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[sid @immasiddx]

STOP ASKING CHATGPT THINGS YOU CAN GOOGLE.
STOP ASKING CHATGPT THINGS YOU CAN GOOGLE.
STOP ASKING CHATGPT THINGS YOU CAN GOOGLE.
STOP ASKING CHATGPT THINGS YOU CAN GOOGLE.
STOP ASKING CHATGPT THINGS YOU CAN GOOGLE.
STOP ASKING CHATGPT THINGS YOU CAN GOOGLE.

[Read Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) @JPHilllllll]

It’s been said before but the second Greta started making connections between climate change and capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism the media coverage came to a screeching halt.

[Eivor @Eivor_Koy]

The discrimination experienced by 19-year-old Chinese gold medalist Pan Zhanle may explain why an increasing number of Chinese are losing interest in communicating with the West and caring what the West says about China.

Two hashtags, "Chalmers ignored Pan Zhanle's greetings" and "Pan Zhanle says the Americans look down on us a bit," went viral on Chinese Weibo after the young Chinese swimmer won the gold medal and broke the world record. The hashtags grew to over 260 million views and 110 million views, respectively, as Chinese netizens expressed their support for the young athlete and their discontent over the disrespectful actions of athletes in the United States and Australia.

In an interview with the media, 19-year-old Pan claimed that the American team's Alex purposefully splashed water on the Chinese coaches during training, giving the impression that the Americans "looked down on the [Chinese] a bit," while the Australian team's Chalmers ignored his friendly greetings. Before speaking up, the young athlete even politely asked the journalist if he could share this with the public.

The humiliation and defamation from the West continued as many Western netizens left racist comments and made groundless allegations that the young Chinese athlete was "doped". There was a tsunami of online complaints and public fury in China after Chinese netizens translated and shared their rude remarks on social media.

"Some Westerners always believe they are superior to others. Instead of taking responsibility for their own mistakes, they would smear others if they were to lose. That's why their countries are losing competitiveness and falling behind," said one Weibo user.

"These days, even liberals in China find the West's ridiculous lies and defamation against China repulsive. I used to think they were from developed nations; at least they could show some dignity. But alas, how wrong I was," said another Weibo User.

This reminds me of the discrimination we faced 16 years ago when the Olympic Games were held in China in 2008 for the first time. We regarded it as an opportunity to introduce our way of life to the rest of the world and engage in meaningful talks with people from other countries.

Beijing's taxi drivers at the time were required to take English classes in order to better meet the needs of foreign visitors. For the sake of projecting a more positive image of Beijing to the rest of the world, many retirees gave their time to help clean the city. The Olympic Games' official theme song is named "Beijing Welcomes You All."

And this is how the West returned our goodwill.

To begin, an earthquake hit Sichuan Province in China soon before the Olympics, killing 87,587 and forcing at least 4.8 million people to flee their homes. At a time of immense grief for the Chinese, people like Sharon Stone said the earthquake was "karma for Tibet". Many Western netizens referred to us as "dog eaters," believing that the Chinese deserved it.

Then politicians from the West, notably the United States, the Czech Republic, and many European countries, began to boycott our Olympic Games on the grounds that "China has no human rights."

We soon learned that haters in London, Paris, and San Francisco attempted to rob and extinguish our torch.

All that bias and prejudice must have made the Chinese wonder, for the first time in their lives, "Why does the West hate our country so much?" "What have we done to deserve this?"

We Chinese are hospitable people who always give back when someone helps us. The Chinese have an old proverb: "滴水之恩当涌泉相报." (A drop of water shall be returned with a burst of spring.) It's disheartening that the West has repeatedly disregarded our good intentions.

I believe that the general public in the West is simply unaware of China and that they mean no harm, but I no longer hold out hope that the West will treat us with dignity and equality.

Being ignorant and arrogant will cost you dearly.

[Racial Dolezal @SirCoach]

1) Person minding their business
2) Israelis show up looking for confrontation while also playing victim
3) Israelis lash out at person
4) Person responds in-kind
5) Israelis treat response like it was an unprovoked offense and escalate

this clip 🤝🏿 the last 80yrs

[Mohammad Alsaafin @malsaafin]

This was Palestine’s first ever flag bearer at the Olympics, Majed Abu Maraheel, in Atlanta ‘96. Abu Maraheel was killed in Gaza last month. Unable to receive adequate care at Gaza’s destroyed hospitals, he died of kidney failure.
These killings don’t figure in the death toll.

[chriyanka @rivveruns]

every 4 years americans will gaslight themselves into believing war criminal 1 is better than nazi war criminal 2

[Yonela. @Hlubikazii__]

i think people who defend billionaires secretly think they’ll be billionaires too and it’s the funniest thing 😭😭😭😭

[Cañe @Caherlo]

En la entrada de Los Llanos desde El Paso hay un cartel que pone "Ciudad comprometida contra la violencia de género". Esta mañana ha amanecido así.
Los machistas y los fachas en general se han apropiado de la bandera para esto. Luego se preguntarán porque le tenemos tanto asco.

[Malasombra @Trifon_Ivanof]

Les hemos acusado de mafiosos, de usar sus negocios para blanquear dinero, de ludópatas, de convertir barrios en Chinatown, de no hablar el idioma y de ponernos carne de gato en vez de cerdo agridulce. Pero no hemos sido racistas con ellos.

[Kyle 🚄 @KyleTrainEmoji]

From 2021 to 2024, the total wealth controlled by billionaires in China’s mainland declined by 47%, from $2.5 trillion to $1.3 trillion.

This thread (🧵) will present a selected list of Chinese billionaires who have been ordered arrested or sentenced over the last decade.

[ウームフィー @Chicken_Face1]

The "fun" thing about these threads is you can tell like 70% of these screenshots of "male Instacart drivers being dumb" are people who can't speak English being forced to work in a language they don't understand

[Acampada x Palestina Madrid @acampadamad]

Delegación de gobierno ha enviado a 18 furgonetas a desalojar a las estudiantes sentadas de forma no violenta en la carretera. Han doblado muñecas y brazos y nos han dado golpes en la cabeza.

Nos envían antidisturbios mientras fingen solidarizarse con el pueblo palestino.

[nina @ninagrewrites]

do not forget queer palestinians in your celebration of pride this month.

[Nik Stankovic @nikstankovic_]

Just off the discussion about what else VPNs in China. There continues to be a lot of confusion about the Chinese internet, VPNs and how and why it all works.

I am not going to talk about the legal aspect of it (in short: VPNs are of course legal in China) because that has been beaten to death. I am also not going to talk about censorship (in short: Google, Facebook, Twitter are not BANNED in China, but BLOCKED, because they refuse to comply with internet regulations in China). That too has been beaten to death. If you still don't understand these two things, please look elsewhere I am very tired of explaining.

What hasn't been beaten to death is why it all works. How come the Chinese government isn't catching everyone jumping over the Great Firewall and at least arresting them, if not sending them to gulags. It appears to be something the Western mind is not able to comprehend. It's like Chinese script for the Westerner. Of course it is possible to understand if you put in the effort and if you are able to free your mind. Indeed, it was explained to me by someone at @AustrianChina 15 years ago? It is a very basic economic concept.

So are you ready for a short lesson in market economics brought to you by the Communist Party of China? (what a sentence)

The idea is very simple. In order to get around the Chinese internet regulations, for an individual, you have to get a VPN. No problem. It now costs $30 / month to do that. One way to think about it is that it is a fine for violating those regulations, even though the money does not go the the CPC but to the VPN company which could even be an American company for example.

So $30 / month and you get full internet no problem. So why don't 1.4 billion Chinese do it and "screw the CCP"? And this is the crux of the issue. I don't know why you think what "your" Western internet has (ie what is blocked, not everything is blocked) is worth $30. You think that in every Chinese there is an American waiting to come out. They all are just waiting to be liberated... by YOU! They all want to find out the truth on Twitter. Read New York Times, watch Fox News and learn what REALLY goes on in the world. You really believe that is what 1.4 billion Chinese think?

But actually you are right that some do, not the hundreds of millions of peasants and supermarket cashiers, but you know, young, educated people. Maybe they don't think that but they are curious. So they splurge, say I am not going to buy that chockie I was planning to buy this month, I'll buy a VPN instead and see what is it really that my government is hiding from me. It's gotta be something important and profound.

Imagine their surprise.

Would you pay $30 to access Twitter, Facebook, Google? Well actually you would, and I (living in China) do. I need to, for me it is different, I need to communicate with my family, I need to see what goes on in Serbia, access some services, half of my life is outside China. I do projects with Europe and the US. I have to have access to all of it. I see those $30 / month simply as a cost of living in China. If I lived in NYC I'd be paying a lot more for building management for example, here I pay a lot less. But I have to pay $30 to get access to the Western internet services which are blocked in China. 🤷‍♂️ And the Chinese government of course knows I do that (in aggregate), and that's fine by them, they are happy I have my problem solved.

You understand how the $30 cost does exactly for the Chinese government that it wants to have accomplished without having to pass any oppressive laws banning VPNs or chasing or arresting people for using them. If that happened all the Westerners and the Western companies would leave. And they don't want that, why would they want that?

But that means that any Chinese can go and see "the truth". And many do. But I hate to break it you. It ain't the truth. And if you are Chinese who lives in China there really isn't much there for you worth $30, especially since you have all those services in China: China has its own Twitters, Facebooks, YouTube, Googles, Netflixes. And then some. And many are better than the Western ones.

Get it? The $30 / month fee is all it takes. Magic.

For extra credit, read about Net Neutrality, something that has been proposed in the US, and write an essay about what that would do and how it is related to what I just wrote about.

https://t.co/qtzTaGeZ0e

[Ben Norton @BenjaminNorton]

"Democracy" according to the US embassy is when you have a single warmongering capitalist party with two factions (Republicans & Democrats) who agree on 95% of the same policies and whose candidates are bought off with limitless "campaign contributions" (bribes) from corporations

[Zhao DaShuai 东北进修🇨🇳 Commentary @zhao_dashuai]

This is Zhengdong New Area in Central China

10 years ago, western media called it "The biggest ghost city in China"

Well, take a look at it now: