Orwell being so right about governments using the constant threat of a virtual enemy has got to be one of the all time top on the money predictions ever.
Some are more objectively real threats than others. Like that guy who claims to only want to be dictator for a day, who sent an armed mob to storm the Capital building, pardoned cronies and war criminals, and brags about walking in on women naked.
For "an armed mob to storming", it looked a hell of a lot like a bunch of stupid ass demonstrators getting inside a government building with no plans, no leadership, and no fucking clue what to do, and then getting summarily expelled. That is to a coup what The Muppet Show is to Saw.
As for the "pardoned cronies", isn't today a bad day to single one side out based on that?
(Not to mention the singling out for "war criminals", when the other side is warmongering hawks, bombing, openly pushing for war, sabotaging peace deals, and openly assisting a slow burning genocide).
174 people were injured in the 'riot'. People died. Trump had called for resistence, asked for metal detectors to be removed, physically attempted to rejoin the crowd by grabbing the wheel of the vehicle taking him home, stood silent for hours during the attack, and said "so what?" to the news his vice president was in grave danger. It was a failed coup and betrays the constitution he swore to protect and defend. Now he describes it as a "day of love" and the 'rioters' as hostages.
Biden pardoning his son is a black mark, especially for the tax evasion. (I think pardons should be abolished.) Yet an order of magnitude less worrisome than the scum Trump has pardoned and promises to pardon.
As to warmongers... which party voted almost unanimously to invade Iraq without hard evidence of WMDs? Who backed out of the Iranian nuclear deal? Who praises bullies and dictators? Who moved the embassy to Jerusalem? Who is so deluted they claim merely winning an election will bring peace to the Middle East and Europe? Who threatened to pull support from allies -- in the midst of a war -- because they want dirt on political rivals or to catch up on underpaid bills. (Trump knows a thing or two about not paying when he owes someone.)
Why the silence about my other remark? Does assaulting, denigrating, and stripping the rights of women not bother you?
Russia, China, Iran or any combination of the three. Any correct response is bound to draw indignation from those who consider the enemy real rather than virtual, but this is to be expected - given that every popular story of manipulative governments (including of course 1984) is told from the perspective of a dissident, we lack the narrative framework to conceptualise what such a system looks like through the eyes of someone broadly on board with it.
The warring US tribes certainly made an effort to associate their internal enemy with these (Democrats insinuating Republican subversion by Russians, Republicans insinuating Democrat sympathies with China and Iran). Arguably, this did not really catch and the majority of people are more preoccupied with their internal outgroup, which suggests that the external-enemy strategy is currently falling flat in the US. You could make a better case for it being in place in various European countries.
It’s a hedge for ifwhen things get difficult over Taiwan.
The USA without cheap Chinese manufacturing is basically dead in the water. It is approximately unfathomable how much of the comfortable and cheap way of life enjoyed in the US is directly dependent on trade with China and mindbendingly cheap Chinese manufacturing labor.
The ~most valuable company in the country is 100% beholden to Chinese manufacturing to make the most popular product that makes all of their money. They are doing their best to replicate manufacturing capacity in India but you can’t make 50,000 iPhones an hour without years of build-up and thousands upon thousands of trained staff.
If China invades Taiwan, the USG is basically game theoretically forced to make Americans endure some significant hardships until a new metastability is achieved.
Not gonna happen in recent years, I suppose. PRC also needs US-designed and/or Taiwan-manufactured advanced chips. The possibility of war will ever decrease as long as more and more people wake up to the consequences.
Someone's not privy to how fast China is progressing nowadays. Americans are so ignorant on Chinese technological prowess right now. Chinese EVs are dominating every market in the world aside from US which has basically banned it essentially, otherwise we'd have very affordable cars in America. America banned DJI drones which owns about 70-80% of the world market on drones. China recently unleashed an open source AI model (and this is with limited funding and compute because they put a ban on exports of US and Taiwan chips) that rivals openai o1 with a fraction of funding. Not to mention how China has always had the lead on manufacturing automation and robots.
Man Americans are oblivious to how fast China is progressing.
Can Americans live without cheap goods from China? Yes, but those goods may not be easily accessible in a short period. The same goes for Chinese people. Although there are indeed alternatives, Qualcomm and NVIDIA, for example, still dominate the market, simply because they can offer the best product. And those alternatives, from my view here in China, still have a way to go.
China's progress is real, but there are still many things like cutting-edge semiconductors and airplane engines they cannot compete in and thus rely on the West for.
The Chinese leadership is well aware of this and is massively funding efforts to build these indigenously, but they're chasing moving targets and still decades away from catching up.
I don't see why the need for advanced chips would prevent China from using its military on Taiwan.
If anything, the US-led blockade of advanced chips to China will make it more likely for China to use force. If China can't get their hands on the most advanced TSMC chips, then why would they let the US do so and get too far ahead in AI? Both can't have them then.
> If anything, the US-led blockade of advanced chips to China will make it more likely for China to use force.
you watched too much MSM
1. the whole taiwan thing is just an excuse to force the united state to waste more resources on a topic selected and controlled by China. nothing is better at wasting US efforts by forcing it to keep investing borrowed $ in its military presence over 10,000km away from its mainland, nothing is affordable at such distance.
2. Taiwan doesn't make those ASML machines, they operate those imported machines very efficiently, that is all. China is playing a long game, trying to master and eventually control the full semiconductor supply chain at any cost by developing its own industrial bases. In such a big picture, Taiwan with what it has today is tiny, it doesn't worth such an invasion. With 1.4 billion population and its ongoing competitions with the US, China doesn't have the luxury to select which sectors or fields it must control - it has to control everything to just have its people employed on half decent pays.
If China so much as touches Taiwan, all the TSMC fabs will explode. They are all already rigged to do so. The Taiwanese will burn their island to the ground before they let the CCP get their hands on Taiwan.
lmao. these americans are hopeless arent they? "Rigged to explode" LOL. Not to mention China is catching up fast on chips.
American propaganda...one day Americans are going to wake up and realize, China has taken over in all areas of tech and Americans are going to be in such denial that they'll want war... sigh. China is already leading in many areas, not all of them yet, but they soon are
> That said, China has stated that their long-term plan is to overtake our military, economic, and technological dominance.
Any source on that? From what I have read, according to CCP's official mouthpieces[1], "China's development strategy focuses on continuous self-transcendence, and does not aim to surpass the US or any other country".
I agree, although it is a "real" enemy in the sense that their ascension is a threat to US hegemony or the idea of the USA as the preeminent world superpower.
I don't see it as rational, but there is definitely an argument that the USA ought to remain positioned as number one, having the ability to dictate global politics. I don't think we deserve it, but it's certainly 'better' for us in the sense that it gives us an advantage and thus might improve our quality of life (cheaper imports, blah blah blah). I view that argument as entitled and promoting the status quo.
The Chinese people have worked hard. Actually, people all over the world work hard, although the Chinese have gone past industrialization and have a massive and capable population. The idea that they wouldn't have more power and would need to somehow remain under the US's thumb, where we get to say how they treat Taiwan or what currency they can trade in with other countries, just seems absurd. People come up with bullshit reasons for why the US ought to retain some control over their politics or how the rest of the world engages with the Chinese (and we don't just get to do that anyway), e.g., the Chinese are mean to the Uyghurs, as if anyone ever gave a fuck about the Uyghurs or whoever twenty years ago.
In all that sense, China is certainly a real threat. But the level of entitlement behind that argument is so blatant that I can't take it seriously.
Well said. I don't mind that the US is doing what they're doing. It probably even make sense for the US to work against China. What I don't like is the massive "China bad" propaganda campaign when in reality, it's just jostling for power and economics.
> Well said. I don't mind that the US is doing what they're doing.
But with Trumpism again being the winner, how much of the world still view the US positively? Obama's Iran Deal was a USA-EU-Iran agreement, when Trump pulled it, it didn't just piss off "the enemy" (Iran) but also the allies (EU), and it destroyed US's credibility, even with a Democratic president, anyone going to do a deal with the USA will ask for guarantees in case the deal gets wrecked after the next presidential election...
The rest of the replies here seem to be personal attitudes and opinions.
Objectively, the state-promoted bogeymen in the USA are consistently Iran, China, DPRK, and increasingly Russia.
I just spent a month in China and the disparity between what we are told in western media and what is actually going on is substantial, but not in the ways I expected.
Based on how I've seen people describe China, they have a lot of "vertical slicing" going on: the parts that are good look really good and impressive, but the parts that are bad are extremely bad. They will do whatever is possible to hide the latter.
Remember that China is not a "free country" (even as much as Western nations have started to make a mockery of that word) like those of the US or Western Europe. Your experience is highly curated by default. If you're just a tourist or a businessman visiting Shenzhen or Shanghai, it's unlikely you'll have any problems - those are major international business cities!
indeed, none of them had the freedom to get a full unconditional pardon by their father with terminal stage dementia.
I mean freedom of what? unlimited number of genders? fat dude wearing a dress competing sports against young girls? or maybe you are talking about the freedom to avoid jail time for convicted felony by being elected the leader of your free world?
Please--do tell more re: China. I hear a lot of parroting of negative talking point about China here in Canada, I see a lot of crazy footage from China that looks like the future, but I'd love to know more about your actual experience.
I was just in Shenzhen last month. It feels like a city that is 10 years ahead of any place in the US. The city felt extremely futuristic. Most cars on the road are EVs. Payments are all digital. Ordering at restaurants is on your phone. The entire city is extremely clean, civilized, efficient, safe which you can't say about any major US city. Hop on a high speed train at any time and go to anywhere in China within a few hours.
China basically feels like a bigger Singapore except people in China are generally friendlier and more down to earth.
When you're actually in China, the constant negative stories about China in your head will go away. What you'll see is just like any other place: people working hard, minding their own business, and generally friendly people.
"I was just in Shenzhen last month. It feels like a city that is 10 years ahead of any place in the US. The city felt extremely futuristic. Most cars on the road are EVs. Payments are all digital. Ordering at restaurants is on your phone. The entire city is extremely clean, civilized, efficient, safe which you can't say about any major US city. Hop on a high speed train at any time and go to anywhere in China within a few hours."
It's easy to make changes quickly when the people making the change don't really have a choice. I've heard the murder rate in North Korea is almost 0 and the crime is very low compared to most other countries. The devil is in the details.
"When you're actually in China, the constant negative stories about China in your head will go away. What you'll see is just like any other place: people working hard, minding their own business, and generally friendly people."
There was never any doubt that the people are nice and friendly in China. The issue is the authoritarian government. As an example, do some research on how the Chinese government treats people from the LGBT community and get back to me.
I can co-sign all of that, but the cleanliness and order comes at a terrible dystopian price. There is no counterculture, little underground, and everyone with resources who can leave, does.
China is a terrible place, the ultimate star wars crab bucket dystopian future. It’s shiny and pretty and has cool LEDs and malls.
Any place can be decades ahead if you simply outlaw the old ways of life. Authoritarianism is a terrible cancer.
I just spent a month in China and the disparity between what we are told in western media and what is actually going on is substantial, but not in the ways I expected.
I always tell people on Hacker News to just book a flight to Shenzhen. Just go. They'll be completely safe there - probably even safer than where they come from. They can go see China for themselves, instead of through western media.
The vast majority of people on Hacker News have drank so much "China bad" propaganda that they're even afraid of visiting.
Here one example. Al-Qaeda was the name of Osama bin Laden's legitimate political party in Saudi Arabia, which he kept separate from his jihadist activities in Afghanistan. There is not now, nor has there ever been, a shadowy international terrorist group called Al-Qaeda. It's a complete fiction that was used as a simple explanation for the dizzying array of groups hated by western oligarchs.
I would say it's most people. Just look at how many genuine comments (of course I've seen non-genuine comments as well) getting downvoted here. There are far too many people who deem it unacceptable to state certain opinions and I wouldn't be surprised if people on both sides of the political spectrum read this and confidently presume it's the opinions on the other side that are at fault.
Depends on the year, it changes every decade or so, sometimes sooner.
And often it's the very people and organizations supported and lauded as allies and/or freedom fighters and lauded a few years earlier (like Shaddam or the Taliban).
But also, "Terrorists". The label the state will apply to anything they dislike. See organizations like Food Not Bombs being called terrorists in Florida for handing out free food.
Double check my thesis. Hint: It was not a judgement on the problematic nature of these laws. We can discuss that elsewhere if you want, but that's fairly orthogonal to the discussion.
Stronger hint: my thesis was focused on which groups the state legislates against, and how it wasn't "white men".
All definitions of "enemy", are views "from inside a bubble".
I suppose if you have people shooting and bombing you, "enemy" is a fair label to put on them. Those are the only types of "enemies" that are the same whether the view is from inside or outside the bubble.
But most of these people talking about their "enemies", are not in those situations at all.
