.
- krapp 13y ago
  Because, in terms of the politics, that's the red meat (pun only slightly unintended.) Their being 'communist', and communism being percieved as atheistic, anti-capitalist and militaristic, is what makes them the bogeyman, that's why the media and the government go out of their way to make their efforts seem so dangerous and terrifying because being 'communist' makes them our de facto enemies (because we're the God Fearing Capitalist Shining City on a Hill.) If China was a predominantly Muslim country, plug 'terrorists' into the same socket, it would amount to the same difference, in terms of the rhetoric. If we found out Britain was spying on us (ECHELON aside), or Germany or Poland, whomever, it wouldn't have nearly the same sort of ominous sense of 'the other' that the spectre of China/Russia/the Middle East do. I certainly didn't mean to imply anything tacit about China being communist having anything to do with their attempts to expand their influence or anything. It's what they should be doing.
  - tome 13y ago
    One could also present them correctly as a very authoritarian state, antithetical to personal freedom and civil liberties. Maybe there's no political benefit to be gained by saying that.
    - krapp 13y ago
      True.