I wanted to ask if you were born yesterday but I’ll try to be more educative than sassy.
All companies in China exist purely with the blessing of the political party. No approval, no company. Everything is done by their books.
I agree with the “Use FOSS” part, but I can’t help but notice a double standard thats often taken when these kinds of stories pop up. How come whenever a Chinese compant does something like this, China is always at fault? Why is it never America’s fault when something like this happens with an American company or product?
ilikekeyboards@lemmy.world 10 months ago
yogurt@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Unexamined racism. “Collectivist asians” and denying Asian individuality is very normal in the US/Europe. Malcolm Gladwell can write a book saying Koreans are culturally incapable of flying an airplane and it’s fine. When Asians have human emotions it’s normal to turn it into some special exoticized thing like “saving face”. White people are individuals, Asians are a horde, nothing in Anglo culture prepares or encourages people to think about Chinese people as a billion individuals wandering around doing stuff for the same reasons you do. They’re a singular alien unit, if you go to war with Japan it’s only natural to lock all the Japanese people in a camp. Basically every book and newspaper article you’ve ever read talks about them they’re all wired together like the Borg, unless you put a ton of effort into critical thinking there’s no reason to escape that assumption.
TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Except the Chinese government has way more control over their companies than the US government does. In fact, there has been an explicit push recently by the government to increase their control and ownership of companies. It’s also consistent with how most large states operate, especially ones with a history of trying to control ethnically Chinese people outside of their borders.
That isn’t to say that a ton of anti China sentiment isn’t racist; it’s just that one doesn’t need to be racist make such a prediction. It’s true that many people who hate China hate it for the wrong reasons, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to take issue with.
cook_pass_babtridge@feddit.uk 10 months ago
I wish my government kept companies in check a bit more than they do. I live in the UK where all the water companies are owned by hedge funds and they keep discharging raw sewage into all our waterways. I feel we could do well to take back some control from them.
yogurt@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Sure but stereotypes are involved in what you think a state owned bank owning 1% of Tencent stock practically means, and what kind of hateful thing you imagine a government that operates on the willing cooperation of millions of people is going to do with it. You don’t need to be racist to hate China, but there are a lot more racists than people who studied Chinese corporate structure and came to a rational conclusion about it.
TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I don’t know what “willing cooperation” has to do with anything. The US government has the willing cooperation of millions and had the willing cooperation of a majority of Americans in the past. That doesn’t mean the US government didn’t do some of the worst shit ever during the peak of their popularity. It’s also not like consent isn’t manufactured in China.
If anything, it’s my belief in the similarities of the Chinese and US governments that makes me think they would do hateful things with their power. People in China are the same as people here. I don’t have a rose tinted view of people here either.
BloodForTheBloodGod@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Just for one thing, Chinese companies are required to have CCP members in their leadership.
Sethayy@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
I mean like the FBI buys all that data without a warrant anyways… So st least we pretend its not happening but like were practically looking in a mirror
nomadjoanne@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I think China’s worse. In many cases much worse, in some cases only a bit worse. But I do not excuse America.
Look at Xinjang. The Uyghurs are facing cultural eradication. Look at African Americans. Their situation is still bad and not ok! But it is the lesser evil when you compare what the US does to their minorities compared to what China does to theirs
Sethayy@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Realistically its hard to say, america had the benefit of worldwide influence so doesn’t even need to do their dirty work on their land. They’ve also been at war for quite a lot longer than China, solely for personal gain.
Realistically they’re both shit, let’s just scrap the whole thing and start again
TheLowestStone@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Careful, there are some Americans that might take that as a challenge.
niceboysummer@lemmy.world 10 months ago
So in China the CPC forces companies to have CPC members in their leadership, but in the USA companies bribe and coerce our leaders to do whatever they want. The US government allows companies in the US surveil everyone and everything with great intensity, and in return all of them will turn over that information to the government anyway… So companies in both countries partake in surveillance on people, but the CPC imposes oversight onto the company while US companies impose oversight onto the government. (or more accurately, businesses and the government work together to the benefit of business)
idk, if we had a state run by a communist party, it would be pretty cool if they forced workers on to the board of Exon, Norfolk Southern, or Raytheon etc