Kid in the red top is very good!
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My best mates dad was in the Hitler youth, would have been around the age of 10 at the time. No choice and certainly fucked up with having to carry the mantle of being part of the machine of genocide in his life… being German and all that.
Watching any mass parade makes me wonder about the individual and their life and family.
Some who were forced into did not want to be there. Others were enthusiastic about it. Many HJ went on to be in the germany army, and participated in war crimes. That’s a historical fact that has little to do with your friend’s father and whatever he says. But depending on when he joined HJ, he very much could have been sent to war. By the end of the war, they were sending in children to defend Berlin, so… 
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Thanks, haven’t seen that before and kinda made my day 
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I didn’t realize they forced other countries to participate in that. /s
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The situations aren’t really that comparable. We (anti-Trumpists) will now be in power, through an electoral, democratic change of Administration. For Chinese anti-Communists to ever be in power, it would be through a revolutionary toppling of the Communist regime. Or, some sort of Gorbachevian migration to democracy, which isn’t even remotely on the horizon.
Did I imply that force was involved in the take-up? What they do is offer compelling aid projects - upgraded infrastructure, highways, rail networks, ports etc, that the countries cannot afford and for which they will forever pay. It’s sold as win-win but it’s a poison chalice. Those participating countries get owned, so to speak, by China. Some of these massive projects engage Chinese-only labour - want to know when they ever leave? Defacto immigration or occupation force? I think its called colonization by stealth. Check out Laos among others.
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De nada.
Though I was no fan of Glee, that flash-mob scene always cheers me up.
Here’s another dance break scene that does the trick:
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This. I’m always creeped out by these displays.
And it isn’t just a few BBS cranks who see things this way- there’s John Cage’s famous repulsion at watching Branca’s piece for 100 guitars: “If it was something political it would resemble fascism”. It is a strange and wonderful experience to subsume oneself to a sort of collective ESP on a stage with 100 other people. All bows moving exactly the same; everyone breathing at the same time. It’s exhilarating, but it absolutely can feel oppressive when decisions don’t go your way; it’s why a ton of talented classical musicians don’t succeed in an orchestra, they can’t take it.
Large numbers of people spending a ton of their own resources and efforts in order to voluntarily submit to someone else’s will should make people a little uncomfortable; not in a damning “that’s bad!” way, but just in a “let’s be cautious and wary and keep an eye out for peoples’ motivations” way. It’s how large impressive thing are done, and it’s also how horrible, awful things are done.
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Why do you assume that the nations that negoitated with China are unaware of possible risks? Do you think that they’re that naive?
And that’s bad? Because why?
Why is having Chinese nationals in your country bad?
Or maybe it’s called economic engagement?
It really is rhetoric out of the 19th century…
Do you live in a nation-state and follow it’s laws? Do you work for a corporation that has regulations you must follow? Do you abide by any sort of social standards at all? We ALL do that to some extent. Otherwise, we’d all be living in a shack in the woods with no contact with other humans. 
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It is not nations per se - that implies the people have some will in it - but certainly governments. Naive? Possibly Short-sighted? Possibly Corrupt? Getting warmer. When China comes a’courtin’ they don’t come empty handed. Visiting delegations are treated royally in BJ. Motorades of limos with 20 odd motorcycle escort etc. There are many perks that come with such deals (education in China being one - funny that the Chinese are trying to get education not in Africa but in the US, Britain, Australia etc.). Why is Chinese labour bad - because it uses imported unskilled labour and not local unskilled labour. The wages do not go into the local economy. Foreign nationals in your country are not bad as long as the numbers are manageable and they DONT STAY. Or maybe it is called colonisation. Which is a bit pot calling the kettle black-ish but my post was to give picture to the ranging global expansion of China, who still like to have their foreign Chinese - even those who have emigrated - beholden to the Chinese government.
Speaking of the rhetoric of the 19th century - or more properly the rhetoric of the late 20th - having had something to do with Chinese publications and as an observer of the political vibe, it has been more than a little interesting to see the modernday purges that have taken place under Xi and how every aspect of societal control goes directly under Beijing’s control. And the language of official publications harks back to Marxist doctrinaire of the 50’s and 60’s. As someone else has already observed the only way for the CCP to lose control is for the population to rise. But as the state has in place an army of snitches, total media control, and a security apparatus that can make you a non-citizen on the spin of a dime, I don’t like their chances.
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Rehearsed group performance being the equivalent to Hitler’s Youth is some comical levels of revisionist history regardless of your opinions on China (China also has a strong rugged individualism mythos btw, I’m not sure how people did not know that - how else do you encourage individualist snitches to report their families and neighbors and discourage collective action?) especially since Hilter’s Youth was filmed being normal kids as propaganda and not as a mass of murderous zealots raised by the Nazis. The synchronicity of Hitler’s Youth is something that people spoke about to counter the narratives that they were all acting by individual will.
Seriously, society exists with or without a murderous authoritarian and there’s not some magic “good” society that prevents it from committing mass genocide. The common traits of fascism is literally reading the room and appealing to social norms.
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but when the US does it many people call it imperialism. When they burned down a McDonalds in France, I don’t think it was because of the quality of the food.
This was addressed in the portion of the post after your quote ended.
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Lately, we’re not doing any of that. And not all treaties that we sign are called imperialism, no. Some are, it’s true. But it would also be wrong to say that treaties signed with, say, the EU are imperialistic. Our imperialism really kicks in when it comes to our more clandestine activities. You could more rightly call what China is doing in the south China seas imperialism, perhaps, but assuming that EU countries are entirely being hoodwinked here is pretty ridiculous. Even with the US, European governments were well aware of what they were getting into with various treaties, and they agreed to it.
Are French activists burning down Chinese restaurants? Cause I’m unaware of that.
What is different in China’s motivations than any other nation’s motivations? They are doing precisely what Europeans and the US have been doing for several centuries now, but all of a sudden, it’s now evil? Are they really meant to never exert any power at all, because it’s more illegitmiate than when the US does it?
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You really think that governments that sign treaties with China aren’t aware of that. That’s what these agreements are about, give and take.
Again, that’s true of any visiting dignitary literally anywhere in the world. Do you think when President Macron, say, comes to the US, he’s got to make his own arrangements to get to the white house? This is literally how this kind of state level diplomacy works. I’m not seeing anything nefarious in rolling out the red carpet for foreign leaders.
So does labor here or in Europe. How many refugees from the wars in the middle east and Africa are being pushed into low paid, contingent labor in Europe?
Do they magically not live where they are lving? Do they use teleport to shop back home in China?
So you’re in favor of the wall, then?
Are Mexicans colonizing the US?
So, unlike Americans living in China, Chinese have no agency, and are literally just beholden to the state… because, reasons?
That has less to do with being Chinese and more to do with autocratic government. That is also happening in many, many other places right now.
Which is not really being implemented even remotely. And I think anyone with any working knowledge of Marxist language would object to that characterization. I suspect it would more rightly be called Maoist-stalinist, which is couched marxist rehetoric, but is much more authoritarian in nature.
Maybe there is a reason that’s not happening?
That’s not the only reason.
Because of hundreds of years of racist propaganda that misconstrues Chinese culture as so “collectivist” that Chinese people have literally no agency.
True, or some mythological understanding of a “norm” that does not exist in reality. For some reason, I’m in mind of Laibach’s cover of Sympathy for the Devil, specifically the video:
The end of the video especially, with the aryan family. It’s a night of violence culminated by “making things safe” for a specific type of social construct over others.
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Everybody was there.
We are not talking about refugees who may have to scrabble for what they can get. These are contract labourers that come with the aid.
There is nothing magic about it. Remote work camps are typical. They don’t shop.
I thought you were merely playing devils advocate. You draw an exceedingly long bow with that remark.
You are a bit short sighted of your own history. The Spanish had sway over vast areas of the country before America had shrugged off its British colonial mantle. Why do you think so many States have Spanish names? Why are there so many Hispanics in the US? It is not entirely a modern day thing. If anything, you can accuse the US of colonizing Mexico. In any case this is semantic as the Spanish were also colonialists.
You must think that when I refer to Chinese that my remarks are racially based. I am talking about their autocratic government and its full apparatus in its entirety.
And in reference to official publications:
Here you are way off the mark. They themselves refer to their brand of Communism as Marxist. Don’t be to concerned about Karl Marx, that is how they see themselves. “not really being implemented even remotely”? When I see the feilty paid to President Xi and the party multiple times in a given press release - and in each and every press release (not in the glib way I have just done but in a very overblown word-perfect piece of cringeworthy diatribe) you know they are not doing it just for fun. It is kowtowing at its best. Now you don’t get to see these documents because they are not promulgated widely in the international space and in any case they are toned down somewhat after I have finished editing them. Xi is the modern day Chairman Mao. His control is watertight.
No, there are other reasons. I think your implication is “they don’t want to”. Some other reasons include that there are not a lot of guns in public hands. Of course that excludes bank robbers. Not everyone is a card carrying member of the CCP but like American Express membership has its advantages. They are in EVERY organisation and its a must that they are. (As an aside I always think its funny that being a leftist country they would have such a down on Trade Unions - see they don’t like any organisation that can possibly compete). You know, when you have facial recognition and a government that will use it keep your social credit score - increased by what you might buy decreased by jaywalking etc - you might suddenly find that you cannot book an airline ticket. They are micro-managing social control. That said, they actually piss themselves that the public MAY sometime rise. Forget about Shanghai or Chengdu ever seceding. But what you don’t ever hear about are the mass risings at village level that are a regular occurence across the country when their land is being swiped - and all they have to fight with are bits of pipe and firecrackers.
Sorry that I did not answer each of your objections but there is too little room and this will be the last reply from me. I’ve said enough.
edit: the peasants fight with bits of pipe - not pie. Damn you qwerty.
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No. I’m not. I don’t see it as poor Europeans under attack from everyone else.
I guess that only ever happened in China…
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