SmackyroonMar 13

China bad tho, right lemmy liberals?

https://lemmy.ml/post/44457794

Show threadChadGPT2Mar 14
I’m tired of being surrounded by propaganda. Do better.
Show threadRiversideMar 14
Everything you consume is propaganda and has an agenda, you just see this as propaganda because it counters the propaganda that’s already internalized and invisible to you
Show threadSmoothOperator
This may counter propaganda, but is also clearly propaganda itself.
Mar 14 at 9:14pmWeb
Show threadDearthMar 14
China executes pedophiles and America elects them and worships at their churches. It’s really not a complicated comparison. There is no gotcha here
Show threadSmoothOperatorMar 15
Fair, though I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. I’m no fan of the US, but what do you think is the biggest issue plaguing China right now from a humanist perspective?
Show threadfreagleMar 15
  • Poverty (which they’re alleviating), and the trappings of poverty (like poor labor conditions, corruption, and abuse).
  • Environmental degradation (which they are alleviating) and all the trappings that come with it (like greater impact on the poor, bad health outcomes, corruption).
  • Threats from state actors (which they are alleviating) and the trappings that come it (like selective repression of dissent, organizing, and collaboration, surveillance and chilling effects, etc)
    • Show threadDaGreenGobboMar 15
    Maybe both countries should stop executing people given that a non-negligible number of them are entirely innocent. Maybe capital punishment should have been abandoned long before the 21st Century and any country that continues it be a pariah state.
    Show threadDearthMar 27
    Im not a fan of corporal punishment at all. I don’t think any state should have authority to end any life for any reason. I could wish for an end to state sanctioned murder in one hand and shit in my other. We all know which hand will fill up first
    Show threadRiverRockMar 15
    Again, there is no cultural artifact that does not serve a propaganda purpose
    Show threadSmoothOperatorMar 15
    Indeed - Riverside’s claim that this is not propaganda is therefore false.
    Show threadRiverRockMar 15
    It’s not propaganda as we’ve been made to understand it in the west, because that’s a meaningless vibes based category
    Show threadSmoothOperatorMar 15

    Hmm, maybe I misunderstood you.

    If all cultural artifacts serve a propaganda purpose, but this post is not propaganda, does that mean that this post is not a cultural artifact?

    Show threadRiverRockMar 15
    I’m saying we’ve been taught that “propaganda” is just another word for “lies” when the reality is that it covers basically any piece of art, culture or commentary. It’s just any art or information that advances a specific view of the world. As a category it’s hopelessly broad, so it’s better to understand it as a function rather than a thing.
    Show thread☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆Mar 15
    Propaganda is just messaging, there’s nothing inherently evil about it. The question is what message is being propagated.
    Show threadSmoothOperatorMar 15
    Absolutely - I did not mean to imply that this is evil propaganda.
    Show threadfreagleMar 15
    Literally anything that causes an idea to spread is propaganda. Advertising, calls for help, gossip, commentary, analysis, storytelling, hell public art or theater or even just public conflict. That’s what the word means, the means of idea propagation.
    Show threadSmoothOperatorMar 15
    Absolutely.
    Show threadRiverRockMar 15
    So calling anything propaganda is pointless, because everything is propaganda.
    Show threadSmoothOperatorMar 15
    Exactly. And saying this meme is counter-propaganda is pointless, since it itself is propaganda.
    Show threadRiverRockMar 16

    Okay.

    You are propaganda🤷‍♂️