We all know that the west uses two different words for the same thing depending on where it is happening.

e.g. Secret Police vs Plainclothes Officer
Regime vs Government

Can we have a compilation thread of these words? I am probably using many of them unconsciously without critical examination.

  • @[email protected]
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    331 year ago

    oligarchy - entrepreneurs

    invasion - humanitarian intervention

    indoctrination - common sense

    surveillance - CCTV

    attacking free press - defending national security

    racial profiling/transphobia - stopping cultural marxism

    freedom fighters - terrorists

    united states - america

    football - soccer

  • @[email protected]
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    331 year ago

    Prime minister and Supreme leader are literally synonyms yet have such wildly different implications.

  • Trudge [Comrade]OP
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    1 year ago

    I’ll start the thread.

    Billionaire vs Oligarch
    Custom vs Ritual
    Freedom fighter vs Terrorist
    Anime vs Cartoon

  • apemint
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    1 year ago

    freedom fighters vs terrorists
    Media really had a field day with these over the last 20 years.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    Defector/refugee - Illegal immigrant
    Community service - Forced labor
    Liberation - Occupation
    Enhanced interrogation techniques - Torture

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Community service is not forced labour 💀

      You mean prison labour is forced labour. Community service is when they make dumbass teens arrested for something like vandalism or underage drinking, go and work at a soup kitchen, or pick up garbage off the side of the road as punishment.

      • SovereignState
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        31 year ago

        I got hit with 24 hours of community service when I was a teen. Worked it off on a library, not bad. Actually wanted to get a full time job there.

        • @[email protected]
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          31 year ago

          That’s really nice, libraries are vital parts of the community, and volunteering or doing service at one is a very good thing.

          • SovereignState
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            21 year ago

            It was around Halloween time. I spent my time putting loaned books back on the shelves in their proper place for the most part, but also got to spray-paint some branches and hang spooky decorations! I remember it rather fondly.

            Got to take as many smoke breaks as I liked, too, lol. Was not a fan of digging the weeds out of the flowerbed, however.

            If and when I am ever offered the opportunity to retire, I believe I would very much like to be a librarian in a rural area.

  • @[email protected]
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    151 year ago

    The various ways they avoid using “oligarch” for westerns. Western Billionaire, entrepreneur, etc, whereas it’s always “Russian Oligarchs.”

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Expat is a useful word, but it has been co-opted by those who very obviously aren’t expats and just don’t want to call themselves immigrants.

      • DankZedong
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        1 year ago

        I do the reverse thing of calling myself an immigrant and you can see people having an error in their heads. Because I am an immigrant, I came here unemployed with nowhere to stay, looking for a better life. But I’m white, so expat it is for them 🤷

    • @[email protected]
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      21 year ago

      I think this isn’t always true because they do mean different things. You’re not an “immigrant” unless you’re trying to stay there permanently, whereas “expats” can be sort of transient

      • Trudge [Comrade]OP
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        61 year ago

        In practice, people from the global south who are working for only a few years in rich countries are never called expats.

  • 小莱卡
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    1 year ago

    Paid volunteers vs mercenaries

    White nationalism vs white supremacist

  • albigu
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    91 year ago

    First thing that comes to mind is “prison camps” vs just “prison.” Will edit some more in when I remember them.