this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2024
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I for one am going through quite a culture shock. I always assumed the nature of FOSS software made it immune to be confined within the policies of nations; I guess if one day the government of USA starts to think that its a security concers for china to use and contribute to core opensource software created by its citizens or based in their boundaries, they might strongarm FOSS communities and projects to make their software exclude them in someway or worse declare GPL software a threat to national security.

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[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 43 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (3 children)

Yes. There is an extremely arbitrary distinction made between the USA and Russia. Both are known for injecting spyware. China is somehow still okay? It makes no sense.

Not to mention the elephant in the room by not banning another certain country actively committing war crimes.

All software should be safety checked. Where the maintainer is from should be irrelevant.

But the most weird aspect is the timing. Why now and not a few years ago?

[–] FriendBesto@lemmy.ml 17 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

All part of the current US/NATO approved Overton Window, friend.

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] FriendBesto@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 weeks ago

Ha. Autocorrect strikes again! Fixed it and Thanks, for pointing it out.

[–] troed@fedia.io 10 points 4 weeks ago (6 children)

There is an extremely arbitrary distinction made between the USA and Russia.

Your world view seems to be highly influenced by propaganda. It's very easy to draw a distinction between these two countries. Let me start with an easy one:

Russia is a dictatorship, the US is a democracy.

[–] Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

US is a democracy

Lmfao

Modern Russia is a shitty liberal "democracy" just as incompetent as the US's

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 9 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

I see why some people block lenny.ml. Many there put everything through a high-standard threshold function.

[–] Binette@lemmy.ml 28 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)
  1. You're replying to someone from db0

  2. Lemmy.ml is not the only place that believes the US isn't a democracy.

  3. The US is an oligarchy. It's one of the things agreed by philosophers, including my teacher. The current controversy in the left surrounding the elections obviously proves this point.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 4 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)
  1. Oops. That’s… interesting.
  2. Maybe, but we at least get to select which oligarchs we prefer. In Russia, you select from Putin, Pootin, and Puteen.
[–] macabrett@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If you think the oligarchs in America are the people up for a vote, you're completing misunderstanding what you're being told right now.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 3 weeks ago

The candidates up for a vote represent the different oligarchs at feud.

[–] Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I assume you're happy with the oligarch you got now?

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 2 weeks ago

I'm not saying the system works or rises to the level of good. I'm saying that it is much better than the Russian system. The people at least get to choose who they think they want, and which group of people will be whipped more.

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 17 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

America: we need military bases all over the world to surpress their population and steal their natural resources. This is why Israel must grow to expand our foothold in the middle east even at the cost of a genocide. We also overthrow democracies to replace them with authoritarian dictators when convenient to us.

You: Democracy!

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 17 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

People don't realize that the US founders explicitly modeled their new state on the Roman empire, with an expansionist aristocracy / slaveocracy controlling the state. The debates on this in the federalist papers are very explicit, as is the way they structured its government. Hell even half the buildings in washington DC are modelled after roman architecture.

[–] Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 4 weeks ago

high-standard

If these mods here actually had high standards they would be banning the shitlibs on this thread

[–] Alsephina@lemmy.ml 28 points 4 weeks ago

Your world view seems to be highly influenced by propaganda. A country ruled by two identical genocidal capitalist parties isn't a "democracy"; it's a capitalist dictatorship.

Any party genuinely wanting to advance working class causes will not be allowed to come to power through it (they won't be funded by the capitalist backers that fund/control the two ruling parties to begin with), and anyone in power that happens to hurt the country's imperial prowess will be disposed of by the ruling parties, the way JFK was assassinated for wanting to abolish the CIA and reducing US troops in the Middle East.

[–] FreydounHosseini@vegantheoryclub.org 27 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

The commenter says as he repeats other propaganda.

The US is not and has never been a democracy. The US is an oligarchy.

Read The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

[–] FriendBesto@lemmy.ml 14 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

At best, it was for a while a Representative Democracy. Where people gave their vote to other people to vote for them.

The fact that most Americans think the US is not an oligarchy, today, is a testament to the power of the State and their corporate media to propagandized their own citizens. It is very rich for them to point to other country's Oligarchies and somehow absolutely fail to see their own. Or worse, call it some weird type of conspiracy to call out or point out reality.

I mean, it is not like it is not obvious if one takes a step back or two and looks at it objectively.

[–] FriendBesto@lemmy.ml 24 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Read about Operation Condor. Its actions, repercussions and number of deaths due to it, and continue to pretend the USA follows Democratic Valuesβ„’. And this is just but one example.

They are just better at PR than most. You are walking proof of it.

[–] Alsephina@lemmy.ml 13 points 4 weeks ago

A KGB spy and a CIA agent meet up in a bar for a friendly drink

"I have to admit, I'm always so impressed by Soviet propaganda. You really know how to get people worked up," the CIA agent says.

"Thank you," the KGB says. "We do our best but truly, it's nothing compared to American propaganda. Your people believe everything your state media tells them."

The CIA agent drops his drink in shock and disgust. "Thank you friend, but you must be confused... There's no propaganda in America."

[–] red@lemmy.zip 10 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

well yeah, how does us being democracy change the fact that they basically did almost everything that Russia did

[–] troed@fedia.io 6 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

"basically"

You'll be surprised if you actually challenge your convictions.

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 14 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I did, and I found that the US does WORSE shit than Russia sometimes.

Russia ain’t good. Neither is the US. Get your head out of your ass.

[–] troed@fedia.io 4 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Heard about what Russia has been doing in the occupied parts of Ukraine?

[–] basmati@lemmus.org 8 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Heard about what the US did in Afghanistan? US soldiers raped a LOT of children before and after murdering their entire families.

[–] macabrett@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

America JUST exited a decades long war where the only results were death and destruction.

[–] troed@fedia.io 1 points 3 weeks ago

Tell me more about the US government requiring their soldiers to rape pre-teen girls then.

Or, you know, they really aren't the same.

[–] Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Are you sure you want to compare how many wars the US has waged compared to Russia and how many people they've murdered each?

That commenter is doing you a favour by implying it's anywhere close.

[–] troed@fedia.io 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Achyu@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

The current Russian govt is not aligned with Soviet principles or ideology, right?

And the Stalin period saw the Soviets fighting and defeating the Nazis in WW2. Does the calculation of excess mortalities account for such effects too?
Nazi instigators punished, famine caused by the effect of war, infrastructure damage by the Nazis, deaths in Nazi occupied areas. These things don't seem to be discussed much.

Invasion of Vietnam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_in_the_Vietnam_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Afghanistan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemalan_genocide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_assassination_attempts_on_Fidel_Castro
https://dessalines.github.io/essays/us_atrocities.html#sources--starting-points

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese-American_internment_camps

And since the current Russia is seen as the extension of the Soviets:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_genocide_in_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1876-1878
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_major_famines_in_India_during_British_rule

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Which one is killing us faster? I'm pretty sure it's the USA. Nice that you get to live in a democracy I guess but that doesn't mean a damn thing to someone living outside the USA and being exploited and abused by it.

[–] troed@fedia.io 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm in Sweden. The idea that the US is somehow more of a danger to us than Russia is laughable.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Russia invading is a statistical risk. The USA (as the leading avatar of capital) exploiting, degrading, and destroying the commons we need to survive is an unavoidable certainty. Russia and Sweden are also doing those things, but on a significantly lesser scale.

[–] troed@fedia.io 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Maybe you should read the IPCC reports?

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

That's a lot to cover... I've learned so far that Russia is responsible for 4% of the world's CO_2 emissions, and that emissions in Russia and Ukraine have decreased fastest of all countries since 1990. That the USA is responsible for 28% of all emissions that have accumulated since the Industrial revolution, and that Russia has emitted 11%. Is there something specific you would like me to learn about?

In large part, it's simply a matter of scale and wealth concentration. If Canada was as large and wealthy as the USA, we'd probably all be cooked by now.

[–] troed@fedia.io 1 points 3 weeks ago

Climate change is not a risk to human survival. Please study the WG2 parts for the possible risks we're facing depending on when and how much action we take.

You're correct in that large parts of Russia don't have indoor toilets and proper sanitation. Not sure that's a positive.

[–] digdilem@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago

China is somehow still okay?

China is too important a supplier to the West. Sanctions against them would lead to retaliatory sanctions against the West from China which would be economically devastating.

Obviously they are just as dangerous and as actively involved is espionage as the other world players, but they hold too many cards to risk escalation. The West is also too important to their economy to escalate beyond war games. At least - we all hope so.