LogFAQs > #942231771

ssjevot posted...

If Trump said he wanted to stop bombing people in the Middle East to save money I wouldn't start begging for bombings to continue until they stop for the right reason.

Whereas obviously, what I've done is to vigorously defend the Chinese government imprisoning critics until people learn to start opposing it correctly.

All I'm simply asking for is for people not to wait for their government to green-light opposition to brutally repressive policies, but to pick up that banner independently -- and just as importantly, not to forget about it as soon as their government quietly shoves it to the back of the bottom drawer. Genuine human rights campaigns can take years, decades of work before they start to bear fruit; trendy bandwagon-hopping from one foreign policy change to another doesn't sustain momentum. I'm also saying, take off the blinkers and look around a bit more -- don't look only at where your government is pointing its finger. Maybe there are places it doesn't want you to look.

If you're got an issue with anything I've said in that paragraph, then I give up; because it'll prove you're simply just arguing for the sake of argument. I'm definitely not saying, "shut up about China, because it makes you look like a Trump stooge." Got it yet?

And yes, caring about this stuff does work. That's how and why in a democracy, reforms are forced through, bad laws are repealed, and governments are forced to make U-turns on policy: it happens because eventually, enough people care about these things -- and most of the time, it's not because they waited for a cue from their government.

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Watching the shadows burn