All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[CSTowle]

The lab leak was always an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory, it was knowingly pushed by the media anyway, and not just the fringe right wing outlets, exactly because it strikes a chord with the latent xenophobia among the American public that has been around ever since Asian people started coming here. Besides, even if the average American was able to tell the difference between people of different ethnicities, would it somehow be better if the hate crimes specifically only targeted Chinese citizens? By the way, there is absolutely no documentation or evidence that China has ever operated a biological weapons program, largely due to the trauma caused by the germ warfare used by Japanese forces during WW2, aside from the general assumption among people these days that China is doing all sorts of evil **** for no reason and are just really good at hiding it.

While I'm sure there might be no documentation of a biological weapons program it would almost be foolish of them not to be doing some research. Whatever their feelings about what the Japanese did to them during WWII they should want to learn as much about these diseases as they possibly can, and honestly probably want the capability to use them as weapons of war. Again, like we do. I don't assume they're doing evil **** because they're Chinese. I assume they're doing evil **** because every government of a certain size over a certain time period tends to do evil **** to keep power/take power from others (including their citizens). Again, like we do.

As to whether it would be better if they were targeting Chinese Americans exclusively, never said or implied that. Only that it's more ignorance layered on top of the initial ignorance.

Remember that time in '98 Marvel editorial intended to refer to Sabretooth as a "killer" and somebody somehow put that anti-Semitic slur in its place and it made it to print?

I can't believe it, but I had forgotten about that. I remember my local comic shop guy getting a notice about pulling them aside as he was putting out new books so he could I forget, destroy or ship them back?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Nearly 150 Qpublicans sought to overturn the election results after Trump whined like a colicky infant about it having been stolen from him. But, I guess that also comes under the heading of "thinking differently".

[Tendrin]

https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/stat...76213063122944

Alabama Senator caught liking trans porn on twitter. xD

[Mister Mets]

So you just classify bigotry as "thinking differently"? I won't even bother responding to anything else, it's all completely nonsense anyway.

I do not classify writing Beep/Bop/Boop on a Twitter profile as bigotry.

[Tendrin]

I do not classify writing Beep/Bop/Boop on a Twitter profile as bigotry.

She was mocking support for trans people Mets, and the practice of pronouns is in their support. It's really no different than 'I identify as an attack helicopter'.

Don't be obtuse.

It's bigoted. It's bigotry. The wedge you've mentioned is bigotry. Your defense of this is defense of bigotry.

[Panfoot]

Nearly 150 Qpublicans sought to overturn the election results after Trump whined like a colicky infant about it having been stolen from him. But, I guess that also comes under the heading of "thinking differently".

Anything is possible with thinking differently, Is this food expired? Not when your thinking differently! 2+2=5? Yes it does when you think differently!

[Jack Dracula]

Would racists be nostalgic for the decade of Brown V. Board of Education?

I don't know, maybe you should ask a few at the next local Republican party meeting.

[PwrdOn]

While I'm sure there might be no documentation of a biological weapons program it would almost be foolish of them not to be doing some research. Whatever their feelings about what the Japanese did to them during WWII they should want to learn as much about these diseases as they possibly can, and honestly probably want the capability to use them as weapons of war. Again, like we do. I don't assume they're doing evil **** because they're Chinese. I assume they're doing evil **** because every government of a certain size over a certain time period tends to do evil **** to keep power/take power from others (including their citizens). Again, like we do.

As to whether it would be better if they were targeting Chinese Americans exclusively, never said or implied that. Only that it's more ignorance layered on top of the initial ignorance.

Researching viruses and developing countermeasures is one thing, developing an offensive bio-weapons program is a whole another animal, and most countries don't pursue them precisely because of the risk of something getting loose and starting an epidemic. The US has a pretty long paper trail documenting an extensive germ warfare program that includes repeated experimentation on unknowing subjects, and while it's possible that China could be doing that as well, that's entirely based on conjecture.

Even if the lab leak theory were true, China and pretty much all of its neighboring countries have managed to control the virus within a few months, which the US could have done as well if we had actually used those first few months to plan and prepare instead of gloating about the imminent collapse of the CCP and deluding ourselves into thinking that freedom and democracy would somehow prevent the virus from spreading. If our government and people had spent even a fraction of the energy it spent, and continues to spend, trying to blame China for the virus and taking out their racist impulses on innocent people on actually working on containing the outbreak, we would have been out of this mess long ago.

And by the way, all of these people who claim to only "hate the Chinese government and not the people" are about as believable as all the people who claimed they "hated Islamic ideology but loved Muslims" or "support immigration but only if it's legal." No Chinese person has ever believed that nonsense for a second, which is probably explains why non-Chinese Asians seem to be more susceptible to these racist attacks as they are more likely to believe that Americans are on their side and will see them as the "good ones" instead of lumping them in with the Chinese enemy. Whoops.

[Adam Allen]

I do not classify writing Beep/Bop/Boop on a Twitter profile as bigotry.

Is there anything you have ever seen, in real life, that you would say is an example of trans bigotry? Like, what is the non-theoretical bar for what you would call bigotry against trans folk?

[Mister Mets]

Anything is possible with thinking differently, Is this food expired? Not when your thinking differently! 2+2=5? Yes it does when you think differently!

Curiously, there has been some argument online about 2+2=5, with the mathematician/ self-proclaimed "wokeness critic" James Lindsay taking the view that 2+2 never equals 5 and left-wing academics saying that it's sometimes 5.

https://newdiscourses.com/2020/08/2-...ever-equals-5/

This led to Lindsay voting for Trump.

https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/...12252903604226

The arguments for the 2+2=5 crowd are that Math represents abstractions, that so-called objective truths and "pure mathematics" should be questioned, and that concepts of pure math and objective truth build on western imperialism.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/sci...us-2-equals-5/

The arguments for the 2+2=4 crowd are that some things are always true, and the most notable example of someone trying to convince people that four is five is the left-wing totalitarian regime of Big Brother in 1984.

[Mister Mets]

Is there anything you have ever seen, in real life, that you would say is an example of trans bigotry? Like, what is the non-theoretical bar for what you would call bigotry against trans folk?

This isn't an all-encompassing list, but real-life examples of anti-trans bigotry would include hate crimes, online harassment, and employee discrimination.

[Adam Allen]

This isn't an all-encompassing list, but real-life examples of anti-trans bigotry would include hate crimes, online harassment, and employee discrimination.

Sorry, I wasn't clear, but that's what I meant about "non-theoretical". Hate crimes, harassment, and discrimination are broad categories of bigotry. I meant, is there anything specific you have seen -- a story in the news or something you have experienced in your life -- that has made you think, "this is people being bigoted towards trans people"?

[Gray Lensman]

Curiously, there has been some argument online about 2+2=5, with the mathematician/ self-proclaimed "wokeness critic" James Lindsay taking the view that 2+2 never equals 5 and left-wing academics saying that it's sometimes 5.

https://newdiscourses.com/2020/08/2-...ever-equals-5/

This led to Lindsay voting for Trump.

https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames/...12252903604226

The arguments for the 2+2=5 crowd are that Math represents abstractions, that so-called objective truths and "pure mathematics" should be questioned, and that concepts of pure math and objective truth build on western imperialism.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/sci...us-2-equals-5/

The arguments for the 2+2=4 crowd are that some things are always true, and the most notable example of someone trying to convince people that four is five is the left-wing totalitarian regime of Big Brother in 1984.

So not liking lies led to this guy voting for the biggest liar ever to occupy the White House? Forgive me if I cant quite connect the cause to the effect here.

[Malvolio]

Would racists be nostalgic for the decade of Brown V. Board of Education?

Oh sure. Cherry pick one good thing for the Black community from a decade that was full of racism and discrimination. Let's remember that it took nearly two decades to get most of the South to actually abide by the Brown V. Board of Education decision.

[Tendrin]

'Woke' critic James Lindsay is transphobic, racist, and misogynistic.

Working backwards from those positions to a vote for Trump is pretty easy for someone who holds those opinions.