I don’t think tankies think what you think tankies think. Maybe I’m wrong, but my impression is that when Marxist Leninists get together, criticism of “AES” countries is a perfectly fine topic of conversation “inside” the group, but when it’s done “outside” it serves the interest of the US/capital/imperialism. And I think there’s something to that; it does! A little full of yourself to think it could matter more than looking reasonable to outsiders or educating your insiders…but it’s not totally crazy. I don’t know, there is plenty though, like look at bad empanada (I think he’d be considered a tankie, right?). Guys done quite a bit on the Uyghurs.

I say all this as a Marxist Leninist (I assume I’m a “tankie” to people who use the word “tankie” lol).

Of course, I’d also say it’s a bit silly to think one could “hold [China] accountable” by the opposite means.

We disagree about what propaganda means, I guess. I don’t think “doing anti-China propaganda” means you hate China or something, I think it just means you’re conveying a political message that runs counter to their political message. I don’t understand the distinction between political messaging that is or isn’t propaganda?

I mean, I do understand that context; it is a propaganda piece portraying China as comparatively better than the US.

China is comparatively better than the U.S.

Making propaganda to that effect is good.

Everything is propaganda. You’re doing anti-China propaganda; I’m doing pro-China propaganda. with a veneer of nuance or whatever but my words have political meaning and so do yours…

I’ve never understood how any expression of political thought could not be propaganda… or that there’s an especially good/principled way to separate what you and me are doing from whatever you mean by propaganda…if it’s a government paying for it I really don’t think OP qualifies…or else the PRC should get its fuckin money back lol

Naw it’s not one sided, you just didn’t hear about the guy who got banned for accusing 4 people of being CIA agents.

The Sound of Music is not a Christmas movie.

My wife and her family and a whole bunch of Canadians all think it is and I am so flummoxed by it.

Who said atrocities are justifiable? Didn’t I just agree with you it was bad?

You’re the one that brought up Hong Kong as a “this was bad therefore it’s totally ridiculous to say anything positive about China.” I agree with the first part, but not the second nor the connection.

Maybe it’s not a majority, I don’t know, but at least some of the protesters were wishing to stay a UK colony; the Union Jack was much in evidence (which is pretty wild really). Or were those CPC provocateurs or something? If you tell me that was a vocal and ridiculous minority, that’s fine, I wasn’t there, I’ll believe you.

Look man, I’m happy people were brave and cool and protested for what they believed in, even if it’s not what I believe in, and it’s bad Chinese cops/authorities/whatever hurt them for it. I don’t know why that would mean I should think that saying good things about China is wrong. I also think the surveillance and mistreatment of the Uyghurs is bad…like way worse than what happened in Hong Kong. There are also lots of good things to say about China.

Nope that’s bad. Cops hurting protesters is bad even when the protesters are wrong.

Less bad than the wrong protesters getting their way and Hong Kong staying a colony of the UK…but still bad, for sure.

I’m a tax lawyer. I’m gonna be very busy fixing the messes people make using AI-assisted do-it-yourself tax planning lol. And by fixing I mean telling them to beg for penalties to be forgiven lol

Should not be surprised you’re a rad one, violet08!

I think another bit of context is that it was used as sort of Palestinian flag stand-in emoji when there wasn’t a Palestinian flag emoji

Nice; yeah I don’t know if that’s a thing but if it is let me know I’m sure I could do with that too haha

You’re a hero man! Way to go. You’re a Linux person now ;) I don’t have any save advice because I’m where you were plus two weeks (and with simpler hardware, so you’re probably more advanced than me already)

Anyway that’s awesome! Way to go!

Having never even looked at Linux before I had it up and running on my old MacBook in less than an hour! Maybe another two of playing with settings (mostly for fun), and now it’s just my computer! I’m sure it’ll take extra time to get the things you want to work to go if they’re unusual, or maybe as you point out you may need to keep a windows partition for that.

Nebula, means tv, and dropout =/ none will be the next YouTube but it’s nice to have options I guess

Yeah getting hardware to work may require a bit of fiddling. There are some stellar resources, and some extremely helpful people. Most stuff really does “just work” but when it doesn’t you don’t have to learn everything, just how to fix that issue!

I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how painless it is. Obviously if you havae special hardware it may be hard to find drivers or whatever…hell if I know! but I had similar apprehension to you and it’s been a breeze!

Mint is very comfortable for a windows user! If you’re on even slightly older hardware I really doubt you’ll find Windows more comfortable.

Is your friend working in the same area/industry as you? if so he will have a better feel for whether it’s “normal” than anyone here! That said, if you would feel safer at home than in the shelter and you can work from home effectively, then I think you should just work from home, and if they fire you, they fire you. If you gotta be there to do your job right I understand why they’d want you there, but you should think about whether it’s worth it to you!

I’ve never really watched the guy, so I have no dog in this fight. That’s definitely a dumb-as-nails take. Not anything I wouldn’t expect from someone born to moderate wealth running a company, but not especially malicious.

Jeffrey Sachs is a cool smart and good guy. He gets how things work and wants things to go well for people.

Lol, I just recognized the name from spending ages discussing the monarchy with this guy. Seeing this post I checked his other comments; jeeeeeeeesus.

Y’arr matey, that be so. Alas, thar be treasure buried here if ye have the wits te find it.