• Judge_Jury [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    In response to a comment explaining that neither ship was Chinese:

    And this is why China needs to stop being gigantic bullies and jerks in those waters. It leads to tensions where even routine stupid collisions in very crowded waters are instantly assumed to be hostile actions. If this had been a Chinese ship that had been struck, the Chinese would have instantly reacted the same way and they would have started howling for blood before the facts were known. Until China dials down the aggression, this area is a powder keg that they have created and sparks are flying every day. Today’s mishap was another spark and everybody is lucky that the shooting didn’t start. It’s up to the Chinese to stop this and dial back the tension.

    edit: wow, the China trolls are out for this comment! Sorry, kids. Have a nice afternoon.

    michael-laugh

  • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    [–]HuJimX 37 points 4 hours ago yeah it’s definitely China’s fault that a Korean vessel sunk a Filipino fishing boat. fuckin mao ze dong

    [–]stoopidmothafunka [score hidden] an hour ago I’m sure you’re not personally invested in China’s reputation, Hu Jim

    “Hate the government, not the people”

  • beef_curds [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    jfc, it’s the whole comment section. I expected a few assholes. Then they keep posting through it after they’re objectively wrong.

    We’re so hosed.

    Like, reddit libs can’t even remember when they used to think orange-man silly because he’s obsessed with China.

    • LeZero [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      To be fair (just enough), some of the China bad takes are getting clowned on in that thread, surprisingly, but it’s kind of the same deal as the Klanadian parliament seal clapping a Waffen SS, some of them will go “Nevertheless, the fact I thought it was China means China bad” but the facts of the matter being embarassingly against it prevents them to really keep pushing the reddit-logo usual talking points

  • CommunistBear [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    At a certain point I’ve become a little impressed with how deeply they’ve managed to embed those brainworms in redditors. The ones that aren’t outright bots are more worm than brain by now

  • neo [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Casually racist website. Just like after 9/11 when it was very OK to to be casually racist against anyone who was tan skinned or appeared to be of a middle eastern descent and muslim.

    Just like back then, I predict in a few years we will get the rebound effect where we have episodes of a tv show or a movie where a Chinese character will appear to be the villain but actually help the white protagonist against the real villain (chinese state, or american defector to china). This is Hollywood’s version of DEI.

  • YuccaMan [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    As a would-be academic historian, it makes my blood boil when these ignorant chickenhawks bring up the Mandate of Heaven as though that concept still had any political currency in China whatsoever

    • plov_mix [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Grew up in China and did college in US. First time I read about “mandate of Heaven” in English-language histories of China I had to look it up cuz I had no idea what they were talking about, even with guess work

      • JuneFall [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        CW

        If it makes it better a school friend of mine did join the military and became an officer. During one lecture about China and the countries structure they heavily leaned on the “mandate of Heaven” and argued that bad economy means people think the heaven doesn’t favour the leaders / CPC anymore and there might be a window for “economic reforms”.

        Rather than thinking material reality matters for people the Westerners hold up concepts that are at best orientalist caricatures of times long past. He came back from that workshop and was having a hard case of heated-gamer-moment brains.

      • IzyaKatzmann [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        First time I read it was in the English translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms I think. I definitely remember reading about it on Wikipedia but I think that was spurred by trying to understand what the heck was going on in Three Kingdoms.

        • Smeagolicious [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          I love RotTK but god damn does it require a lot of reading on historical & cultural context.

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          unrelated comments about three kingdoms

          it’s really a great read if you can push through the density and the historical/cultural barrier. The entire novel is a fascinating argument against great man theory by the end; all the legendary heroic figures are dead and gone and life continued. I used to hate the ending as a kid (who got into it because of Dynasty Warriors of course) but it is really poignant looking back.

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          Worth it entirely for understanding Mandate of Heaven jokes of course.

          • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            The entire novel is a fascinating argument against great man theory by the end; all the legendary heroic figures are dead and gone and life continued.

            Is this deliberate, do you think?

            • Smeagolicious [they/them]@hexbear.net
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              1 year ago

              I want to say yes to a degree - “great man theory” hadn’t been codified by the time RotTK was written of course but despite the larger than life figures present in the novel I think it refutes the assumptions that lead to the theory.

              We have these legendary figures who are sure their actions are backed by inevitable destiny, or are absolute paragons of heroism etc. Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Cao Cao etc. and each eventually pass into history as the wars continue to their end. Some are lauded for their virtues and their deaths are lamented but it’s never said that this was truly the end of some great era of heroes or some such. The ambitions of humans and the rise and fall of nations continues. It’s there from the beginning, the novel is prefaced with the poem:

              On and on the Great River rolls, racing east,

              Of proud and gallant heroes its white-tops leave no trace,

              As right and wrong, pride and fall turn all at once unreal.

              Yet ever the green hills stay

              To blaze in the west-waning day.

              Fishers and woodmen comb the river isles.

              White-crowned, they’ve seen enough of spring and autumn tide

              To make good company over the wine jar,

              Where many a famed event

              Provides their merriment.

              As I said it used to make me sad to see all these great larger than life heroes die or stray from heroism, what have you, but it rings more true this way I think. Human lives are ephemeral and time again the “greatest” lives are proven to just be human like any other, fallible and fleeting. Life continues.

              • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                1 year ago

                I see what you mean and agree about tbe apparent bent of the poem. Incidentally, it is quite a nice poem and reminds me of another old Chinese poem where someone talks about how they and their life changed over the decades but the rain remains the same (staged much more artfully than that, of course).

  • equinox [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    A few comments down threw some sense into the mix saying it sounds like astroturfing is at least playing some role, and someone linked a very interesting web archive link: Reddit admins accidentally reveal "Eglin Air Force base as the most “Reddit addicted city”, from 2013. (and here’s a link to the web archive page if the original reddit post goes missing)

    I found this paper that a Redditor said was funded by Eglin which shows how to influence conversations online and control majority opinion, but keep in mind I haven’t read the paper nor looked any deeper into the authors so take it with a grain of salt, unless you wanna look further.

    Edit: apparently the official explanation is that Eglin is where military VPN traffic goes through, so everyone browsing Reddit on military networks does through Eglin. Kinda sus but seems reasonable imo