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submitted 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) by Wudi@feddit.uk to c/world@lemmy.world
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[-] BananaTrifleViolin@piefed.world 17 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

It's a bit of a dumb "gotcha" question to be honest.

Name 3 Indian people right now? Name 3 Russian people right now? Name 3 Argentinian people right now?

Most people don't have a list of go-to names in their pockets based on nationality. And people in Europe will be much more familiar with other Europeans, and also Americans because we're inundated in coverage.

I'm British with Irish heritage and I'm struggling on the spot to name 3 Irish people alive right now, yet I see a lot of Irish comedians, actors, musicians and TV shows on British TV.

It's a specious argument that the question reveals what it purports to. Instead it reveals people are shit when put on the spot, and especially the further outside their day-to-day familiarity you go.

[-] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 1 points 14 minutes ago* (last edited 13 minutes ago)

It’s not that hard.

  1. The supreme leader
  2. The Alibaba guy who was kidnapped
  3. The guy who stood in front of a tank with his groceries

That’s gotta count, right?

Edit: shit, they said alive.

[-] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 1 points 26 minutes ago* (last edited 24 minutes ago)

🇮🇳 : Visby anand, gukesh d, Modi.
🇷🇺 : Ian/yan nepomnyaschchi , daniil dubov, Putin.
🇦🇷: Christina Kirchner, Alberto Fernández, Mirta legrande.
🇮🇪: dará O'Brien, RT game, foil arms & hog. Danny Dwyer. The bastard transphobe Graham lineman.

I came up with these names on the spot. I might not be able to make three Mauritians, but come on, if you follow anything international, you can name 3 Chinese people. They are there from politics to snooker.

🇨🇳: ding liren, Wei yi, Hu jintao

Edit: I only put gukesh with d because it is acceptable, and I might misspel domajaru

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 3 points 23 minutes ago

More of an indictment on the insularity of our media systems than random individuals.

As an Aussie, I could name 3 people from a handful of countries, and mostly only because we see their media a lot.

[-] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 17 points 1 hour ago

Honestly? I'd be hard pressed to name 3 politicians from most other countries than my own.

[-] queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 10 minutes ago

Current guy Carney, last guy Trudeau, before that, hmm. Wait, the guy who... smoked crack, I think? Doug Ford. Don't remember what office he held.

That was close. I don't know if I could manage any other country. Putin, Medvedev (if he's still alive, would have to look it up), and... Dang I know the name of the head honcho of Chechnya but I can't call it to mind.

[-] Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz 21 points 1 hour ago

Xi Jinping, Jack Ma, and Jackie Chan are three that come to mind.

[-] Bloefz@lemmy.world 6 points 27 minutes ago* (last edited 11 minutes ago)

Loll I thought of the first two too. Of course the first is a given considering his picture is right there on the post.

The third was Naomi Wu. One of the few influencers who really managed to captivate the west (in her niche). But unfortunately she was silenced as she was too critical about the government (and IT security issues in particular in the pinyin input module, which she had really good points about). Basically she was arrested and told to stop youtubing or else...

I think this plays a role too. Influencers that capture a western audience often get silenced when they don't toe the party line. And when they do they are obvious shills so they don't appeal to us. The same reason linkedin is insufferable as social media.

It's too bad because people like her really fostered understanding of Chinese culture. Which is good for China and its government too but they're too focused on their internal hold on power to see that.

[-] funksoulkitchen@lemmy.zip 2 points 47 minutes ago

Yao Ming too

[-] Wudi@feddit.uk 5 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Nice try. Jackie Chan is from Hong Kong, not mainland China

[-] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 hour ago

If you really want to piss them off, name politicians from Taiwan. They tell us it is part of China after all. (/s)

[-] Bloefz@lemmy.world 1 points 24 minutes ago* (last edited 24 minutes ago)

Yeah name Chiang Kai-Shek in particular hehehe

[-] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Doesn't make him less of a shill.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 1 hour ago

How about Shaohao, Zhuanxu, and Emperor Ku?

[-] vagrancyand@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 hour ago

Hong Kong is mainland China, now that they're no longer under colonial guidance from England. There's a reason Dr. Chan is so pro China, given the hell he grew up in in occupied hong kong.

[-] Bloefz@lemmy.world 6 points 22 minutes ago

Was it really more of a hell than it is now?

Especially if you don't exactly agree with the government it's not a very nice place to be right now.

[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 10 points 1 hour ago

given the hell he grew up in in occupied hong kong.

lol. What weird fucking timeline are you from or do just know absolutely nothing about history and society of HK?

[-] adarza@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 hour ago

Can you name 3 alive chinese people

li wei.

i asked for three

i just named at least 100,000.

[-] aarch0x40@piefed.social 6 points 1 hour ago

Thank you, Mr John Smith

[-] LostWon@lemmy.ca 2 points 58 minutes ago

Michael Walker of Novara Media had an interesting segment yesterday where he talked about this interaction and then introduced three notable people (yes, one of them was Jack Ma). (Youtube | Invidious)

this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2026
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