Is just such a shock from being in China. Just got harassed and essentially threatened for being a socialist. They searched my bags and commented on my China flag and my little red books and my copy of Blackshirts and Reds. Fucking police state. The security in China is strict, but they don’t give a fuck about your thoughts, whereas this guy was very aggressive about “consequences” for being a socialist.
That reminds me of when I was in Helsinki airport.
I still had some time for my flight, and was walking around to get something to eat. The place itself is very cozy, lots of wooden architecture, places arranged to seem like they’re in the middle of a forest, etc. Then I look the wrong way and see inside the smokers’ lounge. There, a bald middle-aged guy wearing a black hoodie with the coat of arms of Nazi Germany on it, vaping.
I somehow doubt that person got into any trouble for it. One of the rare Germany Ws is that that would be very illegal here.
He also thinks it’ll be 5 years until we’re at war. I told him I give it 2 max. Lmaooo
I was just like, man, first I’ve heard someone else say that off the internet. Hell, that was the initial reason I started learning Chinese and incidentally how I met my wife was I expected war by 2025. I really fuckin hope not though, because I will die if I can’t see my wife anymore. I didn’t plan to meet her, but she completes me in a way I’ve never been completed before.
That’s adorable! I hope things work out well and it doesn’t cause any issues, I think you should be able to seek asylum if war does break out (though it might be tough getting there). It’s the reason I’ve been meaning to start learning Chinese, but I should get off my ass and actually learn properly. My country will get a total media blackout on everything from China once war breaks out, and I don’t want to be left in the dark (and listen to the Murdoch media’s constant empty accusations against China to manufacture consent).
That’s a thought I hadn’t considered. I have young family I help care for in the US, so it might be hard if things start soon to leave, but that just opened up a whole new option to me, thank you.
I say if you’re interested in learning, at least give it a try! It’s such a fun and lovely language, I really enjoy everything about it. It’s tough, but being in China and reading signs was so satisfying, and the few times I could hold a short conversation were really confidence boosting. God do some people talk fast though. When my wife is on calls with her family it’s like a thousand words a minute. I honestly feel like they have to think faster than me because I don’t know how you can say so much in so short a time, I’m very much a slow and steady kinda guy. It also made me consider how language can affect cognition a lot.
I’m not quite sure what the laws are on that, but I do think if your wife is a Chinese national, your family should be able to apply for asylum, though you may need to fly over there from another nation first (Mexico most likely).
Yeah, everything I learn about the language is just really interesting (I love how composite words work in the language, it feels like if I had a good enough grasp of it I could convey what I mean even if I don’t have the specific word that I want to say, just using a combination of existing words/letters.)
I definitely get the “people talk to fast” thing though, I’m Australian, and we’re notoriously slow talkers in other languages, so that’ll be the biggest hurdle I think. I’m always annoyed with how slowly it can take to convey ideas though, so learning a “faster” language is something I’m looking forward too, I waste too much time trying to think through ideas, and being able to convey those ideas in a more efficient way is something I’ve looked for all my life, so hopefully another language is the answer. I mainly keep putting it off because “I don’t have the time” but I’ll never have the time really, so I should just put aside whatever time I can each day to learn a little. I really like the idea of being able to speak to a billion people I couldn’t previously.
“I give it 2 max” average based comment
Good. They’re afraid and have no counterargument. Scare them Comrade.
Yeah he tried real hard to imply I might get the wall, and I said, you know, I’ll do what I have to do, and you do what you have to do. He calmed down a bit once he realized idgaf what he says, I’m gonna do me, but he was very edgy lmao.
“THEYLL KILL YOU!” Cries the capitalist to the liberal, pointing at the dead fascist.
We should be critically supportive of the TSA, given that it helps accelerate the downfall of the empire by wasting 9.7 billion dollars per year on unfounded paranoia
The notion of “wasting money” doesn’t really apply to a country that can print the global reserve currency at will. There is effectively no bottom to the money bag for the US.
wtf the immigration officer was saying all of this when you got back to the US?
Commies can’t immigrate to America. Seriously
I have no idea how much this is enforced though, since I used to know several Vietnamese people who were communist party members who were also American citizens or permanent residents. One ran a donut shop.
Also one of my comrades in a local org is a communist from Guatemala who was affiliated with leftist groups in central America, he still ended up in the US.
I’m not saying there’s restrictions for communists, I just also believe the American state is lazy, inefficient, and probably prioritizes racism over past political affiliation when it comes to deciding who gets in.
Its enforced when black people start doing it
yeah I added an edit, immigration in America is guided by white supremacy first and foremost
oh no big need, wasnt a correction mostly just a thought.
Also can’t be on the ballot in many states even if one were to get the ridiculous amount of funds needed to run for office
American officials at the airport will grill you on whether you’re affiliated with any communist party, they never stopped the McCarthyism.
This has made me realize I really need to up my commie game then because border agents have never said a peep to me. I’m affiliated with 2 anarchist orgs, 1 Marxist-Leninist party, and 1 homeless support network. I thought my name would be on a file by now wtf. Fucking Immigration feds are calling me a liberal.
Border control has never stopped me when I’ve come back to the US from abroad, and I’ve left the US twice this year already. I had a bag with the Disco Elysium commie symbol (the stars and antlers) but that’s probably too subtle. I’m also very visibly non-binary
Ugh do I need to tattoo a sickle and hammer on my face
American survielance really is a paper tiger, they dont have the time or resources to actually monitor 90% of the shit they want you to think they can.
Almost all of the data they collect ends up on a server in Utah, which is very convenient if you become a “person of interest” and they want to build a file on you, but if you’re still a face in the crowd they basically don’t know anything.
I thought my name would be on a file by now wtf.
It might. It however needs to be actually accessed. If they don’t think it necessary, then they likely won’t bother.
I’m not American, so I’m just going off of what I’ve heard from others. So maybe it isn’t as prevalent as I thought. I just assumed based on what I’ve heard from American comrades that being questioned at airports about communism is just a normal thing they do, but I’m going off of secondhand accounts.
When I was a teen and traveling I would always, always get picked for extra search. I wore all black, had long hair, and black fingernails. TSA is just going off vibes.
So you’re saying I need to seem more commie and more punk? I’m already both of those things but I gotta try harder it seems.
Maybe your vibe is too hinged and you need to move in a more visibly unhinged direction
That very much depends on how they profile you then. I’ve been around US international airports quite a bit and I’ve never been asked about it even when applying for TSA PreCheck
I think they searched me because I had a whole bag just for gifts I brought back. It wasn’t until I got to the secondary search area that this happened, when they popped open my bag, saw the Chinese flag, the mao books, etc haha
This at least fills me with some hope. They’re scared. They’re jumping at books and flags now.
They never stopped
Yeah, I recently got back from a trip to Costa Rica and I could immediately feel the fascistic shift in atmosphere coming back. As soon as the plane touched down the immediate first thing I hear is, “LET’S CLAP AND CHEER FOR OUR TROOPS, EVERYONE ELSE WHO BUST THEIR ASS AT NORMAL JOBS, FUCK YOU YOU ARE NOT IMPORTANT.”
Jesus Christ that’s bad. I got rerouted and came back through Vegas airport, and seeing people not even make it out of the airport before getting sucked into gambling really made the differences apparent.
Question: I know gambling, prostitution and pornography are all illegal in China - is this strictly enforced or do they kind of informally allow it to happen like most other countries do where such bans are in place?
I believe pornography production and sale is illegal but consumption is not.
Production and distribution is legal if it is not done for profit. So you cannot pay actors, have a subscription service, sell your product directly, or use backend ways of avoid this restriction. This lets regular people make porn and not risk any penalty, but prevents companies from exploiting people or creating a problem industry.
Sounds like a sensible policy. A ban on consumption couldn’t be enforced anyway.
I don’t know, because I am not a consumer of any of those things. I have a Chinese friend who often jokes about erotic massages, but that’s about as far as my exposure to that goes. I know Macau is basically the gambling den of China though.
I know Macau is basically the gambling den of China though.
I should have specified mainland China. I am aware that sadly in the formerly colonized territories like Macau and Hong Kong there are still a fair few remnants of western degeneracy.
China still has remnants of the system too. Lotteries are not legally considered gambling, and the state operates two state sponsored lotteries.
That’s…unfortunate. Lotteries may not be as addictive or as scummy as other forms of gambling but they are definitely still gambling. I wonder if the state sponsored lotteries have a profit margin or if the money from ticket sales just goes fully back into the prize pool.
I’m not sure on the mechanics of it, but I did see the state lottery offices, and it’s subtitled in English as Chinese Welfare Lottery, so hopefully the profits go to welfare? Idk. I hear it’s pretty popular though.
I forgot to mention that there were scratch off tickets at one of the malls I went to also, my wifey bought a few and lost on all of them 😂
Only 50% of the profits go to welfare. The other 50% is pocketed. The welfare part is essentially good PR, and is identical to the US system. In the US lotteries are used as a funding mechanism for school districts, and that’s essentially what China is doing here. It’s just a way that pretend that the lottery is doing something good.
Still scummy, and still supporting gambling addiction :/
I know that for gambling it’s pretty common for Chinese people to vacation to Macau and Hong Kong to do it, and I have to imagine that online gambling is just as prevalent and hard to spot and stop as it is here.
I think where online gambling is concerned first and foremost you need to make sure that children can’t fall victim to it. If you have a limited amount of resources to devote to policing these things then that should be the main focus. And you need to start by cracking down on game-ified gambling, “loot boxes” and the like. I heard some pretty good things about China and their policy toward tackling the problem of gaming addiction in children so I hope that they are also staying on top of this too.
it’s always such a kick in the face when I go from Mexico to the US. I usually sink into a depression for the first two weeks or so due to the isolation and just kinda oppressive feeling of the United States.
usually the customs officers don’t hassle me much because I’m white but tsa is always happy to help themselves to a groping, which is why I typically do not fly in the US. usually I cross in tijuana so I can deal with sane and pleasant mexican authorities instead of like getting groped for my sunscreen or whatever insane shit the US be smoking this week
Lmaooooo I’m never going back to Amerikkka, fuck that shithole
Went there once. Nope, never again. Fascist shithole makes Canada look like a utopia. They literally have 3rd world infrastructure.
What I wouldn’t do to be able to leave and never come back
I think my wife and I are gonna retire there, but I have a criminal record, so I can’t work there. Our plan is suck as much capital out of American jobs as we can and then retire there and hope we can live for a long time without her having to go back to work, since I can get a spousal residency.
This is something I have also thought about, if there’s no chance of emigration within my working years for me. My pie-in-the-sky future is my wife and I (unfortunately burgerland born and raised) fucking off to the mainland and never looking back, but from my research even residency is still extremely strict if not outright impossible for us without a technical “in”- marrying or heritage- and for that matter pretty much no one on earth wants disabled immigrants (thanks life), so I’m not sure I have a hope in hell. I’ve worked in tech for a very long time, so there might be something there, but even that seems rough to navigate. Sure would be nice, thougn.
I have a feeling they may open up immigration some if the birth rate continues to fall the way it is, young people are 100% the retirement plan there, so it can get pretty rough if there’s not a next generation to care for the previous one. For now though, it’s pretty rough. Last I looked it was single digit thousands accepted each year for immigration from all countries combined. I definitely have no hope of immigrating, just long term residency.
How was learning Mandarin for you? I have admittedly not been as diligent as I ought to be but I’ve been on and off for almost a year and still really struggle with it. Most of the resources I know and the common learning methods I read about never seem to stick for me.
I am horrible and most people can’t understand me so I just stopped talking mostly haha. I can understand low level conversations, and enough to get through simple interactions, but going there was definitely a crash course in sucking ass, and I plan to get a private tutor and really buckle down now that I’m back. I’ve gotten pretty good at reading, and I can test at like HSK 2/3 minus writing, but my listening skills and talking skills are so mush, despite what the apps told me. Even HelloChinese, the best gamified app, gave me way more confidence than I should have because they have everyone speak slowly and clearly, whereas everyone in the mainland speaks quickly, with accents, and sort of slur their words together making it hard to tell where they stop and start or what tone they’re using.
It was basically like blahblahblahblah 需要这个blahblahblahblah开始了blah blah blah. And then I would look at my wife like a lost puppy and she would translate for me haha.
I had been doing 1-3 hours a day on apps for 200 days by the time I got out there. Definitely not enough.
If I recall right from some language studies on the effectiveness of those gamified apps, you’re usually better off with a night course at a community college. I’m really impressed with your dedication!
I’ve read accounts from people returning to the US after a visit in China saying it feels like returning to the 20th century after experiencing what 21st century infrastructure is like. Did you get that sense that all? I suppose it is highly dependent on which city you visited.
Yes. I literally was just telling someone it felt like it was both a century ahead and a century behind in some ways. Infrastructure and walk ability are amazing. The trains are so nice and so fast. I took multiple high speed trains, and next time I go back I intend to do the maglev train from Shanghai to… wherever it goes, I just want to ride the train 😂
The security in China is strict, but they don’t give a fuck about your thoughts
You sure about that? I have heard plenty of first hand accounts from people who were born there, who live there, and elsewhere who go back to visit family often, that say otherwise.
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-forbidden-images-chinese-internet
Random person: tell what they experienced during their trip in China
Smug lib: “Are you sure you really experienced what you say you did? Me (who has never been to China) think you are mistaken.”
There’s a huge difference between “I experienced this” and “I’m extrapolating a huge generalization from my tiny shred of experience”.
I have heard plenty of first hand accounts from people who were born there, who live there, and elsewhere who go back to visit family often, that say otherwise.
There’s a huge difference between “I experienced this” and “I’m extrapolating a huge generalization from my tiny shred of experience”.
You managed to contradict yourself in consecutive comments, I’m impressed.
I just asked if they were sure. Questions make you mad I guess?
You sure come across as confrontational and smug for someone who’s just asking questions, and that doesn’t negate the fact that you contradicted yourself.
“Im just asking questions” is what fascists say to inquire about why the “globalists” have so much control over banking.
Sure, you’re “just asking questions”, buddy. Sure…
I have heard plenty of first hand accounts from people who were born there, who live there, and elsewhere who go back to visit family often, that say otherwise.
Also you
here’s a huge difference between “I experienced this” and “I’m extrapolating a huge generalization from my tiny shred of experience”.
When did he claim that, eh?
Yeah, nah, I’m just gonna do a whataboutism on you and ask you about their experiences… for all I know, these people are affiliated with National Endowment for Democracy and other western NGOs, because that would explain a lot
You seem like pro-regime changer, so I guess agree to disagree…
“Their security” is a bit broad, no? I mean, what are the error bars on that? One airport? That’s the bar (I think?) from the American side, so I’m guessing it’s the same for the Chinese side.
Multiple airports, train stations, subway lines, bus stations. But, I can only really speak for northern China and Beijing, I’ll give you that.
Ive been to Shenzhen before from the UK, most intense security was in the UK.
I will say Chinese people do get survailled, but its usually in the case of them studying abroad, they will ask people to check in to a local embassy infrequently to make sure they arent fleeing there VISA, which most countires actually ask you to do lol.
Pooh isn’t banned (just look up Disney Land Shanghai) and I am pretty sure neither is “tank man”, because PRC television showed the riots live.
There was precisely one Pooh image that was taken down, and that was because of its racist conotations. Not against Xi, he was just compared to Pooh, but against Obama who was compared to Tigger. The text to the image read “Xi is Pooh, Obama is a Tigger.”, I think you get the intention, it’s one letter.
Western propaganda, as usual, left out half the story. Common technique used in the west.
The Hong Kong rioters frequntly use the Xinnie Pooh insult to mock Xi for his skin color and East Asian appearance which expose their anti-Chinese racism and their identity as European diaspora. When I questioned their racist connotation with the Winnie Pooh stereptype, they tried to make irrational excuses or change the topic. The interesting fact is that the self-proclaimed Hong Kong independence advocate used the ban on the Xinnie Pooh racism as the only example of Chinese media censorship. There is also other obvious evidence that the alleged Hong Kong independence movement is an attempts to return Hong Kong under British authoritarian rule like the refusal to talk about the life under British rule, the false association of British colonialism to independence and democratic utopia, the lack of awareness that all their activities in Hong Kong that they openly publicized in media could only exist under a democratic government, and their claim that Hong Kong belongs to sinophobic British people that are rude to Hong Kongers.
There are tons of anti-CPC arguments one can make, especially by looking at past mistakes and ignoring the subsequent work that has gone into rectifying those mistakes. Heck there are various one issue movements in China that push back against some of what the CPC does.
But, seeing as HK protestors cling onto Pooh memes: it’s 100% obvious that it’s a foreign op.
But actually arguing against CPC policy requires knowledge of that policy, westerners have none beyond “Evil! Bad! Muh Freezepeach!”
Yep. I am. My wife is Chinese, I just spent weeks there, and I’m friend with a rather vocal dissident Chinese citizen, to the point I would even call him an anti-communist. He’s just fine. That is a pretty typical bullshit article. Winnie the Pooh is advertised on tv dude.
As a Westerner that attends public events I attract these people indoctrinated by Western propaganda like flies. IF China was an dystopian authoritarian police state they would’ve hired me by now to supply them with names.
You should have told the officer “I can’t be communist, I have a racist friend” 😂
Notice how that commenter responded to others but not back to you haha
These liberals have never been challenged a day in their life on their synophobic bullshit. The moment they do, they’re immediately unable to properly respond without sourcing lies and disinformation.
Room temperature IQ article for a room temperature IQ comment. You new here?
this is lemmygrad? I legit thought I was banned here. did someone clear the banlist or something?
I see no evidence of you having ever been banned here https://lemmygrad.ml/modlog?userId=1630772
ETA: You were banned from hexbear for being a
https://hexbear.net/modlog?page=1&userId=36856We like to do temp bans for people who say silly things, but aren’t completely reprehensible. The mods are actually pretty forgiving.
My favorite example of Lemmy leniency was that one antisemite that got a 3 day ban from a single comm. The only comms/instances who perm ban (except accounts who spam or post CSAM, they get purged) are the nazi ones, and they’ll usually do it at the drop of a hat.
Yeah, the mods are big on using bans as a warning, not as a way to perpetuate the “echo chamber” or whatever libs are accusing us of.
The nature of the federation is that there’s a huge incentive not to just moderate like a fucking cop, because if you do it will make your comm/instance look like a nazi shithole. Perfect example of this is blah’s 196, their modteam has to PRwash like crazy because of all the obscene abuses of power that show up in their modlog including blatant examples of banning people for arguing with the mods and removing people for “being a tankie” It got so bad that hexbear literally defederated from the entirety of blaj because their anticommunism was borderline noncery and the admins weren’t doing fuck all about it.
On reddit if you get mod-abused you have no option for accountability; the admins shut down the form you used to be able to use to contact them, and their TOS forbids you from making subs for places you got banned from (under harassment rules) which is a site-bannable offense. Best you can do is make a thread on your /u which nobody but your most dedicated followers will even get a chance to see. Is it any surprise that you can routinely get banned there for petty reasons, and/or almost always for political (“anti white racism”) reasons?
Just a point of clarification,
It got so bad that hexbear literally defederated from the entirety of blaj because their anticommunism was borderline noncery and the admins weren’t doing fuck all about it.
Hexbear defederated not because of their anti-communism, but because of their egregious moderation failures that made Hexbear users feel unsafe.
…we have come to the conclusion that the 196 community on lemmy.blahaj.zone has made the fediverse an unsafe space for our queer, disabled, neurodivergent, non-western, and other marginalized comrades on this forum, and we will be defederating from lemmy.blahaj.zone until we can be confident that this will not continue to be an issue.
https://hexbear.net/post/369410
I remember a lot of discussion about the “paradox of tolerance” when that was ongoing, basically the idea that if you tolerate Nazi’s in your bar, you’ll quickly have a Nazi exclusive bar.
the admins shut down the form you used to be able to use to contact them
BTW Reddit mods are still able to contact the admins and get responses when they need stuff.
Source: Got a privilege escalation from them in 2024
You’re probably thinking of hexbear. I’ve had problems with them too, not exactly the most well-behaved instance.
Fav Star Trek series?
Here I was thinking that you were talking about books, and wanted to talk about how Chinese bookstores with dedicated English non-fiction sections shelve the same alt-right tech-bro fiction you find in the US.
But, no. It’s just Pooh and Tank man memes, and thus I’m kind of disappointed.
Yeah I was saddened to see so many Elon and Bill Gates books at Sysiphe. But, they also had Camus, so…. We’ll call it 50:50 haha
Camus
Going by the political section of his Wikipedia entry, he doesn’t seem too much of a leftist. Then again, I know only of the name, not his content.
He’s a mixed bag, for sure, but he hung out with some interesting people who I would consider more left philosophers, and he was basically the motorcycle jacket wearing, cigarette smoking philosopher prototype. He became a pretty sharp anti-com later in life, and it broke him from his friendship with Sartre. I thought he also knew Le Guin, but I might be imagining that part looking again now.
Yilon Ma enters the ChatGPT
I was going to comment about the fact that libs would say otherwise, but you beat me to it.
Sure you can make amything sound bad if you just lie about it.
