this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
601 points (98.2% liked)

World News

46740 readers
2173 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

A Chinese factory employee set fire to a textile plant in China’s southwestern Sichuan province in his frustration over unpaid wages of just 800 yuan (or US$111), according to videos posted on social media and eyewitness accounts shared with Radio Free Asia.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 74 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I mean, people who think the Chinese people are just 'peasants' tend to be pretty goddamn ignorant.

Systems are difficult to oppose in every society. We're all just trying to get by.

[–] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

ignorant is too light, I say racism, say whatever you want about china, if you see Chinese people as peasants you're a racist POS

[–] comfy@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I see plenty of typical* Americans on the streets who can barely plot their own country on a world map. At some point, it is an actual lack of information, ignorance, whether by their environment or their own disinterest, rather than some racial or nationalist prejudice. It's offensive and stupid, and shouldn't be excused, but sometimes I think it isn't even racism. Or, at least, their own racism - it's still the effect of a nationalist exceptionalist government and culture, so racism is still relevant to their ignorance regardless of what their own opinions, morals and character might be.

Now, all that said, there are millions who are just racist pieces of shit who know better. So fuck them.

* I know the country isn't homogeneous and there is no typical American, but I'm not talking about just super rural folk or the centers of cities

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

The vast majority of people saying Chinese people are 'peasants' are racist, but if someone told me that they met someone in Fuckknowswhereville, USA, who genuinely thought that mainland China was still struggling under a feudal regime, living hand-to-mouth with villages of illiterates who lacked the educational tools to organize against their overlords, and was genuinely overjoyed to hear the contrary, that the Qing Dynasty had fallen and that China entered the modern world, rather than disbelieving or dismissive... well, I've heard too many innocently stupid opinions from my fellow Americans about international issues to reject that out of hand.

Admittedly, being from Fuckknowswhereville, USA, also greatly increases the chance of them being horrifically racist pieces of shit.

[–] neons@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

But that was absolutely the same for peasants? Which then would make it accurate again to call them oppressed peasants?

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

"Peasant" has much more wide-reaching connotations than just powerlessness.

[–] anzo@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago

That's not the defining characterisric for peasants, you pawn :p