China has lashed out at Germany after its foreign minister called Xi Jinping a “dictator” and summoned Berlin’s ambassador for a dressing down, in the latest flaring of tensions with a western democratic power over how the Chinese leader is described overseas.
Well you can fuck right off! The same person *supposedly upset about the KKK just discriminated against 330,000,000 people from every country on Earth in the very next breath. You’re worse than racist.
I’m an American so I can answer this question sincerely. When you are already the one winning, you work as hard as ever to keep winning. You innovate more. This is the American way. It’s why we’re the most advanced country on the planet, and it’s how we maintain that lead. Building off of the work of previous generations who made and did amazing things. That’s our approach and it works fucking awesome.
Obviously he's not a "dictator", and that foreign minister should be sacked. Because Xi is a "supreme almighty emperor whose words are worth to be enforced or else..." A bit of background knowledge is never a bad thing.
You want me to watch 13 six year old videos that you think explain why it’s okay for you to call people names but not okay for anyone to call you names? Piss off and grow up loser.
The Taiwanese use the meme all the time. Obviously not because it looks like Xi in particular and especially because of fragile censoring, but because they like to be racist against themselves. That must be it.
Calling Trump a guinea pig is probably also considered racist in lemmygrad.
The guy who replied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in your second screenshot seems like one of the far-right wingers. They do not, in any capacity, represent the general population.
Taiwan is where the former Republic of China retreated after being defeated by the People’s Republic of China. The censorship of Xi=Pooh in China isn’t rooted in racism, it’s rooted in the political conflicts between the ROC and PRC. China censors these comparisons because they are used by opponents to attack the government. You don’t have to agree with their methods to understand why they would want to do this. Censoring realistic threats to the ruling government is a common practice in all nations.
The racist aspect originates from how the meme is used in Western circles where there is a long history of racism towards minorities and the enemies of the US as well as a long history of sinophobia.
If your understanding of history, racism, and their opinions of Trump are so shallow, maybe lurking Lemmygrad to learn why users from this instance act so aggressively towards racism and war-mongering propaganda would be helpful.
I’m a communist who likes cats and puns. If you can make a compelling argument for how celebrating Mao in the form of a cat pun has a basis in racism and the historical oppression of a people, I’m ready to change it.
I’ve no need to read between the lines, a dude named mao just told me the ruling government should be worried about cultural sparks for violent political change, and doesn’t see the irony
Not racist at all. It’s against one person. Trump’s face is seen on an orange all the time. No one is calling for racism. He just looks like a damn orange.
Just because the Winnie the Pooh meme isn't actually racist doesn't mean I'm not going to call it racist in a pathetic attempt to establish a fake moral high ground over people who have arguments I can't counter
FYI, citing the fact that the meme originated in China does not negate how it is used by others after the fact. It’s like arguing that when neonazis use the swastika, it’s ok because its actual origins are as an ancient religious symbol. The meanings of things can change and be used for reasons other than their original intention.
I’m not saying the meme is racist, I’m saying that it’s being used in a racist way here, specifically in the form of Sinophobia.
True, but you can also see that I clarified my statement in better detail after initially wording it poorly. You got me, I guess I’ll go rethink my entire worldview now.
Xi isn’t in the US and his country isn’t part of NATO. Political cartoons are as old as time. They poke fun at the individual, not their descent. By trying to make it more you’re arguing for it to be censored. He has feelings (maybe), but he has gone so far as to attempt to censor the cartoon from his own country. Not because he believes it is racist, but because his opinion is that he doesn’t like it. Streisand Effect of course, it gets used more. I think Xi does remarkably look like Pooh. Do other Asian persons? No. There isn’t an innocence about it. Xi feels bad by it, people use it to make him angry. He is a dictator with lots of power so people use the one tool they have to attempt to fight that power - a fucking cartoon bear.
I think you misinterpreted part of what I’m saying. The use of the meme in Taiwan and Hong Kong were political dissent, not racism.
The use of the meme in NATO countries is racist due to their history of racism and because this is one of the tools these governments use to convince you that China is your enemy and you should support military actions against them before their military becomes stronger than that of the US and they lose their monopoly on international power and subsequently their power to bully the rest of the world.
Before you dismiss this argument by saying it’s just because Xi doesn’t like the meme, where did you get this information? From what I’ve seen the Chinese government has not responded and the reasoning behind the ban is purely speculative. Sure, I believe they banned the comparison as it was the basis of geopolitical dissent, but to claim it’s because a world leader who gets insulted frequently and in worse ways has thin skin is a stretch. He has bigger worries than Westerners tweeting at him.
If you want a tool to fight the power of dictators, you’d be better served focusing on organizing the citizens of your own country against the powers that work against their interests at home. They point you toward foreign leaders and say “look, they’re worse” so you won’t criticize the shit job your own “representatives” are doing at home.
That would be racist, because of the whole monkey-black-people existing racial insult. In the same way, it is not racist to depict Xi as Winnie the Pooh since there is no “President Xis look like cartoon bears” racial insult.
Dehumanizing people through racism is a well established method the US has historically used when manufacturing consent to go to war among its people. Look at depictions of Germans and Japanese in WWII. Look at depictions of Koreans, the Vietnamese, Afghans, and Iraqis during the invasions of their countries.
Just because its origins weren’t racist doesn’t mean it hasn’t taken on a racist meaning. Sinophobia is rooted in racism and ignorance.
Right, because if you allow racist tropes a little bit of leeway they won’t become normalized and propagate over time.
How has voting in your bastion of democracy been working out for you? Did you get to vote to go to war? It’s not like your leaders are any less authoritarian.
The most recent case you can find is from 2006? Jesus, dude. Please, I beg of you, get outside and interact with a person face to face. It has to have been years for you at this point.
There’s plenty of more recent examples, but I’m not going to go to the effort to dig up more in a conversation where the majority of the replies I get boil down to “nuh-uh, I saw different online stupid tankie.”
If 2006 is the year that you landed on, I’ll again point you to the two specific names I dropped, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, both of whom experienced this with the US and allies more recently.
Do you see why I wouldn’t bother putting the effort into finding a better source? The low effort replies and baseless personal attacks are all over this thread. Even the people I gave the benefit of the doubt to while replying didn’t reply in good faith.
What do you feel like you’ve added to the conversation by trying to personally attack me? Does it feel good to attack someone behind the protection of anonymity? I wonder, if we did meet face-to-face, would you have the courage and strength of character to engage with me in a conversation as a fellow human worthy of respect despite our differences in belief or would you still hide behind weak, uninspiring insults as you have here?
Altering public opinion is definitely on their agenda. I’m not the type of person that screams China bad on everything, but this simply wouldn’t surprise me. Also, nobody is trying to feel special here, except for you.
The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) told the BBC the CI on its campus was solely educational and that there was “nothing about this straightforward QUT CI’s work that could be identified as Chinese propaganda nor does it threaten academic freedom”.
In 2008, Israel’s Tel Aviv University closed an art exhibition on Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that originated in China. The following year, America’s North Carolina State University cancelled a visit of Tibetan spiritual leader the 14th Dalai Lama.
An Israeli court found that the Tel Aviv University had illegitimately cancelled the Falun Gong exhibition because of Chinese government pressure. In North Carolina, the Confucius Institute’s director warned state officials that the Dalai Lama’s visit could hurt “strong relationships we were developing in China”.
Since their inception in South Korea’s Seoul in 2004, Confucius Institutes have enrolled up to 9 million students at 525 institutes in 146 countries and regions, as per the Heritage Foundation. In 2018, Politico magazine reported that the Chinese government was pouring in up to $10 billion annually into the initiative.
It’s an interesting sum for the promotion of one’s language. But it’s not. In the Chinese government’s own words, the initiative is a propaganda arm of the state. Politburo standing member Li Changchun said in 2009 that Confucius Institutes are an “important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up”.
He further said, “The Confucius Institute is an appealing brand for expanding our culture abroad. It has made an important contribution toward improving our soft power. The ‘Confucius’ brand has a natural attractiveness. Using the excuse of teaching Chinese language, everything looks reasonable and logical.”
Politico cited a 2010 Chinese state-run People’s Daily article by propaganda minister Liu Yunshan as saying, “With regard to key issues that influence our sovereignty and safety, we should actively carry out international propaganda battles against issuers such as Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan, human rights, and Falun Gong. We should do well in establishing and operating overseas cultural centres and Confucius
Yes (I’m not saying it’s terribly wrong, other countries have their equivalent, but at least own up to what you’re doing)
Hitler obviously wasn't a dictator as he was democratically elected by a majority (after competing parties were banned) and then -just out of situational necessity of course- got a lot of extra powers to ignore laws and constitution.
Hitler obviously wasn’t a dictator as he was democratically elected by a majority (after competing parties were banned) and then -just out of situational necessity of course- got a lot of extra powers to ignore laws and constitution.
Antagonizing China while going into a recession is a really bold move by Germany. I guess that’s what you get when you put opportunists in charge of running a country.
I actually agree with this, it’s counterproductive, but Germany is a little sensitive right now because their car industry can’t compete with subsidized Chinese electric cars (dumping actually), so :3
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