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Comment by interpenetrate | Hacker News Reader

...your "valid criticism" will never escape the constraints of orientalism. racism is not a phenomenon of the individual, it's a class phenomenon owing its modern form to imperialism. racism is the crystallization of chauvinism among those classes who benefit from imperialist policy. words like "authoritarian" are taken for granted even though they have a priori definitions and they absolutely come out of the hegemony of these racist classes. sober study of the real is counterproductive or even impossible for these classes. instead, the labor aristocracy (to which all the users of this site belong) speaks from the soul: "the chinese way of life is incompatible with our democracy." nothing new here. the imperialist class proper happens to agree (https://twitter.com/chinfo/status/1182610604353376257)

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Damn I never thought I would run into a tankie on HN. Neat.

Your criticism isn't totally invalid (if unreadable), but not everything is reducible to class. Stop reading weird blogs about how socialist China is and get outside and do some real activism. Sitting around hoping Xie is going to magically do socialism by 2035 isn't praxis.

it doesn't matter if china is socialist or not. no one here actually cares about that. posting anonymously on the internet is clinical for me just like it's clinical for you.

Why do you think I have imperial interests? Is it because you think everyone does? If everyone does, does that mean you do? In that case, what is the answer? Do we just wait around until China somehow out-imperials the US and not be critical of anything? Then, do you think that will really be better?

Go outside.

i come here occasionally to discover the ideological tendencies of programmers (particularly those in the first world proper) because i am objectively part of that globally privileged class. i'm trying to see if this helps me to navigate the day-to-day contradictions between trying to lead a reasonably comfortable life with my family while also working to sincerely study political economy and perhaps also protect those within arm's reach who are endangered by the US. if i post it's because i'm working something out with myself and just playing around with ideas. not a single person will be persuaded by me. but provoking people like you may be instructional, i'm not sure. like i said this is clinical

how about you? why are you spending your weekend telling anonymous tankies to go outside?

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