The irony of course being that you think whataboutism is when you simply change the topic to an unrelated one (that’s what you’re implying). When in fact it refers to the act of responding to an accusation with a counter-accusation on the same subject instead of offering an explanation. Which is exactly what you did.

So as it turns out, you’re the one who actually doesn’t know what whataboutism means, and basically self-reported your ignorance. I wasn’t expecting this plot twist - it’s laughable given how simple of a concept it is.

But hey, keep digging that hole. Let’s see how deep you can go.

Notice that you didn’t deny engaging in whataboutism.

I suggest we change the name of the fallacy from tu quoque to y tu mama tambien.

Don’t take it so hard, it was a joke.

That’s not a real argument, just typical whatabout-ism.

countries that host the child factories

Ah yes, the dreaded child factories. The ones in Sweden are particularly bad. Bought a defective child a few months back. Kept asking for food.

Only thing I would add is that the dynamics you describe serve certain psychological functions for the individual - everything from feeling less insecure to developing an identity.

I think you are just repeating the same old talking points and conspiracy theories that we’re all well-familiar with without actually adding anything of substance or factology to the conversation.

Russia does not do the same. In fact, it does the exact opposite. It would be fantastic if Russia actually supported human rights and the rule of law instead of bombing children’s hospitals like Israel does.

I won’t touch the entertainement / Hollywood reference to soft power as that deserves a discussion in its own right.

But as someone who works with … or used to work with US diplomats abroad on a daily basis, I would urge you to educate yourself and people around you about the myriad of activities that US diplomats are engaged in. Contrary to conventional ‘wisdom’, US foreign policy consists of a lot more than bombing the Middle East and supporting Israel. Nobody talks or knows about all of the other things but I can tell you for a fact that American diplomats were (and in some cases still are) helping a lot of people in Eastern Europe. We were helping a lot of people. Shelters for the homeless, schools and museums for kids, whole new campuses for universities, orphanages, adn the list goes on, and on. There’s a reason why over 75% of state department employees working abroad are not republicans. They are not the people most think they are.

We were doing good work with the Americans here. We were helping children, we were exposing corrupt oligarchs. We were in this fight together, not just in Eastern Europe but all over the world. Yes, even the US Marines stationed at Constanza and Novo Selo, ready to fight should the Russkies anything, deserve respect. As one marine told me recently “Don’t worry, come what may, we will stay and fight with you”.

Then everything changed this year. My old American friends were replaced with incompetent political commissars sent by the new idiocratic regime in DC.

The US marines are still here though, and they are still ready to die. I’m just not sure if its worth it anymore.

TLDR: Educate yourself and resist the temptation to parrot oversimplified narratives. Just because you only know about the bad and don’t care to learn about the good, doesn’t mean the latter doesn’t exist.

Edit: in an attempt to preempt incoming windmills: I detest Trump, Netanyahu and imperialism in general. But that does not mean anything American (or whatever nationality) should be presented as black and white. There are 340 million Americans. Each one of them here is proof that America is not black and white, and neither are its citizens.

Yes, US companies have a lot of IP conflicts with China and we do tend to hear about them through media. But that paints a skewed picture of what’s actually happening.

If you were to research it more carefully, you would find out that the vast majority of these claims (>90%) are not pursued by US companies. As a deliberate, strategic decision. They don’t want to.

Ask yourself why.

Don’t believe me? Google is your friend.

You would be correct if that is how the copyright and trademark system actually worked.

But they don’t. They favour the big guy, not the little guy. Crazy, I know. Wait until you find out how modern taxation systems work.

This is insane - Pokemon cannot trademark having mounts in games. Screw Niantic, the Pokemon company and especially Nintendo which basically controls the first two. Screw them

Do not support these companies.

Sincerely, A life long Pokemon fan

Regular GTX 1080 here. Running Space Marine 2 at 60 fps on 1080p on mid-ish settings. And that’s basically the most graphics-intensive games I’ve played recently. Games like Total Warhammer 3, Dark Deity 2, Factorio or Heroes of the Storm don’t care about the GPU and play great at 1080p.

Speaking of, what is the next best cost-efficient GOAT in the generations that followed the GTX 10 series? I’m gonna be needing a new GOAT at some point in the future - would love to hear recommendations.

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Great read, thank you for sharing.

Large if accurate

I don’t want any followers or believers. Calling it as I see it. That is all.

Not to worry, you’re simply confusing freedom of speech with obliging private actors to consume content they don’t want to consume or disagree with. The first is a fundemental principle of democratic legal systems and recognized as a perempotry norm under international law. The second is authoritarianism.

There’s a growing number of legally illiterate people who think freedom of speech is absolute and even affords one the right to oblige others consume their speech through the government. That is fundamentally wrong and a complete misunderstanding of how these key principles of freedom work and have always worked in modern democratic systems.

Newsflash - freedom of speech is not absolute. Never has been. There are very specific, explicitly codified limitations. Why? Because words are the most powerful weapons and can be used to target and threaten the freedoms of other people, including their freedom to life. Which is why rights and obligations are always balanced against each other, following the principle of proportionality.

If you feel so strongly about not being able force others to consume content they don’t want to consume, then I have bad news for you - you are opposing democracy. But it seems like you, and many other like you, are just confused, rather than actively promoting anti-democratic standpoints. The truly sad part? The impact is the same regardless of intent.

Edit: Want to know more? Details at 6.

Yo, did they change the photo? I’m only seeing it in the thembnail

It was decided in 48BC with Ceaser vs Pompey