Is just such a shock from being in China. Just got harassed and essentially threatened for being a socialist. They searched my bags and commented on my China flag and my little red books and my copy of Blackshirts and Reds. Fucking police state. The security in China is strict, but they don’t give a fuck about your thoughts, whereas this guy was very aggressive about “consequences” for being a socialist.
He also thinks it’ll be 5 years until we’re at war. I told him I give it 2 max. Lmaooo
I was just like, man, first I’ve heard someone else say that off the internet. Hell, that was the initial reason I started learning Chinese and incidentally how I met my wife was I expected war by 2025. I really fuckin hope not though, because I will die if I can’t see my wife anymore. I didn’t plan to meet her, but she completes me in a way I’ve never been completed before.
That’s adorable! I hope things work out well and it doesn’t cause any issues, I think you should be able to seek asylum if war does break out (though it might be tough getting there). It’s the reason I’ve been meaning to start learning Chinese, but I should get off my ass and actually learn properly. My country will get a total media blackout on everything from China once war breaks out, and I don’t want to be left in the dark (and listen to the Murdoch media’s constant empty accusations against China to manufacture consent).
That’s a thought I hadn’t considered. I have young family I help care for in the US, so it might be hard if things start soon to leave, but that just opened up a whole new option to me, thank you.
I say if you’re interested in learning, at least give it a try! It’s such a fun and lovely language, I really enjoy everything about it. It’s tough, but being in China and reading signs was so satisfying, and the few times I could hold a short conversation were really confidence boosting. God do some people talk fast though. When my wife is on calls with her family it’s like a thousand words a minute. I honestly feel like they have to think faster than me because I don’t know how you can say so much in so short a time, I’m very much a slow and steady kinda guy. It also made me consider how language can affect cognition a lot.
I’m not quite sure what the laws are on that, but I do think if your wife is a Chinese national, your family should be able to apply for asylum, though you may need to fly over there from another nation first (Mexico most likely).
Yeah, everything I learn about the language is just really interesting (I love how composite words work in the language, it feels like if I had a good enough grasp of it I could convey what I mean even if I don’t have the specific word that I want to say, just using a combination of existing words/letters.)
I definitely get the “people talk to fast” thing though, I’m Australian, and we’re notoriously slow talkers in other languages, so that’ll be the biggest hurdle I think. I’m always annoyed with how slowly it can take to convey ideas though, so learning a “faster” language is something I’m looking forward too, I waste too much time trying to think through ideas, and being able to convey those ideas in a more efficient way is something I’ve looked for all my life, so hopefully another language is the answer. I mainly keep putting it off because “I don’t have the time” but I’ll never have the time really, so I should just put aside whatever time I can each day to learn a little. I really like the idea of being able to speak to a billion people I couldn’t previously.
“I give it 2 max” average based comment
We should be critically supportive of the TSA, given that it helps accelerate the downfall of the empire by wasting 9.7 billion dollars per year on unfounded paranoia
The notion of “wasting money” doesn’t really apply to a country that can print the global reserve currency at will. There is effectively no bottom to the money bag for the US.
it’s always such a kick in the face when I go from Mexico to the US. I usually sink into a depression for the first two weeks or so due to the isolation and just kinda oppressive feeling of the United States.
usually the customs officers don’t hassle me much because I’m white but tsa is always happy to help themselves to a groping, which is why I typically do not fly in the US. usually I cross in tijuana so I can deal with sane and pleasant mexican authorities instead of like getting groped for my sunscreen or whatever insane shit the US be smoking this week
The oppressive feeling in the US as a foreigner is so spot on. There are plenty of things I appreciate about visiting the states but there’s also stuff that just feels so… off. It always feels like such a weight off my shoulders when I return to Canada
TSA is so bizarre, they’re literally on guard for a terrorist attack that became unfeasible DURING 9/11 when that one flight crashed in a field in Pennsylvania because the passengers fought back. Not to mention they’ve deadbolted the cockpit doors, there’s always a chance of an Air Marshal on the flight and many pilots are armed…
Some claim they could “simply” bomb the plane. As if it were that easy. Explosives are tightly regulated and controlled and even a homemade 9/11 event simply isn’t happening. Look at every other airplane based attacker from the shoe-bomber, to the underwear bomber to the guy that tried to mix the liquid explosives in the lavatory. Which apparently wouldn’t work, anything liquid that’s unstable enough to be a high explosive couldn’t be casually brought in your hand luggage, and “mixing a binary explosive” in the bathroom is extremely difficult.
They’re chasing ghosts.
What’s even funnier is like they failed to catch something like 80% of the weapons snuck through in undercover testing a few years ago lol. so they’re not even good at it.
one of the things that cracks me up about the bolting the pilot in the cockpit thing… Latin American airlines don’t do that. the pilot will come out, have nachos, go to the bathroom, and you know why?
because Latin American countries don’t conduct themselves in a manner that people wanna hijack their planes and fly them into buildings
Yeah, I recently got back from a trip to Costa Rica and I could immediately feel the fascistic shift in atmosphere coming back. As soon as the plane touched down the immediate first thing I hear is, “LET’S CLAP AND CHEER FOR OUR TROOPS, EVERYONE ELSE WHO BUST THEIR ASS AT NORMAL JOBS, FUCK YOU YOU ARE NOT IMPORTANT.”
Jesus Christ that’s bad. I got rerouted and came back through Vegas airport, and seeing people not even make it out of the airport before getting sucked into gambling really made the differences apparent.
Question: I know gambling, prostitution and pornography are all illegal in China - is this strictly enforced or do they kind of informally allow it to happen like most other countries do where such bans are in place?
I don’t know, because I am not a consumer of any of those things. I have a Chinese friend who often jokes about erotic massages, but that’s about as far as my exposure to that goes. I know Macau is basically the gambling den of China though.
I know Macau is basically the gambling den of China though.
I should have specified mainland China. I am aware that sadly in the formerly colonized territories like Macau and Hong Kong there are still a fair few remnants of western degeneracy.
China still has remnants of the system too. Lotteries are not legally considered gambling, and the state operates two state sponsored lotteries.
That’s…unfortunate. Lotteries may not be as addictive or as scummy as other forms of gambling but they are definitely still gambling. I wonder if the state sponsored lotteries have a profit margin or if the money from ticket sales just goes fully back into the prize pool.
Only 50% of the profits go to welfare. The other 50% is pocketed. The welfare part is essentially good PR, and is identical to the US system. In the US lotteries are used as a funding mechanism for school districts, and that’s essentially what China is doing here. It’s just a way to pretend that the lottery is doing something good.
Still scummy, and still supporting gambling addiction :/
I’m not sure on the mechanics of it, but I did see the state lottery offices, and it’s subtitled in English as Chinese Welfare Lottery, so hopefully the profits go to welfare? Idk. I hear it’s pretty popular though.
I forgot to mention that there were scratch off tickets at one of the malls I went to also, my wifey bought a few and lost on all of them 😂
I believe pornography production and sale is illegal but consumption is not.
Production and distribution is legal if it is not done for profit. So you cannot pay actors, have a subscription service, sell your product directly, or use backend ways of avoid this restriction. This lets regular people make porn and not risk any penalty, but prevents companies from exploiting people or creating a problem industry.
Which is logical, some people enjoy displaying their naked bodies and/or sexual acts. Our problem is that money inherently makes it exploitative.
What consenting adults do with their own bodies and how they choose to share that with other consenting adults is none of any other person’s business.
Thanks for the clarification.
Production and distribution is legal if it is not done for profit.
Any sources on that? Everything I’ve ever seen on the subject seems to suggest otherwise. It’d certainly be ideal if society moved to how you describe- maybe in a decade or more I could see that happening.
Section 9 of the legal code says it word for word.
Whoever, for the purpose of profit, produces, duplicates, publishes, sells or disseminates pornographic materials shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance and shall also be fined.
Further if you look at how the authorities treat porn distribution in particular, they will immediately arrest anyone associated with “paid porn” even if that site operated perfectly fine for years before, with the only thing changing being that they now had a subscription service, or running ads, or another form of “profit creation”. Such as the case with Juneday, a site that operated for years on China’s clear net, but the second they started charging for the service and running ads, everyone associated was arrested.
http://news.sohu.com/20061220/n247161264.shtml
Further, peer to peer torrenting of porn is essentially never enforced, and sharing porn on Chinese networks is only enforced if users seed or leech more then 40 files simultaneously.
For example, China’s daily BitTorrent traffic.
Sounds like a sensible policy. A ban on consumption couldn’t be enforced anyway.
yummy yummy porn in my tummy
gross
i agree, i can’t stand the “consooming” of everything
the US really sucks now and is just going to keep getting worse. it still sucked 5+ years ago, but at least you could say treats were cheap. food was cheap. housing prices weren’t as exorbitant as they are now.
now even living is unaffordable, the infrastructure is falling apart, I really don’t see what’s left.
The security in China is strict, but they don’t give a fuck about your thoughts
You sure about that? I have heard plenty of first hand accounts from people who were born there, who live there, and elsewhere who go back to visit family often, that say otherwise.
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-forbidden-images-chinese-internet
Random person: tell what they experienced during their trip in China
Smug lib: “Are you sure you really experienced what you say you did? Me (who has never been to China) think you are mistaken.”
There’s a huge difference between “I experienced this” and “I’m extrapolating a huge generalization from my tiny shred of experience”.
I have heard plenty of first hand accounts from people who were born there, who live there, and elsewhere who go back to visit family often, that say otherwise.
There’s a huge difference between “I experienced this” and “I’m extrapolating a huge generalization from my tiny shred of experience”.
You managed to contradict yourself in consecutive comments, I’m impressed.
I just asked if they were sure. Questions make you mad I guess?
You sure come across as confrontational and smug for someone who’s just asking questions, and that doesn’t negate the fact that you contradicted yourself.
“Im just asking questions” is what fascists say to inquire about why the “globalists” have so much control over banking.
Sure, you’re “just asking questions”, buddy. Sure…
There is no reason here, just come and enjoy the funny zoo animals :)
I have heard plenty of first hand accounts from people who were born there, who live there, and elsewhere who go back to visit family often, that say otherwise.
Also you
here’s a huge difference between “I experienced this” and “I’m extrapolating a huge generalization from my tiny shred of experience”.
When did he claim that, eh?
Yeah, nah, I’m just gonna do a whataboutism on you and ask you about their experiences… for all I know, these people are affiliated with National Endowment for Democracy and other western NGOs, because that would explain a lot
You seem like pro-regime changer, so I guess agree to disagree…
“Their security” is a bit broad, no? I mean, what are the error bars on that? One airport? That’s the bar (I think?) from the American side, so I’m guessing it’s the same for the Chinese side.
Multiple airports, train stations, subway lines, bus stations. But, I can only really speak for northern China and Beijing, I’ll give you that.
Ive been to Shenzhen before from the UK, most intense security was in the UK.
I will say Chinese people do get survailled, but its usually in the case of them studying abroad, they will ask people to check in to a local embassy infrequently to make sure they arent fleeing there VISA, which most countires actually ask you to do lol.
That didn’t happen to my wife or her family despite her living abroad for a decade and her dad for more than two decades. Not to say it doesn’t happen now, or at all, just that the people I know haven’t experienced that.
So…. Just come in, shit all over, and then leave without even responding to me once? I’ll be sure to remember your username in the future so I don’t waste time on bad faith arguments from you. Cheers!
Pooh isn’t banned (just look up Disney Land Shanghai) and I am pretty sure neither is “tank man”, because PRC television showed the riots live.
There was precisely one Pooh image that was taken down, and that was because of its racist conotations. Not against Xi, he was just compared to Pooh, but against Obama who was compared to Tigger. The text to the image read “Xi is Pooh, Obama is a Tigger.”, I think you get the intention, it’s one letter.
Western propaganda, as usual, left out half the story. Common technique used in the west.
The Hong Kong rioters frequntly use the Xinnie Pooh insult to mock Xi for his skin color and East Asian appearance which expose their anti-Chinese racism and their identity as European diaspora. When I questioned their racist connotation with the Winnie Pooh stereptype, they tried to make irrational excuses or change the topic. The interesting fact is that the self-proclaimed Hong Kong independence advocate used the ban on the Xinnie Pooh racism as the only example of Chinese media censorship. There is also other obvious evidence that the alleged Hong Kong independence movement is an attempts to return Hong Kong under British authoritarian rule like the refusal to talk about the life under British rule, the false association of British colonialism to independence and democratic utopia, the lack of awareness that all their activities in Hong Kong that they openly publicized in media could only exist under a democratic government, and their claim that Hong Kong belongs to sinophobic British people that are rude to Hong Kongers.
There are tons of anti-CPC arguments one can make, especially by looking at past mistakes and ignoring the subsequent work that has gone into rectifying those mistakes. Heck there are various one issue movements in China that push back against some of what the CPC does.
But, seeing as HK protestors cling onto Pooh memes: it’s 100% obvious that it’s a foreign op.
But actually arguing against CPC policy requires knowledge of that policy, westerners have none beyond “Evil! Bad! Muh Freezepeach!”
Yep. I am. My wife is Chinese, I just spent weeks there, and I’m friend with a rather vocal dissident Chinese citizen, to the point I would even call him an anti-communist. He’s just fine. That is a pretty typical bullshit article. Winnie the Pooh is advertised on tv dude.
As a Westerner that attends public events I attract these people indoctrinated by Western propaganda like flies. IF China was an dystopian authoritarian police state they would’ve hired me by now to supply them with names.
You should have told the officer “I can’t be communist, I have a racist friend” 😂
Notice how that commenter responded to others but not back to you haha
These liberals have never been challenged a day in their life on their synophobic bullshit. The moment they do, they’re immediately unable to properly respond without sourcing lies and disinformation.
Room temperature IQ article for a room temperature IQ comment. You new here?
this is lemmygrad? I legit thought I was banned here. did someone clear the banlist or something?
I see no evidence of you having ever been banned here https://lemmygrad.ml/modlog?userId=1630772
ETA: You were banned from hexbear for being a
https://hexbear.net/modlog?page=1&userId=36856We like to do temp bans for people who say silly things, but aren’t completely reprehensible. The mods are actually pretty forgiving.
My favorite example of Lemmy leniency was that one antisemite that got a 3 day ban from a single comm. The only comms/instances who perm ban (except accounts who spam or post CSAM, they get purged) are the nazi ones, and they’ll usually do it at the drop of a hat.
Yeah, the mods are big on using bans as a warning, not as a way to perpetuate the “echo chamber” or whatever libs are accusing us of.
The nature of the federation is that there’s a huge incentive not to just moderate like a fucking cop, because if you do it will make your comm/instance look like a nazi shithole. Perfect example of this is blah’s 196, their modteam has to PRwash like crazy because of all the obscene abuses of power that show up in their modlog including blatant examples of banning people for arguing with the mods and removing people for “being a tankie” It got so bad that hexbear literally defederated from the entirety of blaj because their anticommunism was borderline noncery and the admins weren’t doing fuck all about it.
On reddit if you get mod-abused you have no option for accountability; the admins shut down the form you used to be able to use to contact them, and their TOS forbids you from making subs for places you got banned from (under harassment rules) which is a site-bannable offense. Best you can do is make a thread on your /u which nobody but your most dedicated followers will even get a chance to see. Is it any surprise that you can routinely get banned there for petty reasons, and/or almost always for political (“anti white racism”) reasons?
Just a point of clarification,
It got so bad that hexbear literally defederated from the entirety of blaj because their anticommunism was borderline noncery and the admins weren’t doing fuck all about it.
Hexbear defederated not because of their anti-communism, but because of their egregious moderation failures that made Hexbear users feel unsafe.
…we have come to the conclusion that the 196 community on lemmy.blahaj.zone has made the fediverse an unsafe space for our queer, disabled, neurodivergent, non-western, and other marginalized comrades on this forum, and we will be defederating from lemmy.blahaj.zone until we can be confident that this will not continue to be an issue.
https://hexbear.net/post/369410
I remember a lot of discussion about the “paradox of tolerance” when that was ongoing, basically the idea that if you tolerate Nazi’s in your bar, you’ll quickly have a Nazi exclusive bar.
the admins shut down the form you used to be able to use to contact them
BTW Reddit mods are still able to contact the admins and get responses when they need stuff.
Source: Got a privilege escalation from them in 2024
You’re probably thinking of hexbear. I’ve had problems with them too, not exactly the most well-behaved instance.
I was going to comment about the fact that libs would say otherwise, but you beat me to it.
Here I was thinking that you were talking about books, and wanted to talk about how Chinese bookstores with dedicated English non-fiction sections shelve the same alt-right tech-bro fiction you find in the US.
But, no. It’s just Pooh and Tank man memes, and thus I’m kind of disappointed.
Yeah I was saddened to see so many Elon and Bill Gates books at Sysiphe. But, they also had Camus, so…. We’ll call it 50:50 haha
Camus
Going by the political section of his Wikipedia entry, he doesn’t seem too much of a leftist. Then again, I know only of the name, not his content.
He’s a mixed bag, for sure, but he hung out with some interesting people who I would consider more left philosophers, and he was basically the motorcycle jacket wearing, cigarette smoking philosopher prototype. He became a pretty sharp anti-com later in life, and it broke him from his friendship with Sartre. I thought he also knew Le Guin, but I might be imagining that part looking again now.
TIL. Apart from being cool dude, are there any of his ideas that really stand out to you?
Yilon Ma enters the ChatGPT
Fav Star Trek series?
TOS -> TNG -> DS9 -> VOY -> ENT I never could get into TAS but it only like half counts any way. If we count the Orville place it right before TNG, and there are no there are no other star trek shoes that have ever been made ever.
Sure you can make amything sound bad if you just lie about it.