464
Forest of trees (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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Credit: https://x.com/BanhmiBrieoche/status/1858838454546682001/photo/1

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[–] -5 points 2 years ago (16 children)

New theory just dropped, everyone: The more people a government represents, the more evil that government is.

lmao. I unironically believe this though. The more you concentrate power, the harder it is to keep bad actors from abusing said power.

Funny how 95% of the Chinese population approves of and rates favorably this terrible “ruling over” they are being subjected to.

Most Americans approve of capitalism. Does that make it good too?

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (11 children)

    lmao. I unironically believe this though.

    picard

    The more you concentrate power, the harder it is to keep bad actors from abusing said power.

    What makes you think the power over those billion+ people is all "concentrated"? Could it be (gasp!) that the power is largely distributed among those people who overwhelmingly support that government? This is just capitalist-realism-brained misunderstanding of how communist parties work.

    Most Americans approve of capitalism. Does that make it good too?

    No, but that's certainly not what makes it bad.

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  • [–] -3 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    Could it be (gasp!) that the power is largely distributed among those people who overwhelmingly support that government?

    Democracy doesn't work when it's top-down. In the West, the capitalist and ruling class is capable of exerting control on public opinion and therefore on elections. The same is true of the CCP, which can influence public opinion as well. The best way to combat this is by emancipating individuals so they are able to resist state propaganda. China has a dogshit score on the press freedom index, so good luck educating the people on the shortcomings of the government. The government is intransparent and oppressive by design.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Can you explain how Whole Process People's Democracy is "top-down?" Further, can you explain why it's a good thing for Capitalists to control the press, and not the public? The inverse of public press is private press, and that means ownership by Capitalists and liberals. Surely it's better for the people to control the press, and not the bourgeoisie?

    Further, can you explain how the government is "intransparent and oppressive by design?" Just because you don't speak mandarin doesn't mean the process is mystified and opaque for those who live in and contribute to said system.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Can you explain how Whole Process People’s Democracy is “top-down?”

    Can you explain to me how it's not?

    Further, can you explain why it’s a good thing for Capitalists to control the press, and not the public?

    No, because it's not. Nice strawman. Is this public you speak of the government?

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    You made the claim that the PRC is run from a top-down manner. If you can't substantiate claims you make, then don't make them.

    Secondly, if the press is not publicly owned, then it becomes privately owned, and as such is subject to effortless bourgeois domination. You are trying to have your cake and eat it too in order to play the endless contrarion.

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  • [–] -3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Again you construe publicly owned and government-owned

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I do not misconstrue anything, here. Public property is accomplished from within the ownership of government, a news organization being a worker coop doesn't mean it is immune to bourgeois influence.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    true, and a government being elected also doesn't make it immune to bourgeois influence, and especially not to influence from the politicians themselves

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    Correct, which is why you need to understand that the class in power in the PRC is the proletariat and the party structure gains its legitimacy and power from the bottom-up.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    the press freedom index

    Oh not the Burger Institute Freedom Fries Index?!?!

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  • [–] -3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    It's maintained by Reporters without Borders and is not US affiliated

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    It's maintained by Reporters without Borders and is not US affiliated

    literally a 10 second search

    An anarchist like yourself, how much do you trust a Non-Governmental Organizations that is 52% funded by Western states and the rest comes from big corporations or similar fake non-state-actors?

    They literally list the National Endowment for Democracy as a main partner!

    (I'll help, the NED is the soft power branch of the CIA)

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Most Americans approve of capitalism. Does that make it good too?

    because "capitalism" and "communism" are loaded words

    consider this though:

    A year before the presidential election, three-quarters of Americans (76%) believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and the leading Democratic and Republican candidates are viewed broadly unfavorably, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll. Only 23% of Americans think the country is headed in the right direction.

    When asked whether things in their country are heading in the right direction, or are they off on the wrong track, 90 percent of the respondents from China taking part in this Ipsos survey said they were heading in the right direction.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I don't see what the approval rates of these two countries have to do with anything here. In terms of the economy and infrastructure, China is indeed moving in the right direction. That doesn't mean I think China is a force of good in the world. It's a nation state and should be subject to criticism. And all I'm saying is that there are people who will religiously dogpile you if you try to do that, and I call those people tankies.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    China is indeed moving in the right direction. That doesn't mean I think China is a force of good in the world.

    Then what would? If the fact that China is doing good in the world is not enough for you to think "it a force for good in the world" then what does it need to do? Oh, I forgot, you think "all nation states are bad by definition" and unironically believe that the more people a government represents, the more evil it is. So in order for China to be "a force for good in the world" China simply has to cease to exist. Got it. Nope, that doesn't align with US interests at all. picard-troll

    It's a nation state and should be subject to criticism. And all I'm saying is that there are people who will religiously dogpile you if you try to do that, and I call those people tankies.

    Literally no one on lemmy has ever said China is above criticism. I dare you to find a single instance of that ever happening.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago

    Literally no one on lemmy has ever said China is above criticism. I dare you to find a single instance of that ever happening.

    That's not quite what I mean, I think we got sidetracked. I'll give you an example:

    https://lemmy.ml/post/21941058

    This guy posts the worst propaganda article I've ever read, and gets downvoted to oblivion. Take a look and tell me that reading it doesn't feel like wormtongue himself is whispering into your ear. The issue being lamented in the article is real, and I made clear in my first comment that I agree, but the OP goes off, assumes that I don't like the article because a Russian wrote it, calls me a liberal, puts up 100 strawmen without engaging any of my arguments, and then accuses me of not engaging their (nonexistent) arguments. I wasn't even disagreeing with the article just the way it's written lmao

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