China has lashed out at Germany after its foreign minister called Xi Jinping a “dictator” and summoned Berlin’s ambassador for a dressing down, in the latest flaring of tensions with a western democratic power over how the Chinese leader is described overseas.

  • @[email protected]
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    2298 months ago

    When you change the rules so you can hold office longer than permitted in an authoritarian country that is an appropriate label for the dictator.

  • @[email protected]
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    1608 months ago

    Very noticeable that they didn’t specify how he wasn’t a dictator, nor what other label would be more appropriate.

    • I Cast Fist
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      668 months ago

      “I am not a dictator! Anyone who says I am will get jailed!” - Grand Poohbear of China, 2023

      • @[email protected]
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        268 months ago

        I use a client that can block instances, so I have all of Hexbear blocked. It radically improves the Lemmy experience.

        • @[email protected]
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          48 months ago

          I am using Eternity or Voyager, I will be so happy when instance blocking comes to those.

          • Buelldozer
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            18 months ago

            Connect does instance blocking and I think LiftOff does as well.

          • @[email protected]
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            -18 months ago

            Give Memmy a try. I switched to it so I could block entire instances. It’s made my feed so much better!

            • @[email protected]
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              38 months ago

              Thanks for the recommendation, but I’m on Android, so I can’t use it. On spezit I loved, and supported Infinity, the Infinity fork Eternity is very good. I love having my own colour theme, it’s great for qol, and all the other nice features it has.

        • Red Wizard 🪄
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          8 months ago

          Never hear a dissenting opinion. I’ll take, what is an echo chamber for $200.

          • @[email protected]
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            78 months ago

            There’s differing opinions and then there’s just shittalking. When it comes to differing opinions most of Hexbear interactions deliberately (by the admission of their own users) fall under shittalking. They deliberately antagonize and troll anyone with a different opinion because in their mind anyone who doesn’t agree with them should be trolled. You don’t get differing opinions from Hexbear, you get a bastardization of a differing opinion. One that is different only on the basis them telling you you’re wrong, and in most cases even that has to be intuited.

            Nobody should wade through shit to get a few nuggets of gold which is why most people just block Hexbear.

          • @[email protected]
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            -38 months ago

            Just because they blocked Hexbear doesn’t mean they block all the opinions they dislike.

            Hexbear is just full of radicals and trolls.

          • @[email protected]
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            -58 months ago

            Have you ever bothered to read the rules of your instance? If I go on there and say anything negative about your cute dictator I’ll be banned. However, you can freely go on our greedy capitalist instances and praise your teddy bear as much as you want. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. I guess your mind can’t comprehend being free.

            • Red Wizard 🪄
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              28 months ago

              Do you mean the rule about not being Sinophobic? Is that really a hard rule for you to follow? I like to look at objective reality instead of just barking the same nonsensical shibboleths when the topic of China arises.

              • @[email protected]
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                -58 months ago

                No capitalist apologia / anti-communism

                You would whine even harder if lemmy.ml had No communist apologia / anti-capitalism in their rules.

                • Red Wizard 🪄
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                  08 months ago

                  Most anti-communism has no basis in reality and often are myths perpetuated by state agencies. All Anti-Capitalist sentiment is rooted in the material realities of our world and life. To deny socialist historical reality is to deny your own history, and ultimately is an admission of your disingenuous support of the truth.

                  Historical Materialism is truth seeking in practice. It requires you to have a fact based, objective view of our past and present.

                  Also I don’t know why I would whine, because I’m not using lemmy.ml. That instance can have whatever rules they want. I wouldn’t block or defederate from them because of it either. But if you are not interested in seeking the truth and objectively observing reality, then I guess you can insolate yourself from it and keep your echos.

      • @[email protected]
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        88 months ago

        Thankfully, OP is from an instance that has not federated with Hexbear. Hexbear users won’t be able to see this post.

        • spez
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          18 months ago

          But they have posted to .ml which is federated with hexbear. So the poster’s instance needs to be federated no the instance of the community where the post is?

          • @[email protected]
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            88 months ago

            You need both. For a comment you even need the community instance, the poster instance, and the commenter instance to all be federated

            • @jaybone
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              38 months ago

              That’s confusing.

              • @[email protected]
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                18 months ago

                Basically, everybody needs to agree before access is granted.

                It is the best way to block spammers and trolls.

    • @[email protected]
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      -308 months ago

      Because he was democratically elected in a transparent election. Unlike the current American demented imbecile.

    • @jcit878
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      28 months ago

      lucky your not a German ambassador! they would summon you for a “dressing down”

    • Łumało [he/him]
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      -378 months ago

      Haha, racism! I love that one!

      Whatcha gonna do, China? That’s right, nothing.

      What is there to do when you are already the one winning?

      • @OldPain
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        8 months ago

        I’m an American so I can answer this question sincerely. When you are already the one winning, you work as hard as ever to keep winning. You innovate more. This is the American way. It’s why we’re the most advanced country on the planet, and it’s how we maintain that lead. Building off of the work of previous generations who made and did amazing things. That’s our approach and it works fucking awesome.

      • @SaakoPaahtaa
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        468 months ago

        Famously, one of the worst atrocities of the KKK was posting memes of a chinese dictator

      • @jcit878
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        08 months ago

        your fee fees get hurt?

              • @[email protected]
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                128 months ago

                动态网自由门 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣 臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏 土伯特 唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主 言論 思想 反共 反革命 抗議 運動 騷亂 暴亂 騷擾 擾亂 抗暴 平反 維權 示威游行 李洪志 法輪大法 大法弟子 強制斷種 強制堕胎 民族淨化 人體實驗 肅清 胡耀邦 趙紫陽 魏京生 王丹 還政於民 和平演變 激流中國 北京之春 大紀元時報 九評論共産黨 獨裁 專制 壓制 統一 監視 鎮壓 迫害 侵略 掠奪 破壞 拷問 屠殺 活摘器官 誘拐 買賣人口 遊進 走私 毒品 賣淫 春畫 賭博 六合彩 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门

      • @OldPain
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        -108 months ago

        Well you can fuck right off! The same person *supposedly upset about the KKK just discriminated against 330,000,000 people from every country on Earth in the very next breath. You’re worse than racist.

  • @krische
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    1138 months ago

    We know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two

    • Germany, probably
    • Ooops
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      528 months ago

      Hitler obviously wasn’t a dictator as he was democratically elected by a majority (after competing parties were banned) and then -just out of situational necessity of course- got a lot of extra powers to ignore laws and constitution.

      Yeah, I see how that Chinese definition works.

  • spez
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    758 months ago

    I love how every single comment making fun Xi the pooh here is getting downvoted lol

      • @[email protected]
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        -1018 months ago

        Probably the antiracists. You should wonder if you’re on the right side when you are promoting and supporting racism.

          • @[email protected]
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            -588 months ago

            The Winnie the Pooh meme about Xi is just racism. I don’t care if you think he’s a dictator.

            • @unphazed
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              328 months ago

              Not racist at all. It’s against one person. Trump’s face is seen on an orange all the time. No one is calling for racism. He just looks like a damn orange.

                • @[email protected]
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                  08 months ago

                  If only Obama was depicted like that, yes.

                  But it is commonly used to depict black people in general.

                  While nobody uses Winnie the Pooh to depict Chinese people, only their dictator.

              • @[email protected]
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                -388 months ago

                There’s a big difference here.

                Is Trump’s skin naturally orange? Is there a long history of oppressing white people in the US and other NATO countries?

                Just because the Winnie the Pooh meme didn’t originate as a racist symbol doesn’t mean that it isn’t used to propagate racism and sinophobia.

                • eltimablo
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                  368 months ago

                  Just because the Winnie the Pooh meme isn’t actually racist doesn’t mean I’m not going to call it racist in a pathetic attempt to establish a fake moral high ground over people who have arguments I can’t counter

                  There, I fixed it for you.

                • @unphazed
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                  248 months ago

                  Xi isn’t in the US and his country isn’t part of NATO. Political cartoons are as old as time. They poke fun at the individual, not their descent. By trying to make it more you’re arguing for it to be censored. He has feelings (maybe), but he has gone so far as to attempt to censor the cartoon from his own country. Not because he believes it is racist, but because his opinion is that he doesn’t like it. Streisand Effect of course, it gets used more. I think Xi does remarkably look like Pooh. Do other Asian persons? No. There isn’t an innocence about it. Xi feels bad by it, people use it to make him angry. He is a dictator with lots of power so people use the one tool they have to attempt to fight that power - a fucking cartoon bear.

                • @[email protected]
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                  88 months ago

                  What? Winnie the Pooh is from a British cartoon…Asian people aren’t described as “orange” by racists. I don’t think you know the origin of this meme

                  Please illustrate how a British cartoon character is a racist caricature of xi? Is Barack Obama a tiger?

                • @AngryCommieKender
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                  88 months ago

                  We are all one race. Human. You guys trying to claim that you are a different (read: superior) race are the racists.

            • @DarthFrodo
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              The Taiwanese use the meme all the time. Obviously not because it looks like Xi in particular and especially because of fragile censoring, but because they like to be racist against themselves. That must be it.

              Calling Trump a guinea pig is probably also considered racist in lemmygrad.

              • @[email protected]
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                -118 months ago

                and especially because of fragile censoring

                You think these memes are censored? Lol, you live in an authoritarian shithole that brainwashes you with this stupid shit. Use your brain.

              • @[email protected]
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                -348 months ago

                Taiwan is where the former Republic of China retreated after being defeated by the People’s Republic of China. The censorship of Xi=Pooh in China isn’t rooted in racism, it’s rooted in the political conflicts between the ROC and PRC. China censors these comparisons because they are used by opponents to attack the government. You don’t have to agree with their methods to understand why they would want to do this. Censoring realistic threats to the ruling government is a common practice in all nations.

                The racist aspect originates from how the meme is used in Western circles where there is a long history of racism towards minorities and the enemies of the US as well as a long history of sinophobia.

                If your understanding of history, racism, and their opinions of Trump are so shallow, maybe lurking Lemmygrad to learn why users from this instance act so aggressively towards racism and war-mongering propaganda would be helpful.

                • @[email protected]
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                  168 months ago

                  If being connected to a cartoon is a “realistic threat” then you have a shit government

              • @[email protected]
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                -288 months ago

                Dehumanizing people through racism is a well established method the US has historically used when manufacturing consent to go to war among its people. Look at depictions of Germans and Japanese in WWII. Look at depictions of Koreans, the Vietnamese, Afghans, and Iraqis during the invasions of their countries.

                Just because its origins weren’t racist doesn’t mean it hasn’t taken on a racist meaning. Sinophobia is rooted in racism and ignorance.

                • @theuberwalrus
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                  8 months ago

                  It’s one guy, not a caricature of Chinese people

                  Edit to mention that the guy in question is a dictator

                • @jcit878
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                  38 months ago

                  woah wtf you are being ridiculously racist. get the fuck out of here with that racist offensive stereotyping

            • @[email protected]
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              -18 months ago

              Whoa whoa saying Chinese are yellow isn’t cool. Dat’s racist, with Pooh the color isn’t relevant

    • @[email protected]
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      28 months ago

      It’s definitely part communists, but I think mostly special interest groups, maybe even from China itself.

      • Łumało [he/him]
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        -118 months ago

        You really want to feel special enough to think the Chinese government would even care about this internet backwater? Get real.

        • @[email protected]
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          38 months ago

          Altering public opinion is definitely on their agenda. I’m not the type of person that screams China bad on everything, but this simply wouldn’t surprise me. Also, nobody is trying to feel special here, except for you.

        • @metallic_substance
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          8 months ago

          What a goddamned loser. Go sell your ignorant cultist bullshit somewhere else. Nobody here is buying it other than mindless idiots

  • NotTheOnlyGamer
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    558 months ago

    When the shoe fits, start wearing it. PRC is an authoritarian state led by a dictator and his cronies.

      • @[email protected]
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        118 months ago

        Someone who jails people over depicting them in a mocking way is a dictator.

        Someone who bans historic events and pretends they never happened is a dictator.

      • @jcit878
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        8 months ago

        they see me rollin’

        in ma tankie

        pulpin’ protestors but they still call me silly commie

  • @OrteilGenou
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    468 months ago

    Oh-oh here Xi comes

    Watch out boy, Xi’ll chew you up

    Oh-oh here Xi comes

    Xi’s a man eater

  • TheSaneWriter
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    468 months ago

    Most dictators haven’t gone by that term, preferring instead some other executive role like chairman, supreme leader, or president. If Xi doesn’t want to be called a dictator, maybe China should start holding open elections, see how popular the CCP really is.

    • @[email protected]
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      208 months ago

      The CCP has higher approval rates than western governments and the vast majority of Chinese believe they are living in a democracy. This is confirmed by western studies; latest one I’ve seen was from Harvard.

      • @hydrospanner
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        68 months ago

        the vast majority of Chinese believe they are living in a democracy.

        So do the vast majority of Americans.

      • @Bernie_Sandals
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        48 months ago

        Okay but what meaningful influence does the average Chinese person have on who is chosen as Paramount Leader.

    • Spzi
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      28 months ago

      Most forced elections haven’t gone by that term, preferring instead some other description like people’s elections, free elections, or secured elections. Made up words but you get the idea.

    • MaggiWuerze
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      18 months ago

      Most dictators haven’t gone by that term, preferring instead some other executive role like chairman, supreme leader, or president.

      Don’t forget Führer

      • TheSaneWriter
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        228 months ago

        Yeah, our elections suck. They should be more open and should be ranked choice. Likewise, the Electoral College is complete bullshit. Even still, Xi is a dictator and China is not a democracy. Multiple things can be true.

          • @Gabu
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            08 months ago

            You can choose between voting for wumao Pooh or being kidnapped. Great choice!

          • ahornsirup
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            -48 months ago

            Nazi Germany had elections. North Korea has elections. As long as there’s no actual opposition on the ballot, just having elections means nothing.

        • @[email protected]
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          -288 months ago

          China is a democracy, the USA isn’t. Xi is the democratically elected leader of his country and enjoys massive popular support. Your past two presidents are hated by the peasantry. You have no understanding of the world because you live in what you think North Korea is like.

          Your press is censored, your internet is censored, you have a one party state with no democracy and people die from preventable diseases daily. Homelessness and poverty are rampant. Child slavery and child poverty have skyrocketed under the current regime. America is a shithole, circling the drain and your pathetic racist shit in this thread just exemplifies how little you have to come back with.

          • SeaJ
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            108 months ago

            Xi is the democratically elected leader of his country

            How many people voted for him? How many votes did his opponent get?

            • @[email protected]
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              8 months ago

              No idea. I couldn’t even tell you that about my own country or the USA, you know that place that’s totally a democracy where they don’t count all the votes and keep the black people from voting with dirty tricks.

              • SeaJ
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                98 months ago

                The general population does not vote for the presidency in China, the electors chosen by the CCP do. That is significantly less democratic than the US which is also not a very democratic country when it comes to the presidency.

                • @[email protected]
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                  8 months ago

                  Neither do americans get to vote for their president nor the germans for their chancellor.

          • @Gabu
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            08 months ago

            Chinese bots are welcome… to burn in a fire

    • Pili
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      -28 months ago

      You could even say, it is far-right.

  • @samus12345
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    398 months ago

    If any country knows what a dictator is, it’s Germany.