[MrBingley]

I am deeply disturbed by what we are seeing in China. The Great Firewall, massive concentration camps in Xinjiang, a new "social credit" system - I think the dystopia of 1984 is becoming a reality. I am afraid that as a society we have the complacency that the "good guys" - democracy, human rights, freedom - will always win. Stalinism and facism eventually fell, but the Communist Party of China is still going strong, and seems to be more than able to extend its grip to the 21st century.

[legionof7]

And no one will stand up to them because they are too economically and culturally powerful.

[TaylorAlexander]

This to me is a reminder why it is so important that the people control the means of production. Whether it be the Chinese Government or Amazon, concentrated power leads that power to make anti social decisions. Harm to the environment, harm to individuals, and harm to society can be incentivized by concentration of power.

I believe a vitally important way to fight those powers is to build independent people-first power. We can do it. Our earth is so productive now that it’s possible to live like a king without hurting others. But we must abstain from buying this cheap plastic garbage like the product the woman found the note in. Buying products we know will become waste, or whose workers we can’t account for, means we are directly supporting the destruction of the earth and of society.

We have to stand up. We must. There is no other way to change. Not voting, not blogging. We must stop being consumers of harmful products and use our money to support organizations that truly represent change.

[TazeTSchnitzel]

Western leaders meet Chinese ones and make a mention of human rights… then sign trade deals anyway.

[whatshisface]

In another thread, HN is discussing Trump's attempt at setting up a trade war. Although I honestly don't think the Kissinger school cares one bit about other people's genocides, or about dictatorships in other countries, (you've heard the quotes about how some US politicians wish our government would be more like China's, there's not a lot of moral outrage), if you want a belligerent US that gets in China's way then we probably have the ideal president for that.

[sigi45]

We are better but also not good:

- No healthcare for everyone - War over oil - closed borders and no asylum support but cheap foreign labor

[colanderman]

FYI, you are being downvoted not because those things are not true or bad, but because those things are totally irrelevant to the topic of whether the actions of the Chinese state are moral.

(You are also further assuming that the person to whom you are replying is a US citizen, which is far from given on HN.)