this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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This is classic whataboutism. You should try to avoid it because it's an incredibly poor defense if nothing else.
I've been bitching about the PATRIOT Act since less than a week after 9/11 happened. The Act's continued existence doesn't excuse China's well-documented bad behavior.
Well-documented deeznuts. China's bad behaviour mostly has only one source, that anonymous CIA or Pentagon guy who does not wish to be named, and it almost always turns out to be either false or a dishonest interpretation.
Whataboutism is a dog whistle word used by Westerners for deflection used to abrupt or end the argument when there are no real counterpoints. And since US government loves to demonize their "near-peer competitors" (official term) China and Russia, its perfectly fair to argue with US in perspective.
If you spent any time reading the articles, you would see Australian sources for incidents dating back to 2012, Lithuanians reporting in 2018, and various private security companies also weighing in.
If the only defence you have for bad behavior is that other people do it, then I guess slavery, mass murder, torture, and theft are all okay. I don't accept when people do those things, and not because I haven't done them but because I believe they are damaging to society no matter who does them. That applies to various acts on the national level, as well.
Too bad I know the kind of anti-China drivel Australia (deputy sheriff of NATO) pushes out with 60 Minutes and via their Murdoch media network, and surely enough you are not convincing me with Lithuania, the country that thinks Taiwan is a country, and the same country whose military lied about Xiaomi spying a couple years ago on behest of US government.
I made a mistake, not in anything I said but in assuming you were willing and able to discuss this in good faith.
My mistake was giving you the benefit of doubt that you might not have a pro-NATO pro-capitalist xenophobic agenda.