Raising Awareness of the CCP in the news [POLITICAL]

[Scalenex]

This is something Nightbringer posted on the general meme thread.

View attachment 90424

I am not Catholic, I am a Protestant, but I generally admire the current pope as a paragon of courage and humility.

The CCP violates nearly every international agreement with other governments, NGOs, or corporations yet people keep signing new agreements.

The CCP violates agreements with the Vatican all the time. They also water down and subvert the core values of Christianity all the time.

The pope has consistently shown he cannot be bribed. This event shows he cannot be intimidated. His actions show he is not a fool.

So I keep wondering, why does he keep signing agreements with the CCP knowing that they will cheat?

I came to a conclusion. The Vatican is getting something. Chinese Catholics are getting marginalized and having their beliefs and freedoms trampled on.

But they are not being sent to concentration camps and murdered for their organs. At least as far as I know.

The CCP knows that if they do that, they will probably lose the Vatican's support, and Catholics make up over a fifth of the entire world. The pope knows that if he pushes too hard against the CCP, he is exposing Chinese Catholics to mortal peril.

 

[Killer Angel]

This is something Nightbringer posted on the general meme thread.

View attachment 90424

I am not Catholic, I am a Protestant, but I generally admire the current pope as a paragon of courage and humility.

The CCP violates nearly every international agreement with other governments, NGOs, or corporations yet people keep signing new agreements.

The CCP violates agreements with the Vatican all the time. They also water down and subvert the core values of Christianity all the time.

The pope has consistently shown he cannot be bribed. This event shows he cannot be intimidated. His actions show he is not a fool.

So I keep wondering, why does he keep signing agreements with the CCP knowing that they will cheat?

I came to a conclusion. The Vatican is getting something. Chinese Catholics are getting marginalized and having their beliefs and freedoms trampled on.

But they are not being sent to concentration camps and murdered for their organs. At least as far as I know.

The CCP knows that if they do that, they will probably lose the Vatican's support, and Catholics make up over a fifth of the entire world. The pope knows that if he pushes too hard against the CCP, he is exposing Chinese Catholics to mortal peril.

That's certainly a good guess

 

[Paradoxical Pacifism]

I just thought about something. Wouldn't it be crazy if Russia commenced an offensive into Ukraine at the same time Chinese forces strategically target Taiwanese military targets? (achieving air superiority would make a seaborne invasion more easier, and China could easily do that).

 

[Scalenex]

I will note that if you use the Brave Browser it will block all the ads on Youtube while still letting you watch videos there.

I kick China Uncensored a few bucks every month. Sadly I cannot afford more than that at this time.

 

[Scalenex]

A sad but representative story of the environment the CCP created.

 

[Scalenex]

I could not find a video that is succinct.

Anyway, Chloé Zhao, born in Beijing, historically won a Golden Globe for Nomadland and the CCP state press was happy to boast about a Chinese national winning a prestigious western film award.

Chloé Zhao's was not a rags to riches person, her parents were fairly wealthy which presumably means they were tight with the CCP. Zhao attended university in the United States.

Then an old interview where she said something critical of the CCP came out and the CCP unpersoned her, censoring mention of her when she won two Oscars.

So the CCP went from celebrating her to denigrating her in less than a two month window because of one criticism.

She was the director for Marvel's The Eternals which now may be banned from viewership in China. It's speculated that Zhao was made the director to appeal to Chinese audiences and now that backfired.

Disney has been bending over backwards to accommodate the CCP's censorship rules and soft racism, and now it looks like they are going to lose money because of it.

For international corporations, China represents a very large untapped market. About 1.4 billion people. But foreigners cannot do business there without the CCP's approval (locals cannot do business there without the CCP's approval).

The CCP constantly betrays their foreign business partners but big companies keep investing in China anyway.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

While the US military is worried about inclusivity (and creating flight suits for pregnant women... no joke, look it up), the Chinese military is focusing on become stronger and more efficient.

 

[Killer Angel]

Suddenly, i feel the urge to join Chinese or Russian army.

 

[Scalenex]

This video is over five years old, but most of the points still stand. One difference, I believe the PLA either recently built or are currently working on another aircraft carrier.

While the US military is worried about inclusivity (and creating flight suits for pregnant women... no joke, look it up), the Chinese military is focusing on become stronger and more efficient.

That said, it seems like the US military is more interested in being inclusive and politically correct than they are with protecting the nation and this does not fill me with hope. Similar to point 4 in the video where a large percentage of the training for the PLA consists of party indoctrination. We should not copy the weaknesses of our friends foes, we should emulate the strengths of our friend and foes. That's generally what the Americans have done for most of our history.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

This video is over five years old, but most of the points still stand. One difference, I believe the PLA either recently built or are currently working on another aircraft carrier.



That said, it seems like the US military is more interested in being inclusive and politically correct than they are with protecting the nation and this does not fill me with hope. Similar to point 4 in the video where a large percentage of the training for the PLA consists of party indoctrination. We should not copy the weaknesses of our friends foes, we should emulate the strengths of our friend and foes. That's generally what the Americans have done for most of our history.

If the US and China fought today, I'd bet on the US. However, they are on opposite trajectories, and unless that trend is reversed, a crossover point will be reached sooner than you might think.

A couple of points on the video:

• Technology: US has a distinct advantage here, but that gap is continually closing. Where was China 50 years ago? Look at the gains they have made in infrastructure. Not military related, but I've been watching videos on Skyscraper building, and the Chinese make the US look foolish. Back to something with a bit more military adaptability, look at the growth of their space program. That technology is within the same sphere and can easily lead to significant military advances. Overall they have made huge technological leaps and to think that it won't eventually translate over to military technology is naïve in my mind.
• Leadership - Every country has their share of incompetent leaders, but at the end of the day, the US is led by Biden (or maybe his handlers ). In addition, the major political parties in the US are pretty much at war with one another. China or Russia can sit back and watch the country rip itself apart.
• Corruption - tell me which country doesn't have it.
• Equipment - a heavy advantage for the US... at least for now. However, same as the technology point above, that gap can be closed very quickly, especially if the US economy is run into the ground.
• Soldier Fitness - keep releasing recruitment videos like that and we'll see how this looks in 10 years. And then there are the Russians, they probably already have the US beat already in that regard.
• Party indoctrination - not good for individual growth and well-being, but does produce a pretty unified fighting force. The US political machine is also full of indoctrination, how else can you explain a very heavy percentage of its own people believing the country to be systemically racist and BLM burning its own cities to the ground. I'm not trying to defend the CCP's indoctrination, far from, but brainwashing your people to believe you are the greatest is still a step better than brainwashing people with the idea that your country is garbage and must be destroyed from within.

Besides, the whole things is a moot point anyways. Canada has heavy cavalry made up of beavers mounted on moose.... supported by Canada Goose air support. We're just biding our time!

 

[Scalenex]

If the US and China fought today, I'd bet on the US. However, they are on opposite trajectories, and unless that trend is reversed, a crossover point will be reached sooner than you might think.

If for some reason, both the United States and the PLA agreed not to use their nukes and both sides fought a conventional war. The United States would win hands down.

The first problem is the PLA and their CCP handlers are not fighting a conventional war. Wolf Warrior Diplomacy.

The second problem is that in a war between the United States and the CCP, there would be no winner. The "winning side" would be so bloodied it would feel like a defeat.

In any event, I believe the CCP leaders have a "If I can't have it, no one can!" attitude about everything, so I think if they were losing a war they would start flinging nukes.

Corruption - tell me which country doesn't have it.

Yes, everyone has corruption but don't create a false equivalency.

I have never had to bribe a police officer to carry on normal business, that happens every day in China (and many other places). I have an acquaintance who sold construction equipment to China and they had to put bribe money in the budget. Basically to do business you need permits and to get permits you have to bribe someone. The bribes are small, but every region and province takes a slice.

Construction is the backbone of China's economy so there was probably less red tape than you would get for other stuff.

A Youtube channel called Polymatters has a recent series called "China's Reckoning" with four roughly 20 minute videos. A little lengthy to post here.

China's economic growth over the last few decades was helped along by the fact that a high percentage of their population was in the 22-50 age range which is the most economically productive zone.

The one child policy means they are going to have a huge amount of workers retire soon and the workers they have are going to be burdened with taking care of a lot of elderly people. Either a married couple is going to have take care of four elderly parents by themselves or the state is going to have to it.

I suspect, since the CCP does not seem to value human life that they are going to find some way to kill off old people but that's going to cause a backlash because care for the elderly is a huge aspect of Chinese culture.

Even if they removed restrictions on allowable births, the fertility rate will not rebound very fast. Because of sex selective abortions and the occasional infanticide men outnumber women by the millions in China. So that's millions of men that cannot reproduce.

A lot of Chinese women like their greater access to education and employment and don't want to have more kids. China has a "left over" women problem. Even with the shortage of women overall, Chinese cultural norms are such that it's very hard for a Chinese woman to find a husband after 27. Not 30, 27.

The CCP has been slow to change the one-child policy because they don't want to admit they made a mistake.


The Chinese economy is driven by construction but the state planned economy is so riddled with inefficiency that a lot of the buildings are things people don't really want or need. It's so riddled with corruption that so many things are tofu buildings which are falling apart. Eventually that bubble will burst.

The CCP has been slow to take corrective action because they don't want to admit they made a mistake (and the corruption is fattening their pockets).

China has a shortage of clean water and by extension food. This is largely a result of terrible agricultural and economic planning.

The CCP has been slow to take corrective action because they don't want to admit they made a mistake.

The CCP observed that shortly before the Soviet Union collapsed, they tried several liberal reforms to become more free and open.

The CCP believes this was a cause of the Soviet collapse, not a symptom of the collapse. That's why they don't give an inch. Other authoritarian regimes will offer token half-assed reforms for PR purposes, but the CCP won't even do that.

I think the CCP is going to collapse under it's own weight within a hundred years. But due to the "If I can't have it, no one can!" attitude I'm concerned they can do a lot of damage in their death throes.

I think what we need is a full counter to Wolf Warrior diplomacy where every free country works to stymy the CCP economically and politically, but that's a pipe dream because the CCP has bought too many wealthy elites.

 

[Paradoxical Pacifism]

There's pretty large differences between the US' political environment and those of China and Russia that's probably accounting for these recruitment ads. The latter two are dominated by totalitarian, ultranationalistic motivations that tend to make many of their citizens idealize the country rather than themselves. Whereas the US recruitment ad reflects the ideal that is favored in the public - individualism. You can probably see it in the ads. The Chinese and Russians ones star soldiers whose faces are emotionless, like drones ready to kill or be disposed of. And again, the US one has lots of moments of sadness, happiness, humanity, and the like.

The US political machine is also full of indoctrination, how else can you explain a very heavy percentage of its own people believing the country to be systemically racist

There's lots of evidence to suggest the US is systemically racist.

but brainwashing your people to believe you are the greatest is still a step better than brainwashing people with the idea that your country is garbage and must be destroyed from within.

The people who believe the country is 'garbage' want to improve it and make it stronger. After all, equality makes countries more stable. It's also interesting that China and Russia supports groups like Qnon - people who believe, among other things that can destabilize the U.S., that equality is bullshit.

That said, it seems like the US military is more interested in being inclusive and politically correct than they are with protecting the nation and this does not fill me with hope. Similar to point 4 in the video where a large percentage of the training for the PLA consists of party indoctrination. We should not copy the weaknesses of our friends foes, we should emulate the strengths of our friend and foes. That's generally what the Americans have done for most of our history.

That's probably because the U.S. military has been struggling with recruitment for the past few years.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

The Chinese and Russians ones star soldiers whose faces are emotionless, like drones ready to kill or be disposed of. And again, the US one has lots of moments of sadness, happiness, humanity, and the like.

War is a brutal and cold-hearted affair... and soldiers are the instruments of war. It's not a bunch of fairy tales and good wishes as depicted in the US ad.

There's lots of evidence to suggest the US is systemically racist.

There are a few examples, though not in the way that you are probably hoping for.

For instance, Asians have long overachieved in high academia, as a result, universities have begun discriminating against them by increasing their entrance requirements based on their ethnicity.

As far as the CNN, MSNBC, NY Times and such go, that's a bunch of nonsense. Not backed up by statistics and derived through dishonest means.

To be perfectly honest though, I'm not really interested in delving much deeper into this topic. Subject matter such as this gets pretty nasty real quick and I have no desire to:

• hurt anyone's feelings
• break forum rules (or bend them to the furthest possible extent without actually breaking them )
• derail @Scalenex 's thread

The people who believe the country is 'garbage' want to improve it and make it stronger. After all, equality makes countries more stable.

We evidently have different definitions of the words "stronger" and "stable".

After all the violence, theft, property destruction and death, what about the situation has gotten better? The only thing that seems to have changed is that violent crime rates are significantly up from the year prior.


Anyways, like I said, no point in discussing it. You and I will never agree on it and it will only lead to friction.

Yes, everyone has corruption but don't create a false equivalency.

I'm not stating that the corruption is on par. To be perfectly honest with you, I don't really know how the relative levels of corruption compare with one another. We have to be careful because we are seeing the situation through a very specific lens.

To put it into writing/story-telling terms, the USA/Canada are our viewpoint characters. We see ourselves as the protagonists of this little saga. It is easy to create a negative viewpoint of the "other" (China, Russia). I'm sure if we lived in that neck of the woods we might view the activities of the US a bit differently.

That said, I am playing a bit of devil's advocate here. I do suspect that the corruption is a good deal greater in China, but I also acknowledge that I have very little first hand experience and the information I do get comes from sources that are trying to paint a narrative.

 

[Killer Angel]

War is a brutal and cold-hearted affair... and soldiers are the instruments of war.

And to die / to kill is among soldiers' duties.
To serve in the military is not like a vacation in a exotic country, as suggested.

 

[Paradoxical Pacifism]

War is a brutal and cold-hearted affair... and soldiers are the instruments of war. It's not a bunch of fairy tales and good wishes as depicted in the US ad.

Yes, but that's the point i was trying to get at. War and the military is a considerably more controversial topic in the U.S. than in China or Russia because liberal, democratic nations naturally have a harder time raising and maintaining their armies short of conscripting the population. Hence why the U.S. has so many college/career benefits for people who are interested in military service. Hence why the U.S. military was trying to appeal to people's emotions so they can consider joining. Whether or not the U.S. and its soldiers are becoming more 'soft' is a major source of concern is up to you decide. Personally, I don't really mind much, because most conflicts today and in the future will most likely be economically fought (Most people do not want war, but they still want power), and it'll be impossible for both the U.S. and China to invade either side's homeland.

and soldiers are the instruments of war.

Sure, but it's not just the soldiers, or rather front-line troops that determine the quality of a country's military, it's also their ability to supply their troops with the necessary resources so they can effectively fulfill whatever orders they have. I think about only 10-15% of soldiers who are deployed actually see front-line service In the U.S. ofc, in the event of a major war, that percentage will increase, but my point still stands that front-line troops need a much larger proportional number of troops in the support role in order to function well, and the U.S. is pretty much unrivaled in this aspect.

To be perfectly honest though, I'm not really interested in delving much deeper into this topic. Subject matter such as this gets pretty nasty real quick and I have no desire to:

• hurt anyone's feelings
• break forum rules (or bend them to the furthest possible extent without actually breaking them )
• derail @Scalenex 's thread

Meh. You were the first one to bring up that topic, so why can't I respond to your response? I'll keep mine short, and maybe even write them in the context of comparing US's and China's societal stability.

For instance, Asians have long overachieved in high academia, as a result, universities have begun discriminating against them by increasing their entrance requirements based on their ethnicity.

I agree that is bad, but I hope you're not generalizing Asian Americans as this 'model minority' that is 100% perfect, because it has lead to what you're describing, and some Asian communities are genuinely disadvantaged and that kind of attitude can easily overlook this.

Also, U.S. immigration in the past prioritized immigrants who were of a higher socioeconomic class, and this was very much the reality in the 20th century for Immigrants of Asian origin. People who belong in higher socioeconomic classes tend to academically perform better due to more resources at their disposal. This is why immigrants from highly developed countries such as South Korea and China perform so well academically in the U.S. whereas immigrants from poorer countries such as Cambodia and Laos perform more poorly.

We evidently have different definitions of the words "stronger" and "stable".

The US' extensive and ongoing history of inequality has produced the societal factors for BLM protests and riots to procreate.

Anyways, like I said, no point in discussing it. You and I will never agree on it and it will only lead to friction.

Debating for the sake of debating is fun imo. Disagreement or losing doesn't matter much imo.

 

[Paradoxical Pacifism]

On an unrelated note, it's pretty sad to see this:

I remember watching John Cena on WWE being this super patriotic American stereotype during my childhood. It's both bizarre and sad to then see him apologize for calling Taiwan a country

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Meh. You were the first one to bring up that topic, so why can't I respond to your response?

I just used it as a small point in relation to the general theme of discussion. More accurately I should have stated that I have no wish to go off on a deep dive tangent.

That said, fair enough, you do have a right to comment on the point. I just don't want you to waste a good deal of your time typing out a lengthy response only to not have it addressed.

Debating for the sake of debating is fun imo. Disagreement or losing doesn't matter much imo.

Debating can be fun, but this kind of political discussion (BLM, "mostly peaceful protests", America is or isn't systemically racist, etc.) is a messy business. I tried a few political debates on here a year or two back and to be honest, nothing useful or productive ever came from it. Politics as it relates to movies, TV, video games and the like is a different thing altogether, but pure hardcore politics is a very slippery slope.

And to die / to kill is among soldiers' duties.
To serve in the military is not like a vacation in a exotic country, as suggested.

EXACTLY!

 

[Scalenex]

To be perfectly honest though, I'm not really interested in delving much deeper into this topic. Subject matter such as this gets pretty nasty real quick and I have no desire to:

• hurt anyone's feelings
• break forum rules (or bend them to the furthest possible extent without actually breaking them )
• derail @Scalenex 's thread

I think we are mature enough that we could discuss this (and I can always nuke thread if it comes to that). But I would prefer to discuss it on a thread of it's own.

What is the difference between systemic racism and ordinary racism?

What would a racism free society look like and how would we get there?

In any event. While I would like to eradicate racism forever I believe, that I should focus on fighting one evil thing at a time. That's just me. If someone else wants to multitask fighting multiple evils at once, go nuts.

I still believe the CCP is the number one threat to the free world.

Among other things, the CCP encourages racism.

Want to fight global warming? China produces most of the world's carbon and they are building more coal plants. At the same, nations are bending over backwards to try to get China to join in the war against global warming to no avail.

Support gay rights? The CCP is very homophobic in their policies.

Are you pro-choice? The CCP denies women choice with mandatory abortions.

Are you pro-life? China has more abortions per capita than most countries on Earth.

Are you pro-wildlife conservation? China's fishing fleets are strip mining the world. The CCP basically destroyed China's ecosystems and made their hundreds of rivers into giant streams of death.

Almost every issue you can name, the CCP is on the wrong side of it.


To get back on topic.

The PLA has a major advantage over the US military. In that the CCP can tolerate massive casualties and thanks to a wide variety of factors, US politicians will face a political cost to any US casualties.

I consider this a good thing, but it is a weakness.

"Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share."
"That's why it's so important."

But the CCP/PLA has another weakness. Hypothetically, if the US went to war against the CCP, I do not think the US would go alone. I think India would join us. I think a wide coalition of smaller countries would at least provide public and diplomatic support even if they didn't supply troops. There is a good chance at least a few countries would supply troops.

North Korea is a puppet state of the CCP, but if they joined in, South Korea would join in. That leaves the CCP's allies being basically Pakistan and Russia. The Covid virus and other factors have weakened the bonds of their relationship to these allies. Also the oppression of Muslims and the trafficking of Pakistani women has not made China beloved by Pakistanis in general though they might aid the CCP just because Pakistan's foreign policy seems to be "Annoy India at all costs!"

 

[Scalenex]

On an unrelated note, it's pretty sad to see this:

I remember watching John Cena on WWE being this super patriotic American stereotype during my childhood. It's both bizarre and sad to then see him apologize for calling Taiwan a country

I'm not a huge fan of professional wrestling, but I find it mildly entertaining and will watch it sometimes.

But my general rule is that if it's a non-essential good (such as entertainment) I will not pay a penny to a company that bends the knee to the CCP.

Problem with my economic boycott is that it's very very small.

I would occasionally watch pro-wrestling matches on TV or Youtube but I never bought tickets or merchandise, so my boycott means little.

I'm done with Blizzard. I used to be a Blizzard fan, but I was a late comer normally waiting to buy their games when they went on sale.

I certainly wasn't going to get a WoW subscription. So the fact that I've vowed to not give Blizzard a penny has probably only cost Blizzard $5-$20.

 

[Scalenex]

China amended their one-child policy to a two child policy in 2016. A mere five years later they amended this to a three-child policy.

The CCP just completed a once in a decade census. There is significant evidence suggesting that the party is doctoring the numbers they are presenting to their citizenry and the outside world.

One suggestion is that China's population is not just "experiencing the lowest recorded population growth in their history" as they admit but they are actually declining for the first time.

And it looks like a lot of Chinese couples of childbearing age don't want more children.

I noticed, it doesn't look like the the CCP has thought of implementing a "Have as many children as you like" policy.

I predict CCP propagandists are going to ramp up the pressure against people who have one child or no children. They are going to ramp up the stigma against China's left over women.

I predict that the CCP are going to quietly ramp up their trafficking of women from Pakistan, Vietnam, North Korea, and other locales, but they are going to encounter more resistance because after the Corona virus, other countries are putting up with the CCP's crap.

I suspect that the CCP is going to address their demographics problems in more extreme ways. The CCP is already working on "encouraging" marriages between Tibetan and Uighur women and Han Chinese men. I suspect that they are going to gradually ramp up to an unofficial policy where Han Chinese aren't given a maximum number of children they can have to be given a minimum number of children. First with economic pressure ramping up to Hand's Maids Tale escapades. Right now abortions are very easy to obtain in China (in fact, sometimes they are mandatory). I suspect the CCP is going to suddenly start denying women abortions to get the population.

The Soviet Union had a lot of state run orphanages trying to raise good little Communists. These were hellish places to grow up. I doubt the CCP will try something similar. The CCP's logistical and economical problems mean that creating such an extensive system for the state to adopt unwanted children is infeasible. It also flies in the face of traditional Chinese family values, but the CCP has not been afraid to do this before, so maybe I'm wrong.

I suspect the CCP is going to work on disappearing elderly people who are not high ranking party members. I suspect food and medicine will be denied to elderly people and elderly people are going to face suspicious causes of deaths in hospitals. Something that is already happening now. Political dissidents have weird deaths in hospital. Corona virus deaths are often papered over as some other cause of death so they can maintain their propaganda that they have the virus under control.