Marianne Williamson calls out anti-China hypocrisy amid US military base expansion

[Communion]

 

 

 

 

[Azulito]

Her reply in that video  So nice to hear a politician recognize that the US is not the center of the world anymore.

 

She's easily the best choice out of all the candidates so far

[Happylittlepunk]

Down with China.

[EtherealCat]

can we have her as empress of earth 

[AMIT]

3 hours ago, Happylittlepunk said:

Down with China.

the lack of self awareness 

 

american exceptionalism really has a chokehold on some of y'all 

 

edit: like on the bootlicker loser @xclusivestylesz for example 

Edited July 4, 2023 by AMIT

[Communion]

16 hours ago, AMIT said:

the lack of self awareness 

 

american exceptionalism really has a chokehold on some of y'all 

 

edit: like on the bootlicker loser @xclusivestylesz for example 

It's sadly not even American exceptionalism - most of these people just want America to do their dirty work cause they're upset over fishing agreements or some **** (EDIT-*) and it's easier to goad America into an economic war that'll harm both poor Americans and Chinese.  Odd how it's always American bases being built with American tax dollars.

 

Edit - With respect to @Phantom for holding me accountable, I must acknowledge that the tone here is unintentionally dismissive and it would be unfair for me to broadly paint over all concerns with China deploying economic strangulation policies in SEA when trying to point out that some users use such to inappropriately justify the expansion of the US military apparatus. The proposed solution of military expansion has ramifications on Americans that I find insidious in nature but to be reactionary and accidentally dismiss broadly the impact of China's actions in SEA as though always done in bad faith is similarly inappropriate and unfair. 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Communion

[AMIT]

2 minutes ago, Communion said:

It's sadly not even American exceptionalism - most of these people just want America to do their dirty work cause they're upset over fishing agreements or some **** and it's easier to goad America into an economic war that'll harm both poor Americans and Chinese.  Odd how it's always American bases being built with American tax dollars.

At least if people are being fooled by American (military) propaganda then I can give them the benefit of doubt that they aren't straight up assholes, while your take leaves much less room for that assumption to be valid.  Of course they won't admit it either way though, which is extremely frustrating but 

[Specter]

13 hours ago, Communion said:

fishing agreements or some ****

Sis, dismissive language like this that erases and downplays the real and material harm China DEMONSTRABLY causes it's neighbours through it's economic policies - much like US, actually, is just uncute.

 

By all means push isolationism (and I will somewhat agree with you, since we've had a few productive conversations re: China) in the past, but to consistently handwave away issues like this is why - and this is just an observation, not directly related to the topic - most Asian leftists (not by self-identification, but by from what I know of their voting patterns briefly) on this forum have completely stopped engaging with you, at least publicly on the forum. There used to be an active circle (that I was in touch with) and we more or less were on the same page. It is no wonder only right-wing Americans like picking unnecessary fights with you.

 

A lot of us have been economically harmed by this constant tug of war between the US and China - "pick" one and you get punished, soft or hard, by the other, and I do not know if I'm reading too much into this but this almost snide tone about FiShInG IsSuES or ""ethnic resentment""" (as if that's all there is) just reads as tone deaf. Poor communities of fishers, the working class, and generally the economically downtrodden get hurt the MOST by these issues, especially for daily wages and food. Why do you think you can speak over them this callously?

 

I apologize if I seem a bit vexed/emotional over this, but perhaps I am because I am tired of the years of seeing you speak with this insensitivity to anyone that isn't a poor Chinese or a poor American.  And then you selectively engage with only the rightoids who want to take China down for imperialist reasons, and then drone on about being the "China reply guy" while brushing all the criticisms people make. This is not to suggest that that that post in here or indeed ANY post in here except mine are coming from this sentiment, but jeez..

 

I'm not even going to enter a long essay back and forth with you anymore because I believe this wraps it up succinctly, but it gets very grating to see this constantly and frankly, endears no one - especially the good-faith actors who come from the region and could agree with you about the US' insidious motives - to be painted as these conniving, weak characters trying to "goad" America to fight their battles, as if America ever needed any goading to enter a forever war. It's repulsive, there are countless poor people in Asian countries that are not China.

 

And no, this isn't me or anyone calling for the bombing of China or anything of the sort. 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Phantom

[Communion]

5 hours ago, Phantom said:

Sis, dismissive language like this that erases and downplays the real and material harm China DEMONSTRABLY causes it's neighbours through it's economic policies - much like US, actually, is just uncute.

No, sis, you're 100% right. My annoyance on the matter influenced my tone and it's not fair to let that annoyance imply as though the problem experienced isn't real.

 

My annoyance was at the people who commented above (because if the root cause of their anger was China's economic targeting of SEA nations, theres then no excuse to not call out what the US is even more so doing to Cuba), but as you mention, that's not fair to paint broadly in response because it inadvertently dismisses others beyond just them. I apologize.

 

Like you said, I think we agree relatively more than not and the areas of disagreement are not worth getting into the weeds over.

 

I hold that building US military bases can never come from a genuinely good-intentioned place and hesitate when liberal types, even when from SEA, may utilize their lived experiences to try and defend these realities, but it's wrong for me to speak so broadly that I go from dismissing the proposed solution to appearing as dismissing the problem that is used to justify the alleged solution.

Edited July 5, 2023 by Communion

[Specter]

3 hours ago, Communion said:

No, sis, you're 100% right. My annoyance on the matter influenced my tone and it's not fair to let that annoyance imply as though the problem experienced isn't real.

 

My annoyance was at the people who commented above (because if the root cause of their anger was China's economic targeting of SEA nations, theres then no excuse to not call out what the US is even more so doing to Cuba), but as you mention, that's not fair to paint broadly in response because it inadvertently dismisses others beyond just them. I apologize.

 

Like you said, I think we agree relatively more than not and the areas of disagreement are not worth getting into the weeds over.

 

I hold that building US military bases can never come from a genuinely good-intentioned place and hesitate when liberal types, even when from SEA, may utilize their lived experiences to try and defend these realities, but it's wrong for me to speak so broadly that I go from dismissing the proposed solution to appearing as dismissing the problem that is used to justify the alleged solution.

 

Thank you, sis. I apologize if my language was needlessly emotional, I think I got triggered a bit because I used to go to college in a coastal town, and the mornings at the station used to be rife with fishermen and women. They used to tell me all sorts of stuff - how their catch would wax and wane per the seasons, how certain moon alignments meant more fish the next day (kind of nonsense dd), etc. 

 

Nothing China related ever, but my overall point was it's hardly a "glamourous" issue in big politics, you know? So from the outside this can look very... tiny. The plight of daily workers like this. So I just took a bit of an emotional hit there. 

 

Since I've seen your posts and interacted with you in the past, with most of the latter interactions being normal to civil, I know you fully know how people's daily material reality directly shapes their worldview. It's just that though multipolarity is good, the path to getting their is full of all sorts of aches. 

 

I agree with you re: there never being any benevolence behind a military base. There's also really no utility frankly. I just don't know how to go about dismantling them. You veer even towards that conversation, US sanctions are at your door. And though not equal or I would say as frequent, soft bans on allowing tourists to visit a place (after some perceived or real offence) can send entire city economies spiraling. It's like...what do you even do?

 

So you just grow a bit spiteful. A quick survey of the US' political placements in my region over the last 50 years shows all sorts of weird flip flopping, supporting one country, arming the next's rebel groups, and everyone is just rightfully suspicious of the motives. But then you're also fearful of being punished, especially considering these two are usually every country's biggest trading partners.

 

Most S/EA nations completely buckle under this pressure, which is why you see foreign policy completely yo-yo with both US presidents and domestic ones (SK, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and how they're frightfully using China to militarize AGAIN). One election cycle yields pro-US results, the other pro-China Even the few "independent" nations like India are constantly juggling a tightrope. So again I did not mean to derail, just wanted to circle a bit about the tone.

 

Thanks again for understanding.

Edited July 5, 2023 by Phantom