• penquin@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    Cool, now let’s ban Google, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and every single social media platform that does the same exact thing as TikTok. I have never used TikTok, but this is fucking bullshit. Facebook literally ruined elections and lives around the world.

      • jarfil@beehaw.org
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        4 months ago

        Technically true of any country: only China is allowed to influence CCP elections, only Russia is allowed to fix Russian elections, only the US is allowed to ruin US elections…

        They still try to influence each other’s ones, but they aren’t openly “allowed” to…

        • Thevenin@beehaw.org
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          4 months ago

          Lets drop this whole “lesser of two evils” thing […] it certainly doesnt work with comparing governments.

          I think it is deeply unwise to take that to heart.

          I grew up deep in the American Midwest, surrounded by Evangelical-leaning Christian fundamentalism. Out there, committing one sin was considered as bad as committing a hundred (see also: Matt 5, James 2:10). They dropped the whole “lesser of two evils” thing, and you know what happened? They treated gays the same way they treated murderers, because the two sins were equally easy to condemn. They put rapists in pulpits because in their eyes, molesting a child was just as easy to forgive as ogling an adult.

          When you tell people to reject nuance in ethics, that there is no “greater evil,” you remove 90% of their moral compass. They become pliable and easily manipulated by whoever can seize power or respect (see also: Trump).

          Every person has flaws, and every system, government, or ideology created by people is likewise flawed. If we refuse to judge the severity of those flaws, refuse acknowledge that there are lesser evils in government, then we claim our own ideologies are no better than fascism – after all, both have their sins, and we just claimed that all sins are equal.

      • senseamidmadness@beehaw.org
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        4 months ago

        This comment was brought to you by the US State Department.

        Tell me, how many countries’ governments has China knocked over in the last century as compared to the US CIA?

        How many countries did the US drop bombs on in the last decade, and how many did China?

        It’s not even close. In terms of physical violence the US is the world’s #1 exporter.

          • senseamidmadness@beehaw.org
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            4 months ago

            The history speaks for itself. China is less of a threat to other countries in the world than the USA is. Your idea that they’re some international boogeyman that’s going to take over the entire world and doom humanity is just you repeating “China bad and scary” State Department propaganda.

            Even with China’s human rights record being what it is, they don’t export war across the entire world.

    • FozzyOsbourne@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Why would the American government ban companies based under their own jurisdiction? They can make use of all those other companies just like the Chinese government can make use of TikTok.