Lebron calls Celtics fans racist

[Kernewek]

I believe Lebron’s bosses have told the NBA players and employees to relax on criticizing China because they have business interests. Why else did Daryl Morey delete his tweets about a free Hong Kong? If you work for a corporation, I would bet your boss wouldn’t appreciate you publicly criticizing a potential client/partner.

The NBA (from Silver at the top) has embraced the message that black people are not disposable. People on here want to (fairly) criticize the BLM organization, but the actual message has been embraced by the NBA.

I don’t see the hypocrisy.

Ali was asked why he refused to go to Vietnam, and he basically said “no Vietcong ever called me the N word”. I think there’s a chance that Lebron has been personally affected by racism in the States, and that’s why he’s addressing it.

No one is saying that his words were eloquent. I’m not saying that Boston is the most racist city. I’m not saying that Boston fans are all racist. I’m saying that the Garden is a place where crudeness and abuse is tolerated, sprinkled in with some racism. How do I know this? I’ve heard the N word there on multiple occasions. Now some would argue that the N word is just abuse and not racist abuse. I disagree.

Also, Lebron was asked where he doesn’t like to play, then subsequently why he doesn’t like playing in Boston. He wasn’t asked  what is the most racist city. This tactic of shifting the focus continues to be repeated on this thread.

I kind of like how the bolded part is phrased. I feel like that's the crux of the issue. There could be a lot of racism, there could be a little, and there should be none.

I dunno am I allowed to dislike this guy, but also have my views in line with the more progressive views with regards to black lives and black progress, and like the things Jaylen and Bill Russell have done and said, and dislike how Lebron is representing the progessiveness due to the way he carries himself?

Edit: I'm sincerely asking - "am I allowed" as in does that track, or is there something I'm missing/being hypocritical. I'm not being sarcastic

Of course you're allowed, Poke. There's no hypocrisy in disagreeing with how someone says something even if you agree with what they say. That's a strong 50% of the posts in Current Events and we don't run around calling each other hypocrites all the time.

People tend to treat these things like a purity test but that's both misunderstanding the nature of hypocrisy and a result of weaponised internet discourse. If people are actually being hypocritical, then sure, their argument is weakened - but nowadays people will look at any segment of nuance and call it hypocrisy in an attempt to 'win' the argument.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

I believe Lebron’s bosses have told the NBA players and employees to relax on criticizing China because they have business interests. Why else did Daryl Morey delete his tweets about a free Hong Kong? If you work for a corporation, I would bet your boss wouldn’t appreciate you publicly criticizing a potential client/partner.

The NBA (from Silver at the top) has embraced the message that black people are not disposable. People on here want to (fairly) criticize the BLM organization, but the actual message has been embraced by the NBA.

I don’t see the hypocrisy.

Ali was asked why he refused to go to Vietnam, and he basically said “no Vietcong ever called me the N word”. I think there’s a chance that Lebron has been personally affected by racism in the States, and that’s why he’s addressing it.

No one is saying that his words were eloquent. I’m not saying that Boston is the most racist city. I’m not saying that Boston fans are all racist. I’m saying that the Garden is a place where crudeness and abuse is tolerated, sprinkled in with some racism. How do I know this? I’ve heard the N word there on multiple occasions. Now some would argue that the N word is just abuse and not racist abuse. I disagree.

Also, Lebron was asked where he doesn’t like to play, then subsequently why he doesn’t like playing in Boston. He wasn’t asked  what is the most racist city. This tactic of shifting the focus continues to be repeated on this thread.

I kind of like how the bolded part is phrased. I feel like that's the crux of the issue. There could be a lot of racism, there could be a little, and there should be none.

I dunno am I allowed to dislike this guy, but also have my views in line with the more progressive views with regards to black lives and black progress, and like the things Jaylen and Bill Russell have done and said, and dislike how Lebron is representing the progessiveness due to the way he carries himself?

Edit: I'm sincerely asking - "am I allowed" as in does that track, or is there something I'm missing/being hypocritical. I'm not being sarcastic

Of course you're allowed, Poke. There's no hypocrisy in disagreeing with how someone says something even if you agree with what they say. That's a strong 50% of the posts in Current Events and we don't run around calling each other hypocrites all the time.

People tend to treat these things like a purity test but that's both misunderstanding the nature of hypocrisy and a result of weaponised internet discourse. If people are actually being hypocritical, then sure, their argument is weakened - but nowadays people will look at any segment of nuance and call it hypocrisy in an attempt to 'win' the argument.

It's not just the internet. I was at the gym the other day and Tucker Carlson was on TV. I saw that he was trying to compare the NBA's position on China to their position on police brutality. Two disparate, nuanced subjects. I think Carlson thought he could combine the two in a simplistic manner to discredit opponents of police brutality. I disagree.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

Does anyone here actually regularly watch the shop? I’ve only seen clips. Curious if it is any good after all this discussion.

I've seen some of them.  They aren't bad.  They touch on a lot of subjects.  I mean this thread is basically a 45 second discussion in the 30 minute or so episode dealing with race and racism.  The show is obviously a show produced for tv, but it certainly isn't scripted and does have more of the barbershop type feel to it (which is the point).  So a lot of what is said is off the cuff and it is why some of the stuff comes off a bit rambling or isn't stated as clearly as maybe it should be (like that 45 seconds from this thread).  Also, because there is a lot of content, a lot of the stuff that really makes the news cycle from the show is pulled out of context for clicks.  Like even in this thread, when you miss the lead in question which wasn't why do you hate Boston, but more along the lines of which fanbases make it tough for you, then you miss some of the context of the overall answer that Boston fans make it tough on you because (1) they say racist things, (2) they say anything, (3) they have shirts with profanity towards you, and (4) they even throw beer on you.

I like the show, but I also like (or at a minimum don't hate) Lebron.

In particular, I liked the episode with Kevin Hart and Kevin Love. There are a lot of important things said from these athletes. I reject the idea that they should shut up and dribble.

[gouki88]

What players were located in China at the time of the tweet?

And, if the situation was dangerous, why did the NBA continue to play NBA games there?

https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2019-10-14/lakers-china-how-nba-defuse-tensions-amid-tumultuous-week

Lakers and Nets.

The NBA should have cancelled/suspended the trip for safety purposes.

Roy, did you see my post? Why is Lebron a hypocrite but we are not re: China?

The average American can’t decline to do business with China.  There simply aren’t viable options for most Americans.  Those Americans, however, don’t self-edit themselves on social media and call out others for being “misinformed”.

Lebron, of course, has the ability to wield influence.  In this area, he takes a “the Chinese buy shoes, too” approach.  I think it’s fair to criticize that.  Moreso, I think it’s fair to criticize his response to Morey.

I don’t buy this logic for a second. He’s Lebron James, not Reverend James or President James. We don’t get to criticize others for making the choices that we make on a daily basis. I mean, we can. It just makes us look like hypocrites, which is a tough look when calling Lebron a hypocrite.

Other than certain technological items where I do not have an alternative at this time, I own nothing made in Communist China. I refuse to support communist-supplied/controlled labor (fair to call it slave labor) and, frankly, communist-driven genocide at this point. If I were in LeBron’s shoes, I would open factories in the marginalized areas of America, not in Communist China, if a profit margin could be achieved for the product being manufactured. Or in an impoverished area in a country that is clearly trying to be a free, democratic society. No shortage of such places. I would find a way to do business without Communist China and I would speak up against slavery/genocide in Communist China given the amazing platform I’d have. All the money in the world would not allow me to go to sleep at night knowing I am profiting off deals with the devil that is the Communist Party of China…

Believe it or not, there was once a time not too long ago when America did not rely on communists in Communist China to supply slave labor so that some business owners could turn profit margins into absurd profit margins…

At this point it is abundantly clear that buying products made in Communist China is directly funding communist activities, and basically contributing to a phenomenon of USD ending up in the hands of communists who direct the USD to be allocated in a manner that causes maximum societal damage in the USA, not maximize returns/profits. Funding communist activities should be avoided if your budget allows it. “Everybody else is doing it” and “we can’t compete if we do not do it” is exactly how the plantation owners in the South defended American slavery, BTW. We can surely do better than this in 2022.

what business do you think James does in China? He doesn't exactly own a bunch of product producing businesses.

Please, for the love of god, do not encourage any more ignorant posting from him on China (or anything, really).

[GreenlyGreeny]

What players were located in China at the time of the tweet?

And, if the situation was dangerous, why did the NBA continue to play NBA games there?

https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2019-10-14/lakers-china-how-nba-defuse-tensions-amid-tumultuous-week

Lakers and Nets.

The NBA should have cancelled/suspended the trip for safety purposes.

Roy, did you see my post? Why is Lebron a hypocrite but we are not re: China?

The average American can’t decline to do business with China.  There simply aren’t viable options for most Americans.  Those Americans, however, don’t self-edit themselves on social media and call out others for being “misinformed”.

Lebron, of course, has the ability to wield influence.  In this area, he takes a “the Chinese buy shoes, too” approach.  I think it’s fair to criticize that.  Moreso, I think it’s fair to criticize his response to Morey.

I don’t buy this logic for a second. He’s Lebron James, not Reverend James or President James. We don’t get to criticize others for making the choices that we make on a daily basis. I mean, we can. It just makes us look like hypocrites, which is a tough look when calling Lebron a hypocrite.

Other than certain technological items where I do not have an alternative at this time, I own nothing made in Communist China. I refuse to support communist-supplied/controlled labor (fair to call it slave labor) and, frankly, communist-driven genocide at this point. If I were in LeBron’s shoes, I would open factories in the marginalized areas of America, not in Communist China, if a profit margin could be achieved for the product being manufactured. Or in an impoverished area in a country that is clearly trying to be a free, democratic society. No shortage of such places. I would find a way to do business without Communist China and I would speak up against slavery/genocide in Communist China given the amazing platform I’d have. All the money in the world would not allow me to go to sleep at night knowing I am profiting off deals with the devil that is the Communist Party of China…

Believe it or not, there was once a time not too long ago when America did not rely on communists in Communist China to supply slave labor so that some business owners could turn profit margins into absurd profit margins…

At this point it is abundantly clear that buying products made in Communist China is directly funding communist activities, and basically contributing to a phenomenon of USD ending up in the hands of communists who direct the USD to be allocated in a manner that causes maximum societal damage in the USA, not maximize returns/profits. Funding communist activities should be avoided if your budget allows it. “Everybody else is doing it” and “we can’t compete if we do not do it” is exactly how the plantation owners in the South defended American slavery, BTW. We can surely do better than this in 2022.

what business do you think James does in China? He doesn't exactly own a bunch of product producing businesses.

Thought this went without saying, but the main product in question is LeBron’s sneakers, which he has ultimate control over.

Please, for the love of god, do not encourage any more ignorant posting from him on China (or anything, really).

The only ignorance is among those who think communist activities are not being funded by buying stuff made in Communist China—the same ignorant people who think the communists are going to stop in Hong Kong. The fifty year agreement between Britain and Communist China was supposed to be so the people of China would hear and see of a free, prosperous place called Hong Kong. That’s out the door and we’re barely 25 years into the deal.

Everyone should go do some research on why it is really becoming increasingly difficult to buy a house and make a living in the West (same goes for our friends down under). What do you people really think the communists are doing with all the currency they have been collecting in exchange for their currency the past twenty years? You think they’re business people looking to maximize profits? The only thing they’re interested in maximizing in this world is their political power, and that means maximizing chaos and societal problems throughout the West. It’s beyond obvious to see at this point, and all the papering over in the world with shell companies who are trying to dupe everyone into buying the euphemism “investor” is no longer concealing the truth (i.e., they’re communists, not investors, and they wish to divide and conquer all societies not currently under the rule of the Communist Party—and if you’re so fortunate to be in a free society, best not to be one of the Communist Party’s “useful idiots”).

All roads lead back to Communist China. The sooner the world stops falling for the Communist Con by relying on communist-controlled labor and consuming products made in Communist China, the sooner peace, order and prosperity will return to the free countries of Asia (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc.) and the West. Or we keep falling for the Communist Con until it’s too late to stop the hegemony of the Communist Party of China worldwide. Pretty easy choice, frankly: Stop propping up the regime by no longer falling for the con, still generate significant profit margins with factories in developing countries that wish to be free, watch the communist  system implode after becoming increasingly isolated, watch their people become free by throwing the Communist Party into the dustbin of history once and for all (instead of tanks rolling over the individuals in the streets who just wish to be free like you and me), and watch real progress happen in the world.

Here is the ultimate symbol of standing up for social justice—this incredibly courageous individual who just wished to be free of the oppression of the Communist Party:



Communism did not die in 1989-1991. It evolved and adapted into an illusion with a savvy con to convince the West to become fooled into becoming dependent on the communists rather than being intertwined, growing and prosperous with other free nations. They did it by manipulating the greed of American businesses and consumers. Fortunately, it’s not too late to stop communism and finally throw it into the dustbin of history. Let it begin with refusal to buy and make products in Communist China regardless of how expensive alternative sources may be. We must live free, and every individual on earth, including the people being oppressed by the Communist Party of China, deserves to be free. Isolate Communist China, make their system implode, and watch the individuals in China who wish to be free stand up with nobody willing to run those tanks over anybody except Communist Party officials next time.

[Kernewek]

The fact that the CCP call themselves communist is as indicative of their actual structure and beliefs as the Knicks calling themselves the best team in New York.

China hasn’t been a communist country in 50 years. Authoritarian? sure. Strong centralised power? Absolutely. Acting like bellends when it comes to personal freedom? 100%. The biggest potential for upending the current world hierarchy? Yes, for sure.

But using “communism” as shorthand for all that is not only a little lazy, it’s also not correct - imagine a communist country with a mixed economy that interacts heavily with the global free market rather than a planned economy, for example. It doesn’t make any sense - and I don’t mean that in the theoretical way of “ah but communism can work on a scale/ or if…” I mean that it literally doesn’t fit with the definition of what we know these systems to be.

[GreenlyGreeny]

The fact that the CCP call themselves communist is as indicative of their actual structure and beliefs as the Knicks calling themselves the best team in New York.

China hasn’t been a communist country in 50 years. Authoritarian? sure. Strong centralised power? Absolutely. Acting like bellends when it comes to personal freedom? 100%. The biggest potential for upending the current world hierarchy? Yes, for sure.

But using “communism” as shorthand for all that is not only a little lazy, it’s also not correct - imagine a communist country with a mixed economy that interacts heavily with the global free market rather than a planned economy, for example. It doesn’t make any sense - and I don’t mean that in the theoretical way of “ah but communism can work on a scale/ or if…” I mean that it literally doesn’t fit with the definition of what we know these systems to be.

Nothing is quite what it appears any longer, but you can rest assured that the “mixed economy that interacts heavily with the global free market” and efforts to appear to increasingly mirror western commercialism is an illusion, a part of the facade they concocted to survive the 1990s and eventually turn the tables as we have been seeing quite clearly since 2020 (go try to buy a house, or do some forensic accounting on these “investors” with shell company ties to intermediary countries in the West—again, all roads lead back to Communist China). The communists know Sun Tzu’s Art of War, and do not think quarter to quarter and year by year—they’re thinking decade to decade and century to century. Make no doubt the communists’ end game is to play along that they’re “communist in name only” now and UNTIL their hegemony is at such a level that 1989-esque martial law, censorship and command-and-control can be implemented anywhere and everywhere in the world after they achieve the communists’ dream of global domination by the Communist Party. The communists are still communists, not business people and certainly not the friends of free people in the world. They proudly call themselves communists and we should reciprocate by calling them Communist China and every product made there is made in Communist China, not China or Corporate America’s increasingly common and laughable “made in PRC.” In fact, a great idea is to force all products made in China to carry the label Made in Communist China, so it’s always in everyone’s face where this crap is all coming from: A place full of communists.

But this is a great point you make (and I agree they’re not Karl Marx’s original ideology, but their own Frankenstein version of it) because it’s important for businesses and consumers to ponder why we would do business in a country that has a Communist Party with nearly 100 million self-identified communists who toe the communist party line, and now try to enforce that crap on businesses around the world. Does that sound like a trustworthy situation to do business and potentially become dependent on such a place? In case anybody’s wondering what the answer is, it’s found in 2020-2022 (and probably a number of years to come this decade). The answer is a resounding no, and the time to stand up and say “enough—you need to embrace freedom, or you will no longer do business with societies that value freedom and social justice.” Yes, the same sanctions the free world have applied to Russia and Iran ought to be applied to Communist China next unless they become increasingly free societies. So it’s time to close up those factories and move them elsewhere in the world before it all gets seized like the Kremlin did to McDonald’s in Russia 🤣

[gouki88]

Greenly doubling down on this. Gotta love it.

[nickagneta]

Just about every cell phone in America was made in China. Should everybody stop using phones in protest because they use cell phones to make money?

[GreenlyGreeny]

Just about every cell phone in America was made in China. Should everybody stop using phones in protest because they use cell phones to make money?

No, we should instead just bow to our new overlords? Of course Apple, Samsung and others should start to move their manufacturing hubs elsewhere in the world instead of being wholly dependent on a place full of communists who actually want all business people and free consumers to be their slave or dead…who really wants to keep doing business with a place full of communists who increasingly try to tell businesses to toe whatever new party line nonsense they’re pushing this week?

Greenly needs to stop reading “populist right” news stations like CNN, you say:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cnn-exclusive-fbi-investigation-determined-chinese-made-huawei-equipment-could-disrupt-us-nuclear-arsenal-communications/ar-AAZSJcr

This is just what’s now in the news, folks, so it’s just the tip of the iceberg…

[gouki88]

Just about every cell phone in America was made in China. Should everybody stop using phones in protest because they use cell phones to make money?

No, we should instead just bow to our new overlords? Of course Apple, Samsung and others should start to move their manufacturing hubs elsewhere in the world instead of being wholly dependent on a place full of communists who actually want all business people and free consumers to be their slave or dead…who really wants to keep doing business with a place full of communists who increasingly try to tell businesses to toe whatever new party line nonsense they’re pushing this week?

Greenly needs to stop reading “populist right” news stations like CNN, you say:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cnn-exclusive-fbi-investigation-determined-chinese-made-huawei-equipment-could-disrupt-us-nuclear-arsenal-communications/ar-AAZSJcr

This is just what’s now in the news, folks, so it’s just the tip of the iceberg…

Is that you, Joseph McCarthy?

[GreenlyGreeny]

Just about every cell phone in America was made in China. Should everybody stop using phones in protest because they use cell phones to make money?

No, we should instead just bow to our new overlords? Of course Apple, Samsung and others should start to move their manufacturing hubs elsewhere in the world instead of being wholly dependent on a place full of communists who actually want all business people and free consumers to be their slave or dead…who really wants to keep doing business with a place full of communists who increasingly try to tell businesses to toe whatever new party line nonsense they’re pushing this week?

Greenly needs to stop reading “populist right” news stations like CNN, you say:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cnn-exclusive-fbi-investigation-determined-chinese-made-huawei-equipment-could-disrupt-us-nuclear-arsenal-communications/ar-AAZSJcr

This is just what’s now in the news, folks, so it’s just the tip of the iceberg…

Is that you, Joseph McCarthy?

Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Not Uncle Sam and the Union Jack:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11037405/Fleet-nuclear-submarines-sent-Britain-Australia-warning-China.html

[Roy H.]

Okay, back on topic, please.

[Kernewek]

The fact that the CCP call themselves communist is as indicative of their actual structure and beliefs as the Knicks calling themselves the best team in New York.

China hasn’t been a communist country in 50 years. Authoritarian? sure. Strong centralised power? Absolutely. Acting like bellends when it comes to personal freedom? 100%. The biggest potential for upending the current world hierarchy? Yes, for sure.

But using “communism” as shorthand for all that is not only a little lazy, it’s also not correct - imagine a communist country with a mixed economy that interacts heavily with the global free market rather than a planned economy, for example. It doesn’t make any sense - and I don’t mean that in the theoretical way of “ah but communism can work on a scale/ or if…” I mean that it literally doesn’t fit with the definition of what we know these systems to be.

Nothing is quite what it appears any longer, but you can rest assured that the “mixed economy that interacts heavily with the global free market” and efforts to appear to increasingly mirror western commercialism is an illusion, a part of the facade they concocted to survive the 1990s and eventually turn the tables as we have been seeing quite clearly since 2020 (go try to buy a house, or do some forensic accounting on these “investors” with shell company ties to intermediary countries in the West—again, all roads lead back to Communist China). The communists know Sun Tzu’s Art of War, and do not think quarter to quarter and year by year—they’re thinking decade to decade and century to century. Make no doubt the communists’ end game is to play along that they’re “communist in name only” now and UNTIL their hegemony is at such a level that 1989-esque martial law, censorship and command-and-control can be implemented anywhere and everywhere in the world after they achieve the communists’ dream of global domination by the Communist Party. The communists are still communists, not business people and certainly not the friends of free people in the world.

China is absolutely integrated into the global free market: otherwise you wouldn't have wealthy Chinese people buying up property in places like China, Australia, Canada, etc. Which is a thing that is happening, to be sure, but it's completely contradictory to your point because the shell companies and the housebuyers are doing it to get wealth out of China, not to facilitate some unbroken century-long Communist plot. That's just warmed over Red Dawn fearmongering.

'The Communists' of 2022 China are a completely different group of people than 'The Communists' of Mao and 'The Communists' inbetween. They have some of the same geopolitical goals because while eras change, geography doesn't, but all of the economic superpowers operate in roughly the same way - there's functionally no difference between the US, the EU, and China when it comes to expansion of soft power. Does Xi want to expand China's importance to the point where he can tell people all over the planet what to do? Yes, but so did Donald Trump.

We can sit here and argue back and forth about it but if you want a system of exchange that benefits one over everyone else, unfettered free market capitalism is the best tool for the job - just look at Russia during the Soviet Union era and then after the collapse: there were still a handful of jerks in charge, so that didn't change in much of a meaningful way, but they definitely became a lot more efficient at stealing wealth from the people. China's not been on the same exact path, but it is similar.

All that to say, you can go on about communism, but communism isn't the problem with China. China is the problem with China: specifically how they want to see the world reshaped. Communism is ancillary to that, in my view. It's like blaming Rondo's poor performances on his headband being flipped upside down (remember that bit of nonsense   ?)

edit: also, I'm not sure what this has to do with racism?

[GreenlyGreeny]

The fact that the CCP call themselves communist is as indicative of their actual structure and beliefs as the Knicks calling themselves the best team in New York.

China hasn’t been a communist country in 50 years. Authoritarian? sure. Strong centralised power? Absolutely. Acting like bellends when it comes to personal freedom? 100%. The biggest potential for upending the current world hierarchy? Yes, for sure.

But using “communism” as shorthand for all that is not only a little lazy, it’s also not correct - imagine a communist country with a mixed economy that interacts heavily with the global free market rather than a planned economy, for example. It doesn’t make any sense - and I don’t mean that in the theoretical way of “ah but communism can work on a scale/ or if…” I mean that it literally doesn’t fit with the definition of what we know these systems to be.

Nothing is quite what it appears any longer, but you can rest assured that the “mixed economy that interacts heavily with the global free market” and efforts to appear to increasingly mirror western commercialism is an illusion, a part of the facade they concocted to survive the 1990s and eventually turn the tables as we have been seeing quite clearly since 2020 (go try to buy a house, or do some forensic accounting on these “investors” with shell company ties to intermediary countries in the West—again, all roads lead back to Communist China). The communists know Sun Tzu’s Art of War, and do not think quarter to quarter and year by year—they’re thinking decade to decade and century to century. Make no doubt the communists’ end game is to play along that they’re “communist in name only” now and UNTIL their hegemony is at such a level that 1989-esque martial law, censorship and command-and-control can be implemented anywhere and everywhere in the world after they achieve the communists’ dream of global domination by the Communist Party. The communists are still communists, not business people and certainly not the friends of free people in the world.

China is absolutely integrated into the global free market: otherwise you wouldn't have wealthy Chinese people buying up property in places like China, Australia, Canada, etc. Which is a thing that is happening, to be sure, but it's completely contradictory to your point because the shell companies and the housebuyers are doing it to get wealth out of China, not to facilitate some unbroken century-long Communist plot. That's just warmed over Red Dawn fearmongering.

'The Communists' of 2022 China are a completely different group of people than 'The Communists' of Mao and 'The Communists' inbetween. They have some of the same geopolitical goals because while eras change, geography doesn't, but all of the economic superpowers operate in roughly the same way - there's functionally no difference between the US, the EU, and China when it comes to expansion of soft power. Does Xi want to expand China's importance to the point where he can tell people all over the planet what to do? Yes, but so did Donald Trump.

We can sit here and argue back and forth about it but if you want a system of exchange that benefits one over everyone else, unfettered free market capitalism is the best tool for the job - just look at Russia during the Soviet Union era and then after the collapse: there were still a handful of jerks in charge, so that didn't change in much of a meaningful way, but they definitely became a lot more efficient at stealing wealth from the people. China's not been on the same exact path, but it is similar.

All that to say, you can go on about communism, but communism isn't the problem with China. China is the problem with China: specifically how they want to see the world reshaped. Communism is ancillary to that, in my view. It's like blaming Rondo's poor performances on his headband being flipped upside down (remember that bit of nonsense   ?)

I think we see eye to eye on this, and I just have a different opinion of how to frame the issue at hand (communists is what they continue to call themselves, so let’s hold them to that and not pretend that’s the big elephant in the room nobody wants to talk about). I also can state unequivocally there is no such thing as “wealthy people” from Communist China, let alone buying property to increase the wealth of supposedly wealthy individuals. Nobody is a “wealthy person” if the Communist Party can simply take everything away at the push of a button.  What is really happening is communists posing as “wealthy people” buying property at the direction of communist party officials in order to significantly increase demand for property in the West and therefore cause maximum societal damage in the wake of such increases in prices, making life increasingly unaffordable for ordinary people. Frankly, one cannot help but wonder if there may be RICO cases to be prosecuted down the line, where much of the criminal conspiracy planning is occurring abroad. They’re all just doing the bidding of an evil political party that calls themselves the communist party, so for lack of a better word it is best to simply call them what they call themselves. There’s really no point in arguing over the semantics. They wanna call this communism, let’s call it communism. It’s certainly as evil as any threat posed by communism in the 20th century. If you instead call it just China, that’s offensive to the free people of Taiwan and it provides an opening for the communists to scream “anti-Asian racism!” So calling it a fight against 21sf century communism is far more effective and certainly respectful to the free Chinese in Taiwan.

edit: also, I'm not sure what this has to do with racism?

Everything in America is about racism today, didn’t you know? We certainly have no shortage of CCP and Kremlin officials online posing as Americans who would like to spread the idea that everything is about racism and no era has ever been more racist than today.

Edit: I just saw the post before this after reading the new posts in reverse otder. The boss has spoken. I will shut up about the hypocrisy of LeBron stating he values social justice while allowing his bread-and-butter sneakers to be made in Communist China. It’s a complicated issue, and I think I’ve illustrated that.

I will say one more time that it’s beyond infuriating that LeBron would use his platform to point out Boston. I have no doubt whatsoever that Cleveland (Ohio is among the most racist states I’ve heard stories about—you won’t find KKK in Massachusetts, but you will in Ohio!), Miami and Los Angeles have plenty of fans who use racial epithets just like Boston has fans who do so. Let’s hear about that too, LeBron.