It's incredible. If what's written here is what the ruling class is counting on bringing China down, then it's over. The US will definitely lose.
The Bed Bug cites 3 things that will cause China to lose to the US: nationalism, a "cult of personality" around Xi, and repression of religion. Since none of these are either accurate or even material, it's over. The US has nothing.
Isn't Xi quite famously a super boring administrator? Like, there is basically no personality from what I've been reading. How do you build a sizeable Cult around a person who's that boring?
All of this... I do wonder about the folks at the State Dept and CIA. Do they actually believe the pro-capitalists bullshit that you outlined above? Honestly... I kinda think they do. Unless you have a materialist / Marxist view of things, the neoliberal views you expressed are kinda the default for most Americans. So even the folks in charge of imperialism have their eyes on the wrong ball. That's something that definitely works in China's favor.
Kinda makes me think of the tech-man in the Foundation
Hober Mallow shows up to see what the Foundation is up against in the dwindling empire, finds a tech-man (a hereditary class of people who work on the reactors that power the planets). Asks him how the reactor works and the tech-man basically just says "well" then when pressed for what he'd do if a component broke, he just says "that doesn't happen!".
We've reached a level of complicity where the people who drafted the first ideas of the propaganda are long dead and no one knows how to run the machines anymore and can't imagine a world without the machines. Trapped in an empire withering away.
as agriculture will become more mechanized, farmers who previously grew their own food and barely interacted with the economy will become way more productive causing average productivity to go up even as the population ages, furthering economic growth.
What kind of garbage capitalist take is this?
"People leaving their ancestral lands to go find work in the cities is progress. We'll grow field corn, wheat, and soy monocrops, which are more productive. With EnergySTAR rated farm equipment, we'll be doing it all sustainably. Newly minted Chinese workers will take up 9-9-6 factory jobs, which are the envy of workers all around the planet. They'll not only be able to afford to live in a pricey city where the air is saturated with PM <2.0, they'll be able to purchase consumer goods! Economy! Line go up!"
Fuck the economy and anyone who follows its conventional destructive logic.
Poverty is when you aren't breathing dioxins or drinking 5 grams of microplastics a week, and have a direct connection to the means of production, got it.
If you think our agricultural and industrial paradigms will last another 50 years, you're tragically mistaken. Too bad it'll take at least 100 years to raise the "productive forces" to that hypothetical point where da socialism happens automatically.
If having solid anti-capitalist and ecological principles makes me an idealist chauvinist, I doubt you're a communist.
I live in the developed world; I have fed myself for extended periods of time for $40 a month. If you haven't experienced poverty like that, fuck off with your "fethisizing [sic]" allegation.
If the American ruling class really believes this, that's a secret weapon in China's hands: pure ideology.
It's incredible. If what's written here is what the ruling class is counting on bringing China down, then it's over. The US will definitely lose.
The Bed Bug cites 3 things that will cause China to lose to the US: nationalism, a "cult of personality" around Xi, and repression of religion. Since none of these are either accurate or even material, it's over. The US has nothing.
Isn't Xi quite famously a super boring administrator? Like, there is basically no personality from what I've been reading. How do you build a sizeable Cult around a person who's that boring?
You can build a cult around a boring guy who's doing a fantastic job 😎
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
Popular non-western ruler -> cult of personality
The other two damage the U.S a lot more I'd argue. American Nationalism and America's continued violence against Muslim and Jewish people.
I feel like Xi has a bigger cult in the west where we're primed to slot into that sort of relationship with public figures.
deleted by creator
All of this... I do wonder about the folks at the State Dept and CIA. Do they actually believe the pro-capitalists bullshit that you outlined above? Honestly... I kinda think they do. Unless you have a materialist / Marxist view of things, the neoliberal views you expressed are kinda the default for most Americans. So even the folks in charge of imperialism have their eyes on the wrong ball. That's something that definitely works in China's favor.
Kinda makes me think of the tech-man in the Foundation
Hober Mallow shows up to see what the Foundation is up against in the dwindling empire, finds a tech-man (a hereditary class of people who work on the reactors that power the planets). Asks him how the reactor works and the tech-man basically just says "well" then when pressed for what he'd do if a component broke, he just says "that doesn't happen!".
We've reached a level of complicity where the people who drafted the first ideas of the propaganda are long dead and no one knows how to run the machines anymore and can't imagine a world without the machines. Trapped in an empire withering away.
What kind of garbage capitalist take is this?
"People leaving their ancestral lands to go find work in the cities is progress. We'll grow field corn, wheat, and soy monocrops, which are more productive. With EnergySTAR rated farm equipment, we'll be doing it all sustainably. Newly minted Chinese workers will take up 9-9-6 factory jobs, which are the envy of workers all around the planet. They'll not only be able to afford to live in a pricey city where the air is saturated with PM <2.0, they'll be able to purchase consumer goods! Economy! Line go up!"
Fuck the economy and anyone who follows its conventional destructive logic.
deleted by creator
Poverty is when you aren't breathing dioxins or drinking 5 grams of microplastics a week, and have a direct connection to the means of production, got it.
If you think our agricultural and industrial paradigms will last another 50 years, you're tragically mistaken. Too bad it'll take at least 100 years to raise the "productive forces" to that hypothetical point where da socialism happens automatically.
deleted by creator
If having solid anti-capitalist and ecological principles makes me an idealist chauvinist, I doubt you're a communist.
I live in the developed world; I have fed myself for extended periods of time for $40 a month. If you haven't experienced poverty like that, fuck off with your "fethisizing [sic]" allegation.
deleted by creator
unleash the zizek :zizek-joy: