• 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