Comment by mikeyouse
16 hours ago
This of course raises the question on whether as an American I have more to fear from the Chinese government or the US one.. given everything happening in the Executive Branch here, that’s a disappointingly hard question to answer.
I think that's an easy question to answer, but obviously you don't fear the Chinese government you're not a Chinese citizen. You can actively talk about your disagreements with the US government, that not a right the Chinese have.
Can you? By ICE agents' own admission on video, they have been adding people to "domestic terrorist" watchlists (just for verbally dissenting, making recordings with a phone, etc) which are then used by Palantir to disappear people directly from their homes - even US citizens. Palantir, the CEO of which gleefully admits to knowing many Nazis and seems to get off on the fact that his software "kills people" (direct quote).
>that’s a disappointingly hard question to answer
It shouldn't be. The US government is already sending armed and masked thugs to shoot political dissidents dead or sending them to concentration camps, threatening state governments and private companies to comply with suppressing free speech and oppressing undesirables, and openly discussing using emergency powers to suspend the next election.
What exactly is the commensurate threat from China? The real tacit threat, not abstract fears like "TikTok is Chinese mind control." What can China actually do to you, an American, that the US isn't already more capable of doing, and more likely to do?
To me it isn't even a question. Even comparing worst case scenarios - open war with China versus civil war within the US - the latter is more of a threat to citizens of the US than the former unless the nukes drop. And even then, the only nation to ever use nuclear weapons in warfare is the US.
This is the correct take. It may be a different question for people living within China, but for Americans, the US Gov is a direct threat to their lives.