China using families as 'hostages' to quash dissent abroad - eviltoast
  • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    You are pushing in the direction of “he said/she said”. If I made a thread over on lemmygrad and actually asked about this, would you accept that as evidence?

    • socsa@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Of course, that would be super interesting. I’m left-lib and every interaction I’ve had with them so far has led me to believe they are the most ridiculous kind of ML extremists

      • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        That’s a little heartening. Lemmygrad is aware of this thread, but I’ll try to word the post to not tip my hand too too much, and then I’ll link it back here and you can watch it (actually, you can post in it if you want since you’re on a lemmy.ml account, but that’s up to you).

        Let me tell you from experience that sometimes people only look ridiculous because of prejudices we are bringing into the interaction (though some people are ridiculous).

        Should I include Russia or is that too easy?

        As an aside in the meantime, what do you make of the fact that I am quite willing to talk about negative elements despite being a “tankie”?

        • socsa@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          lemmygrad is aware of this thread.

          The thing is, I get they are trolling. It’s just dumb and obnoxious. Also, kinda cringe, and definitely counterproductive.

          I think your willingness to even make an effort at this kind of engagement is refreshing, but I also this this is sadly, a very low bar.

          • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Eh, I’ve seen errors here and there (and called them out, as you can see) but I think they are generally putting forward decent arguments with better evidence. The Yuri Gagarin stan for example is very well-read and intelligent, you just need to demonstrate good faith (and maybe catch him in a not-bad mood). Anyway, here’s the thread that I just made. Feel free to upvote for visibility, we’ll see how it goes.

          • GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            We got at least a couple of takers, and I expanded a little on some of my views. What do you think?

            I should mention that one thing that probably skews matters is a prevalent thought (that I mostly agree with) among communists that the criticism of rivals of one’s state to appease liberals is not a good use of time. The reasoning goes that you aren’t really in a position to correct those problems, so spending time on these things when speaking publicly is only going to support the basis for a “left opposition” to those foreign states even if that’s not your personal aim. A version of this has been used by the FBI.

            Because of this, I think your sampling might have been sabotaged by people operating on that principle, because convincing a liberal to be an anarcho-bidenist [someone who claims to be a radical but supports US foreign policy and/or the Democrats] isn’t really a useful effort.