• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    European countries aren’t totalitarian states.

    I know some Irish Republicans, Spanish Catalonians, German anti-Zionist political prisoners, and … waves hand at Poland, Hungary, and Russia

    Quite a few native Europeans who would tell you differently.

    This is the danger of being lulled into thinking China is a normal country

    I don’t think the folks on Lemmy are at any risk of that.

    It’s the state that owns and controls these companies

    Imagine thinking government should dictate the terms of business and not the other way around.

    • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I know some Irish Republicans, Spanish Catalonians, German anti-Zionist political prisoners, and … waves hand at Poland, Hungary, and Russia

      Quite a few native Europeans who would tell you differently.

      Europe has some authoritarian governments, not totalitarian dictatorships that approach anywhere near the all-encompassing control of the CCP. Hungary maybe I guess, which isn’t a country I’d recommend taking tech from either.

      Ireland is not comparable to China though, that’s an extreme reach. We’re not talking about right-wing groups seeking power within democracies, we’re talking about uni-party state control.

      I don’t think the folks on Lemmy are at any risk of that.

      Lemmy definitely has a tankie infestation already. I got banned from lemmy.ml for discussing Tiananmen and Hong Kong. Pointing out that the Great Leap Forward resulted in millions of deaths was labeled “cia misinformation” by the mods. It’s a throughly compromised instance.

      Lemmy users are not immune to tankie and Rusdian trolls, and thinking that they are is actually a weakness that gets exploited by those bad actors.

      Imagine thinking government should dictate the terms of business and not the other way around.

      Normal regulatory duties of a government are a far cry from the state having total ownership and control of business and using that control as part of a coercive campaign to suppress human rights, dissent and individual freedoms.

      Whatever authoritarianism is festering in other countries, China is still on an entirely different level, it’s not really a question.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Europe has some authoritarian governments, not totalitarian dictatorships

        Totalitarianism is always when the other guy does it. Never question the modem day police/surveillance state at home. Certainly don’t ask about our colonies abroad, or their paramilitary death squads and torture prisons financed with domestic capital.

        Lemmy definitely has a tankie infestation

        It’s got an anti-war infestation that’s regularly accused of being tankies for failing to clap for the correct set of tanks.

        Normal regulatory duties of a government are a far cry from the state having total ownership and control of business

        Calmly explaining this to my US Postal Service and my Tennessee Valley Authority