and

ill give you a hint one of these was widely condemned by Americans across the political spectrum as racist. and the other is considered totally fine.

  • NormalC [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    That’s missing the point. The “yellow bear” caricature is so useful to white supremacists because its another avenue to dehumanize the communist party. They use it because it allows them to infiltrate these spaces to spread reactionary propaganda. “MeanwhileOnGrad” is an anti communist space that gains legitmacy from liberals because it adopts mainstream reactionary propaganda that liberals created.

    We are in an international, primarily english speaking, federated social network platform. This is not the same as posting images of Winnie the Pooh to evade/agitate moderators and admins in China. You cannot appropriate something like this.

    We should ask: who benefits from this type of imagery? The answer is most definitely not the Chinese people.

    • regul [any]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      The meme being used by and useful to anti-communists in general and anti-Xi people in particular doesn’t make it racist.

      I’m not saying people should use it (mostly because I think it’s cringe), but I also don’t think it’s racist and calling people who use it racist instead of just cringe looks unserious.

        • regul [any]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          Calling people cringe isn’t avoiding confrontation. It’s just a much more reasonable stance to take than “meme invented by Chinese netizens is actually racist as soon as white people touch it and is also a nefarious plot by neo-nazis to normalize racism because it’s making a non-white person look ridiculous”.

          I’m not saying avoid confrontation to ease tension, I’m saying that the easier dunk is “you are posting a picture of a world leader photoshopped to look like a children’s book character and expecting it to bring about regime change”.

          • NormalC [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            I’m saying that the easier dunk is “you are posting a picture of a world leader photoshopped to look like a children’s book character and expecting it to bring about regime change”.

            Anti-CPC propaganda doesn’t exist within a vacuum. It is inextricably tied to sinophobia and Anti Chinese-American sentiment in the US. Condemning it as racism will destroy it, mocking it will only make its supporters indignant and apathetic. If it were that easy to call it “cringe” and nothing else then why did the instance admins lock the thread and wipe responses?

            It’s just a much more reasonable stance to take than “meme invented by Chinese netizens is actually racist as soon as white people touch it and is also a nefarious plot by neo-nazis to normalize racism because it’s making a non-white person look ridiculous”.

            Too bad there is a nefarious plot by neo-nazis and the American political establishment (they’re the same picture) to demean and undermine the CPC at every turn. This is not an isolated event but a continuous effort to manufacture consent in the general public to see China as the enemy. Even if we mock this occurrence, it will happen again and again. In order to stomp it out, we have to be more bold and demanding.

            • regul [any]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              Condemning it as racism will destroy it

              It would, if that particular criticism had a leg to stand on.

              No idea why admins locked whatever thread you’re talking about, but it’s probably because it was nothing but Hexbears screaming “debate me”.

              In order to stomp it out,

              Buddy, we’re not stomping out anything. Our actions on Hexbear and Lemmy have no effect on anything. Just like the people posting “Xinnie the Pooh Tianmen Square vuvuzela iPhone”.

              • NormalC [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                1 year ago

                No idea why admins locked whatever thread you’re talking about, but it’s probably because it was nothing but Hexbears screaming “debate me”.

                It was a thread made by a hexbear about why the folks at sh.justworks were okay with the image being a community header. There was no “debate me” just reactionaries coming in and playing the biggest mental gymnastics olympiad you’ve ever seen.

                Buddy, we’re not stomping out anything. Our actions on Hexbear and Lemmy have no effect on anything. Just like the people posting “Xinnie the Pooh Tianmen Square vuvuzela iPhone”.

                Sounds like a lack of self-confidence that leads to inaction for you comrade. This is also about whether or not to defederate form sh.justworks. Their response to the “cringe” community header was one of reactionary anti-communism and concern trolling.

                • regul [any]@hexbear.net
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  The whole thread is a “debate me”. The debate demand is literally the title.

                  And no, I just recognize that slinging shit on a niche internet forum isn’t action in any sense of the word.

                  • NormalC [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    6
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    1 year ago

                    There is a difference between “debate” and asking for an explanation. The explanations provided were faulty and came down to “it’s just a joke bro.” There was no debate here.

                    The debate demand is literally the title.

                    Besides being false, your claim has literally no basis unless you think every interaction between hexbears is a debate which is a very toxic idea. Confrontational: yes, debate: no.

                    And no, I just recognize that slinging shit on a niche internet forum isn’t action in any sense of the word.

                    I also recognize that the safety and integrity of hexbears is something to be preserved. Hexbear has never appeased any other instance and it will never do so. Our personal ethics is more important than reactionary ideas.

                    The mods at sh.itjustworks don’t care and haven’t responded, which is what’s the most pressing. Not if we hurt the feelings of liberals.