Man this article is interesting and I agree with a lot of what he is saying, especially about people being totally ignorant of how deeply compromised our corporations and intellectual property is.
But wow this guy is on somw type of high horse. Talking about how a third of americans believe conspiracy theories and want college to be more expensive cause they dont want their kids to be "libtards"
And the part where talks about a kid in the US having a bake sale to pay for his brain surgery being some sort of embarrassment compared to China. Pardon me while I roll my eyes back into my skull. You think 90% of the population of china has access to brain surgery? Give me a fucking break. This is the country that not a generation ago were killing children en masse and forcing abortions to stop their population growth. Its not some utopia where all the sick are healed. The CCP couldn't give a fuck about some poor kid in the country side with a brain tumor. Gimme a fucking break. And to say they've eliminated poverty to a greater degree than the US is absolutely laughable. The fringes of Chinese society are dyed in the wool 3rd world levels of living. Even the living standards in the biggest cities are arguably shittier than poverty in the US. I'd rather be impoverished living on an acre of land in boondock Missouri than living in a 200 sqft apartment in Shanghai.
But yeah, we can't ignore the rise of China. We do so at our peril.
I’m not sure who’s engaging more in hyperbole - you or Yegge. China eliminating poverty to a greater degree than the US isn’t a controversial statement - China accounts for 75% of global poverty reduction from the 70s to now. Regardless if they were struggling to eat a generation ago, the Chinese have made a complete turn around in the past 40 years. Finally even if Chinese health care today isn’t exceptional (I can’t say for sure as I haven’t looked into it), the Chinese are at least currently transitioning to a national healthcare system. I can understand Yegge’s frustration - in the long run worse system that is improving will eventually beat out a better system that is stagnating.
All in all, China has already “risen”. To pretend that China is still 3rd world ghetto of the 90s is to ignore that fact at our own peril
But wow this guy is on somw type of high horse. Talking about how a third of americans believe conspiracy theories and want college to be more expensive cause they dont want their kids to be "libtards"
And the part where talks about a kid in the US having a bake sale to pay for his brain surgery being some sort of embarrassment compared to China. Pardon me while I roll my eyes back into my skull. You think 90% of the population of china has access to brain surgery? Give me a fucking break. This is the country that not a generation ago were killing children en masse and forcing abortions to stop their population growth. Its not some utopia where all the sick are healed. The CCP couldn't give a fuck about some poor kid in the country side with a brain tumor. Gimme a fucking break. And to say they've eliminated poverty to a greater degree than the US is absolutely laughable. The fringes of Chinese society are dyed in the wool 3rd world levels of living. Even the living standards in the biggest cities are arguably shittier than poverty in the US. I'd rather be impoverished living on an acre of land in boondock Missouri than living in a 200 sqft apartment in Shanghai.
But yeah, we can't ignore the rise of China. We do so at our peril.