- Is it better to destroy statues of bad things, or maintain them, despite their symbolism, as a reminder of who we were? I'm naturally inclined to the latter, but it seems 50/50 split among society as a whole.
- What happens to HK after the 50-year handover agreement, in which China promised & signed to maintain autonomy in the city until 2047? the CCP has already broken its word on this, but will they transition starting from now to complete handover in the next few years, or wait until 2047 before completely overriding all rule of law? What happens to the citizens, will they all evacuate to the UK, Taiwan, USA?
- Is there actually any evidence at all that Chauvin's murder was racist? It would be bizarre if we find out a global series of protests and riots on black lives happened as a result of something that had nothing to do with it but merely involved a black man. It's fine to say the picture is bigger than that, but having an incorrect martyr is still weird.
- Will China and India break out in another war? They have already had four smaller wars with China in the last 50 years or so, how bad would a fifth be? What would the reaction from the rest of the global stage be, now that anti-Chinese sentiment is at an all-time high, who would intervene?
- Will the US and other countries see a huge uptick in CoViD-19 infections now everybody in the west has decided it's no longer a concern, and racist police are more dangerous?
- Will more people die from the actions taken against CoViD-19 than the virus itself? How will the results compare to a Universe in which nobody took any action and simply let the virus run its course? Is there any way we can model this reliably and figure it out?
- Will the Wok of Insanity that is 2020, where every terrible issue was thrown in, oiled up and set alight all at once, cause the world order to change, with China rising to the top, the US economy falling into deep, sustained recession and dictatorships/communists to rise to the top, exacerbating the collapse of society? Or, like most doomsday situations in the last few decades, most of us (in the west) won't really feel much hurt beyond higher unemployment for a while?
- Is the world as a whole leaning further politically left, or right, over time? It seems the answer depends on which side of the party you ask; both seem to think they're losing a battle.
- Are we more divided than ever, or has the news always said that about us? Don't forget, blacks couldn't vote once upon a time. Neither could women. The division is in the eye of the beholder.
- Were ISIS closer to right-wing, or left-wing, ideologically speaking? The question is surprisingly hard to answer for me
- Both Trump and Obama have done terrible things, and we know some of Trump's terrible things were just continuations of Obama's. Yet, Obama's charisma, skin tone, and position in the political spectrum fit snugly with Silicon Valley, where all modern social media is disseminated. This assures he will go down in history as one of the Great Presidents. Conversely, Trump has an only marginally lower approval rating than Obama overall, yet he will go down as the most dangerous authoritarian Tyrant in American history. How accurate is this, how far along the spectrum of evil is Trump compared to Obama and other leaders? How can we ever know for sure when there is no such thing as unbiased media?
Feel free to take a shot at answering any/all below if you happen to come across this post =)
Happy birthday! :D
Lol grrrrr
Only 5 'r'? I should have been more eccentric. By the way, the last point is the most unknown one, I think... And I agree with it! as lamouthe by the way ;)
Oh hi lemouthe (combining the two)! In terms of current events in the west, yeah the last one is certainly a big one, though most fascinating to me is the amount of fatality coming from either the virus, or actions taken from them. It will take years and years to figure it out in the end.
5 R's because I wasn't previously pressured by birthday celebrations, I had managed to get away with nobody really knowing about it or celebrating it =D
Birthday-wise, I am stuck to 34 forever... so (but that's a story to tell in front of a nice drink) ;)
This week looks funny as well in France, with the back-to-school thingie of the government, who forgot to tell the teachers (so that everybody learned about it together on Sunday evening)... I am so upset with this administration ignoring constantly those working on the field... But I assume it is the same everywhere...
'Art debate here is interesting but a totally different topic, but yeah I like that in some cases people are discussing what I happened to have said a while back: just changing the plaque. Statues don't have to represent heroes, but they are a historical moment in time. Put them in the museum, that's a fine compromise if you don't want glorification. But never forget.
Yeah, I'm a little mixed on this one. It does seem most protestors and rioters seem to be quite low-information activists, feelings are reacted to without much consideration of historical context.
I support protests on this topic specifically, but the UK taking part and rioting, innumerable cops injured, the news reporting it as peaceful? This is a complete misunderstanding of UK history and annoys me.
Dunno. They have done half a dozen times and nothing comes from it. I just read they came to a diplomatic agreement once again though so I gues it'll be held off for another 3 months or so.
Well yeah they basically don't exist other than as an idea now so... whatevs
Good answers!
When someone tell me Obama is better than Trump I imagine why?
Is it because of the charming appearance or personality rather Obama have than Trump.
Both do bad and terrible things and I feel both are the same
It's certainly due to his charm and eloquence. Even full leftists I subscribe to recognise him as a piece of shit these days.
Tbh the more I learn the less faith I have in democratic philosophy in the US but, in the way of Winston Churchill:
'Democracy is the worst form of government aside from all the others that have ever been tried'.
So perhaps there is something else, but given we've been trying for literally thousands of years, unlikely.
All presidents are puppets.
They are symbolic figureheads of the American Empire.
If you ignore the rhetoric from Clinton/Bush/Obama/Trump and examine their records, there's very little that differentiates them.
More war, more tax breaks for the rich, continued War on Drugs, sanctions on unfriendly regimes, increased number of prisoners, corporate America carte-blanche, members of Wall Street finance filling their cabinets, etc.
While Obama wears the mask of neoliberalism, and speaks in the language of tolerance , acceptance, democracy, freedom and the idealize myth of America out of one side of his mouth and all the while bailing out Wall Street, while not providing universal health care, while bombing 7 different countries, while liberating 'Libya' and assassinating Gaddafi, while making massive arms deals with Saudi Arabia, while plotting drone assassinations "Kill lists" for "Terror Tuesdays", expanding the surveillance state, keeping Guantanamo Bay open, etc., etc.
Donald Trump has removed the mask and exposed the ugly reality of empire. He openly enriches himself at the tax payers expense, continues the wars of his predecessors, pillages the US Treasury (CARES Act), provides a massive tax cut to the richest Americans, levies choking financial sanctions on countries that refuse US corporations, etc., etc.
People despise Trump because he doesn't try to hide his greed, power and vanity. He doesn't bother to try to tell the American people lies about who and what they are, he inadvertently shows the viciousness of the empire without sugar coating it or telling the American public a lullaby about their identity and what people see on the other side of empire.
I like this perspective, about unveiling the mask. Being in China I'm forced to see the US in perspective as really not all bad, and I stand by that in a way that people living in the west can't fully appreciate, but at the same time, the level of insidious corruption and intent that goes against the wishes of basically everyone in the country... this seriously needs to be exposed and discussed.
That's something we westerners take for granted. The fact that we know things suck, our leaders are corrupt and malicious, and the fact we can talk about it, is something I've learnt to truly cherish and look forward to when I eventually return.
Trump has exacerbated that treasure like you said. Who knew incompetence could have a silver lining?
Yes, even though I regularly criticize the USG's murderous foreign policy, that doesn't mean that I want a Chinese system to replace it. Actually, that would be far worse and where people are not free to speak their minds, especially politically.
If the USG actually supported freedom, democracy and human rights the world would be a much different place.
It's sad and disturbing that the American military machine always justifies its interventions under the guise of lofty ideals and humanitarianism but we can plainly see that their rhetoric is antithetical to the values they claim to uphold. In reality, they are simply attempts to hide the acquisition of power and resources.
It matters not who says it: Trump, Pompeo, Bolton, Pelosi, Hillary, Biden, Obama... none of them believe what they're saying. The system is so twisted and corrupted that we cannot trust a word any of these people say.
The system is showing cracks and I hope that the American people will regain their power and reclaim the country from this criminal class.
I hope so too!
One result from the riots/protests have been police defunding, putting those resources into addressing the causes - though it remains to be seen if it will be spent wisely or not
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