• basiclemmon98@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 days ago

    CHINA BAD AND USA BAD! They both fucking suck! But hey, keep defending the ‘communist’ survailence state that is one of the largest exporters in the global market. I am sure the workers feel like they own the profits.

    • causepix@lemmy.ml
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      4 days ago

      I’ve yet to see a convincing explanation of why China would even be interested in this data… what good would it even be to them?

      We know American tech, media giants, and government contractors and agencies use it for profit and domestic control but, even if you believe China is just as much of a dystopian capitalist surveillance-state as the USA, what profit is there for Chinese capitalists to extract from American data that they can’t already extract much more efficiently through American data brokers? As for the government end, is the interest in having control over Americans in American territory even comparable to that of the American government? It’s not like the vast majority of the data would even be actionable or relevant to the Chinese government.

      It just doesn’t make sense for Chinese capitalists/government to be even a fraction as aggressive in surveilling Americans as their American counterparts. It seems more like a distraction to me and an excuse to avoid talking about American surveillance being every bit as bad as you imagine Chinese surveillance to be.

      As for being the “largest exporters in the global market”, if the profit was all that enticing on a private scale, the US capitalist class certainly could have chosen to compete with China in that avenue. They chose to boost their short term profits by deindustrializating instead. What does that tell you?

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      6 days ago

      The PRC is leaps and bounds better than the US, and it isn’t close. Further, socialism isn’t when “no exports,” lol.

      • basiclemmon98@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 days ago

        Can we be honest and acknowledge the fact that if you’re doing socialism or communism correctly, your exports are going to be severely lower than capitalist shitholes like China and the USA? A system that values the workers is not going to have as much force behind it economically as a system that just uses as many laborers as possible as wage slaves. So China having a large export implies that they are not actually doing communism in any real way. Any claims that china is actually communist and it supports it’s peoples wellbeing is literally an American left wing conspiracy theory.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          6 days ago

          No, we can’t, because that’s an absurd premise.

          1. Socialism is a mode of production. It isn’t when you import more than you export, or vice-versa. In the PRC, the large firms and key industries are publicly owned, while medium and small firms have diverse forms of ownership like private, cooperative, and joint-stock. It’s in the primary stage of socialism.

          2. The idea that the PRC isn’t socialist is a “left” wing fallacy among Statesians. In the PRC, socialist countries like Cuba and Vietnam, and among major communist orgs, the PRC’s status as a developing socialist country is not in question.

          You haven’t made any arguments as to why China is capitalist, just that it exports, but in reality it is import driven economies that are the most capitalist, and that isn’t even a rule, just a generalization.

          • basiclemmon98@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            6 days ago

            https://www.ie.edu/insights/articles/is-china-a-communist-country/

            Though you’ll probably deny this article as valid because it harms your perception of China being a Communist state, and usually people do not like they’re conspiracy theories to be challenged by actual fact.

            Additionally, besides the argument of whether it’s communist or not, it is not a good country and if that’s what communism looks like, then I actually want no part in communism. They have no ability for free speech or even protests. Say what you want about it’s economics, but that is not how humans should be forced to live.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              6 days ago

              That’s an opinion piece by a non-Marxist that makes the incredibly basic error of confusing the developing stage of socialism with the characteristics of the advanced stage of communism. You’re incredibly arrogant for someone who clearly has done very little reading of Marx.

              I’ve written frequently on the PRC’s model of socialism, such as this summary from a few days ago, including resources for further reading. You can even shortcut to my Read Theory, Darn it! introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list, though it’s getting some revisions.

              The people of China have freedom of speech, capitalists and businesses do not. The people of China do not protest often, because the system works:

              It’s time for you to turn off Fox News.

              • basiclemmon98@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                5 days ago

                I will admit, I have not read the source theory, but I engage often with communists (most of my immidiate sphere are communists) enough to get a lot of it (I am actually an Anarcho-Communist, just to note). But my problem, as always, with a lot of you people who are obsessed with trying to use China as an example of communism, is the fact that theory and practice are two very different things. Very few places if any even follow your own theory from what I have gleaned from other comrades.

                It is also really easy to pressure people to give the answers you want to for those kind of questions if you are an authoritarian state. Also from the cyber security sector, most citizens of China desperately try and get their hands on vpns or use tor in order to be able to actually access the external world, which is never a good sign and does not scream “We’re free!” to me.

                Also fox news is abhorant, as is all American backed official news outlets. I use lemmy, did you really think that I watch state provided news? Or was that an ad hominim because people here dislike Fox specifically?

                • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                  5 days ago

                  Marxist-Leninist theory and practice are united in the PRC. As you admit, you have not read much theory, and are commiting the same error as the person you linked: a non-Marxist judging a socialist state in the primary stage by the characteristics applicable to an advanced communist society. I linked you some good starting points so you can correct these misunderstandings, but if you are going to continue to insist on being right about theory you admitted you haven’t even read, then there isn’t much room for constructive discussion.

                  As for the dismissal of consistent hard data on the grounds that Chinese citizens are “pressured,” this data is from western orgs surveying Chinese citizens, unaffiliated with the CPC. Western orgs have been trying to understand CPC resilliance because they wish to undermine it, and as such have been trying to best understand why the CPC is beloved. Spoiler: it’s socialism.

                  The Fox News bit was a tongue-in-cheek jab referencing the fact that you are repeating right-wing talking points about the PRC near-identical to mainstream media. I apologize for the jab, but I consider it fair after you opened with jabs and condescension yourself.


                  A bit on the “stages of socialism” I referenced, a table from Cheng Enfu: