the US has many problems but it’s still a democracy.
LMAO
Comment on TikTok sues the US government over ban
TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.world 6 months agoExcept the part about the authoritarian regime, the US has many problems but it’s still a democracy.
Democracy@lemmy.ml 6 months ago
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
I feel like you only think a company is a democracy if it says it’s a people’s republic while it commits genocide.
istanbullu@lemmy.ml 6 months ago
It’s not a demıcracy to me
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
Y’know Orwell wrote about how warping definitions was a tool of authoritarianism. Typical ML behavior, tbh.
beardown@lemm.ee 6 months ago
The United States is a democracy only if oligarchies are democracies
raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Not everything that’s not a dictatorship is a democracy. You’re using a strawman to argue your point.
A democracy stops when there is a severe imbalance in influence on legislation between voters and lobbyists / corporations / or voters depending on income / colour of skin.
There’s also a quasi oligarchy with freedom of speech, that’s about where western Europe is at. In the US, by now, a large part of the population has been deprived of basic human rights, as shown in unpunished police brutality and murders, and vigilante killings of people for their beliefs, opinions or identity.
Neither still qualifies for democracy. We would have to unite about two thirds of the voters behind a new party to even hope to change anything that matters (hello climate change), and that’s assuming that a hypothetical party that would actually act in the interest of restoring democratic mechanisms would be persecuted or otherwise hindered by authorities.
kava@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Hey I was born in a country with a military dictatorship and my parents grew up under it.
That’s exactly why I believe in freedom and liberty. Freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association. We need to uphold these principles so that the US doesn’t slowly slip into authoritarianism like most democracies tend to do over the long term.
That’s exactly why I oppose this TikTok ban with every fiber of my being. If a citizen wants to communicate on a Chinese platform, he has every right to do so under our laws. He can make the executive decision for himself about the potential risks or benefits.
That’s what it means to live in a free society. You are advocating for authoritarianism while you rail against authoritarianism. Reminds me of 1984. War is peace, right?
orgrinrt@lemmy.world 6 months ago
He can make the executive decision for himself about the potential risks or benefits
But should he? Is any one by themselves really capable? Note that I don’t really know what to think myself, purely asking.
Maggoty@lemmy.world 6 months ago
And What does that have to do with anything? We aren’t dealing with China, we’re dealing with a corporation.
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
The fact that the company that manages TikTok is insisting on maintaining the power structure that allows for influence by the CCP makes that claim incredibly suspicious.
Maggoty@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Oh no, should we ban Facebook because the US government can subpoena them for information!?!
Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 months ago
First, that’s materially different. Second, yes; I think Facebook giving the government our information without a fight is bad. What, did you think I would suddenly like the dissolution of our privacy was suddenly good because it was an American company?
FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 6 months ago
According to former head engineer for US locations of TikTok, their services are centralized in China to the extent that it probably cannot even run off the US locations alone, and the Chinese owners ByteDance had complete access to everything on the platform including user data and if you believe security experts: your photo library, text message history, contacts list, and information of nearby wireless devices that you’ve so much as passed by. Also, they’re a military partner in China.
That’s not a US Corporation in any way, shape, or form. That is espionage. The fact that they announced they won’t sell shows that they were never a business operating for profit, it was always about control.
Maggoty@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I’m sure you can link these security experts. Since that would be classed as malware and the industry standard is to write public reports on that stuff.
And saying they aren’t like a US corporation because they do some military contracting is fucking hilarious.
FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 6 months ago
We were talking about what TikTok has to do with China, as you seemed to not know how, so you finding their direct obvious ties to China “fucking hilarious” is telling of your intentions.
FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 6 months ago
Would it be classified as malware? I think people hand over permissions on their smartphone for most or all of those things on a daily basis without a second thought.
The report on the vast extent of data obtained by TikTok was published by an Australian firm called “Internet 2.0” but it’s pay to view. Seems pretty substantial, though, since it hasn’t been debunked in the 2 years since it was published.
FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 6 months ago
You got downvoted so much that I had to check if we were on ml or hexbear. Those CCP shills really operating in broad daylight on this post, they must have gotten board of the echo rooms filled with bots on their home instance.
orgrinrt@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I just have to stop by and voice that I do not appreciate your attitude. This is exactly the kind of toxicity I escaped reddit from.
FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 6 months ago
Idk why you would be upset about me insulting instances operated by agents of incitement and chaos. If you love the CCP so much then go join Hexbear. They’ve got like 19 Xi Jinping Emojis, the most recent one I saw was a pile of money with his face on it.
orgrinrt@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I don’t love CCP. But I also think hexbear et al. should be allowed to exist in peace in their own corner of our shared internet without me or anyone else having to be exposed to unnecessary and completely inconsequential hate warring and whatever else negative. Nobody needed to see or hear that, but you chose to go out of your way to just push shit on everyone’s feed.
31337@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
Doesn’t really matter unless you live under it. Instagram and Twitter or more dangerous to U.S. citizens.
BowtiesAreCool@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Care to expand on that
31337@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
China can’t arrest people in the U.S. The U.S. and state governments can.
MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Which country is this?
FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 6 months ago
They’re saying that the US is a democracy and the other country is a regime. Can you guess which other country is involved with TikTok other than the USA? I’ll give you a hint: Hundred Acre Woods.
MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Are women forced to stay at home in China?
FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 6 months ago
Only the ones trafficked in from overseas. And the ones in concentration camps.
demonsword@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Given the choice between hot shit and cold shit still ends with you being covered in shit. Heads or tails between two very similar parties hardly counts as a true democracy.
Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee 6 months ago
This is incredibly disingenuous. The US might not be a true democracy, but it’s not an authoritarian regime. Xi and putin disappear people who have an opinion on whether they should be forever-rulers.
The fact that independent parties exist and hold seats at all three levels of government mean you are fundamentally wrong in saying there are only two choices.
The US is a flawed democracy. That’s still better than an authoritarian regime.
banana_lama@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Power in the US is held within an oligarchy and when they are threatened people get disappeared. There’s examples of that but one that’s being made an example of in broad daylight is Julian Assange
jaschen@lemm.ee 6 months ago
While the US might be hot shit, it’s still our OWN shit. Keep your cold shit on your side of the pond.
istanbullu@lemmy.ml 6 months ago
I’m not an American. By your logic, let’s ban all American social media.
raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 6 months ago
That would be great. Where can I sign?
jaschen@lemm.ee 6 months ago
TikTok is a psyops software disguised as a social media application. Facebook is bad for other reasons. But psysops are not one of them.
demonsword@lemmy.world 6 months ago
lol I’m not british