• superkret@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    76
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 day ago

    We should stop calling it “the west” then.
    It’s always been a ridiculous name for a group that includes Australia, Europe, and USA.
    We should think of a new name…

      • Crikeste@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 hour ago

        Ahh yeah, because people in China aren’t free, they’re all slaves. Same with Russia. And all of the Middle East.

        Westerners just have for the lowest wages their companies will pay them because if they don’t they’ll become destitute. Certainly not coercive.

        Hey yo, isn’t there a little exception in our “abolishing of slavery”? I wonder why we have such a large percentage of prisoners here in America, compared to the rest of the world.

        Ever heard of prisoner leasing?

        Free world my ass.

          • Schmoo@slrpnk.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 hour ago

            Likely referring to the millions of people who are subjected to forced prison labor either without pay or for less than $1 an hour by for-profit prisons. This system has direct historical roots in the chattel slave economy, and even served as a direct drop-in replacement for chattel slaves on the very same plantations after the 13th amendment prohibited slavery except as punishment for a crime.

            To this day the profit motive creates a perverse incentive for the owners of for-profit prisons to fight against efforts to reduce recidivism, since recidivism is good for their business. Our prison system serves not to rehabilitate, or even to punish, but rather to exploit the waiver of prisoners’ rights that is enshrined in our constitution for profit.

      • Doom@ttrpg.network
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 day ago

        The “other side” is imperial too. That doesn’t make sense.

        The entire thing is just imperial powers battling and using everything in-between as pawns.

        Do you think Russia, China and Saudi Arabia aren’t doing the same thing to places?

      • superkret@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 day ago

        No country in South America, Africa or Asia is part of “the west”.
        I admit I forgot Canada and New Zealand, as is tradition.

        • cygnus@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 day ago

          Japan and South Korea aren’t in Asia? I’d certainly count them as “western”, especially Japan. if I’m feeling especially generous I might provisionally include Brazil too.

          • Doom@ttrpg.network
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            7
            ·
            1 day ago

            I wouldn’t. You’re mistaking countries under the thumb of the West as being the West

            WWII and Korea are how those countries came about their position today. I don’t think they’re entirely against their position but they don’t have a seat at the table like the others do

            • Match!!@pawb.social
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              9
              ·
              edit-2
              24 hours ago

              Japan’s the third largest economy in the world and they aligned themselves with the West in the Meiji restoration. they sought imperial conquest of their neighbors in the 1900s. what more do you want for them to be the West

              • Doom@ttrpg.network
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                6 hours ago

                Not willingly. This is a core tenet of meoliberalism.

                Japan has blurred porn because of the US. Any laws Japan has made that US citizens have to follow? Nope. How many Japanese military bases exist in America. 0.

                They do not have an equal seat at the table.

            • cygnus@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              24 hours ago

              They have has as much of a seat as warrants their size and economic power, perhaps even more because of their location as a buffer against China. Most EU countries have pull only because they are part of the EU. Compare Spain and Japan on the world stage, for example.

              • Doom@ttrpg.network
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                6 hours ago

                I understand what you’re saying but how many Japanese military bases exist on US soil?

                It’s not an equal seat

                • cygnus@lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  5 hours ago

                  I don’t think that’s a reasonable metric. Germany and the UK wouldn’t be considered influential either, and yet they are.