• RiverRock@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      Literally every government with the capability to control information is doing that, and frankly the rise of bleach-injecting covid denialist flat earth tradwife inflluencers has proven China right to do so.

      • GirthBrooksPLO@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        From Merriam-Webster

        " of authoritarian

        1 relating to, or favoring blind submission to [authority].

        2 relating to, or favoring a concentration of power in a leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people

        • RiverRock@lemmy.ml
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          3 months ago

          So like, objectively not China? Because their ruling party consists of 90 million members and they’re constantly debating shit, and enjoy an incredibly high satisfaction rate among non-party members?

            • RiverRock@lemmy.ml
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              3 months ago

              Yes, of course they could. Individual people make the decision to practice birth control every day, and a vast democratic assembly of millions voted in by their peers can make that decision as well. Meanwhile in the US, reproductive policy is dictated by nine unelected ministers: an objectively far less democratic process, yet our media never describes the US government as “authoritarian.” Because it’s not a term meant to usefully delineate important differences in form and function, it’s a vibes based epithet meant to be wielded against geopolitical enemies of capitalism. It’s a thought-terminating cliche, deployed highly selectively against anti-imperialist societies to artificially cast proletarian authority as uniquely evil while tacticly normalizing the authority of billionaires and corporations.

              In practice, authoritarianism is when you are objectively more democratic in function and policy than western countries, but commit the cardinal sin of using that authority to safeguard your sovereignty, people and resources from the inhumanity of global capitalism.

              • GirthBrooksPLO@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Yes, but those are entirely voluntary. The point is that a government should have no say in reproduction whatsoever. That is why campaigns to change the cratering birthrate have failed.

        • Gold_E_Lox@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          3 months ago

          i love that it has the caveat in the second definition abt a constitution. like, no guys, totslly not us, look at this definition we created to show how we arent authoritarian