Yao Ming Filming Anti-Poaching Documentary in Kenya (VIDEO)

LMAO @ Redd. No open racism? Why, because the president is black? In the first half of this year alone, there have been at least 120 extrajudicial killings of black people in the US–that means one lynching every 36 hours by the police or a smaller group of self-appointed vigilantes. No trial, no nothing.
I’m not answering you because I don’t give a sh!t what you say about Canada. Actually I’ve lived in both Canada and the US–not that it makes a difference, because you only need to look at actual history and current events in order to “understand USA society.” I would never go around waving the flag of either country. And I really don’t care that you bash Canada, Canada is basically America-lite, except there’s free healthcare and the people actually believe in evolution. All the white supremacy is a little more covert here, but still present nonetheless. I’m no gambling man, but I’d wager I know more about the US than you know about Canada… also that I know more about Canada than you know about the US. Basically you’re just ignorant.
Good luck with your… unconsciousness? LOL. You’re basically bragging on an internet forum about being ignorant. Yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and ignore you now.

The USSR under stalin killed tens of millions of people, and last I checked, they were also white. Similarly they killed over a million afghans in the 1980′s in an imperial war that is called it’s vietnam. That name is apt because there was a great deal of imperialism involved in the venture, not to mention civilian death. Ukrainians who starved under Stalin’s rule would beg to differ with your inverted reality. I have friends who grew up under the iron curtain and have a much less glamorous view.

As for Hitler, he is viewed uniquely in his evil because of Nazi Death camps, not because he attacked the rest of Europe. Stalin is viewed less for that reason maybe, same with Mao, even though they did the same things, so perhaps that could be viewed as a double standard. If you believe that the several million american victims of the last 50 years is worse than the several 10′s of millions of victims of the USSR, then there is no hope for you. This isn’t that hard. 10 murders is always worse than one. For chrissakes, Nikita Kruschev knew this, which is why he appologized for the crimes of Stalin after Stalin’s death. As for hunman rights organizations being denounced for their contribution to neo-colonialism, you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. Neo-colonialism refers to the system of economic arrangements that have been errected in the post world war period that force unequal economies to compete, which advantages certain seectors in rich and poor economies, as well as political entanglements that have the same effect. HRW and Amnesty which frequently denounce the actions of western governments are not directly related to this in anyway. You can argue that some NGOs perform a function of entenching an economy of a third world nation in this way, say an aid agency, but someone who highlights the state crimes of say china’s judicial system is not one of those NGOs. No agency is flawless, but there is general agreements about the gigantic ammount of state sanction murdered. Dont get it twisted, especially since HRW and Amnesty are freely quoted by critics of imperialism when its convenient. You’re exhibiting the worst traits of post-structualist excess, namely highly selective inclusion of facts when it suits your argument and then exclusion when it no longer does.

LA huey, thats a playing of a quote from Noam Chomsky, refering to a passage in St. Augustine’s City of God. Basically an emperor asks a pirate how dare he molests the ocean. The pirate responds by saying i molest a few ship and you call me a pirate, but you molest whole nations and you’re celebrated as emperor. As Chomsky explicitly points out though, that doesn’t excuse the Pirate, that just means that you have to recognize that organized power can be far more vicious than the average criminal element. Teddy needs to learn that his tu quoque argument her vis a vis china and the US won’t fly here, especially in regards to the civic responsibilities of Yao. My original statement herw was that if Yao is brave, he will criticise his own state, but that I understand the barriers to him are greater than they are for Teddy and I as Canadians, or most people on here as Americans to criticise their own governments.

I guess you don’t understand open racism..that means that if a person calls me the N word I’ll be protected, the presidents don’t call Muslims terrorists, teachers don’t discriminate openly, etc. again you’re a Canadian who called me uncle ruckus..lol wtf? You’re a lame, acting like Huey Newton behind a screen, when really again America is the best country. Yes our politics stink, capitalism is a killer, and more but we have better rights than anywhere. Unlike Canada who’s leader openly bashed Muslims. You don’t know much clearly and just want to stand out. I’m actually working to help people directly around the world, all you do is type.

Just click my name..

Does anyone like Teddy?
He’s like Rachel Madcow and Bill Mauer combined with Micheal Moore.
Just shut up. LOL.
JP’n dude, do you mang.

LOL, since when did Mao and Stalin do the same things as Hitler? Again, this is the so-called “totalitarian” myth. Communism and fascism are apparently the same thing now, while bourgeois capitalist-imperialism is the standard on which we base democracy and freedom.

..this dude really thinks he’s Huey on a message board. You’re an idiot, you talk but don’t have any actions. Im 20 but already doing more than you ever will in your lifetime. You with your free healthcare are complaining about the “struggle” which you’ve never seen. Cats is wild trying to fit in. Shut up and sit down, consciousness is wack, it’s about being a good being.

^Sh*tload of typos sorry.

Redd: Ummm, first of all you don’t know me or anyone else here outside of SLAM, so you obviously don’t know what I do. I wasn’t talking about what I do or don’t do either–you’re the one bragging about your supposed “actions,” like you’ve just won the Nobel Prize at 20. Who’s the one talking again? — That’s like the odd commenter who says we all suck at basketball because we chat on SLAM. You better rethink your logic there, big guy.
And who is trying to fit in with whom here? You’re the one chanting “USA #1!” like some White Pride lunatic. But that kind of jingoism is right in line with most Americans and Canadians, so… you fit in just fine. Good job. Good effort.

LMFAO did you think that being thankful for being blessed made me a redneck? Cause of so you’re a bigger idiot than I already pegged you as. Last I checked I didn’t have 3rd world problems. You think people who do have 3rd world issues would not appreciate having what they have? I was born in a village, I know the struggle thus I’m thankful. Now, stfu and quit trying to act like you do something because I’m sure you don’t. Even if you do, stop you’re not helping anyone by being a douche who is a wanna be Huey on the Internet.

@ Chubachichu: thx for the comment, I’ll get back to you in a bit. I’m gonna watch a movie now, haha.

@teddy the bear just wanna apologize for you having to deal with these american morons all alone.just know that youve got one brotha from anotha motha in me comrade! @redd, you’re a disgrace to blacks. @james aka you raise good points, ultimately i side with teddy the bear because imo the 21st century must be a century of global communism, as marx himself envisioned it. Thats just my opinion, that the environment and the concept of communism dovetail. Back to teddy the bear i’ve been doing some reevaluations of stalin lately (and more broadly, the value of “enlightened despots”–what got me on that was toussaint’s iron fist over san domingo from 1796-1801) and come to similar conclusions as you, though i gotta emphasize that uncle joe was not as good for communism as lenin/trotsky woulda been!

@Teddy: I’m curious to know what events make the 20th century US worse/as bad, or whatever your view is, than the 20th century Russia in your mind?

LMFAO dude is serious, wanna be black panther, Canadian idiotic lame. And you sound old, and I’d laugh if you’re white. Your life sounds pathetic, to sit around trying to find blame rather then trying to make change and try to help people with less. Instead you troll on a basketball blog trying to act smart when you’re an idiot.

real intersting read and i have learnt a few things…. though Teddy you make me feel bad for being a white male? that shouldn’t be right? lol

First of all, Amnesty international and HRW are donor supported, by people like me. I’ve been a member of Amnesty international, though never HRW. They state their agenda, and they publish their donor lists. They criticise behaviours in all states as you can clearly see on their websites. For example, there is a link on HRW website right now that celebrates the halting of a texas execution. The portrait you’re portraying of some mass global conspiracy controlling these organizations is without merit and without evidence, which is why you offered some vague notion about George Soros and “corporations”. Unless you can A show that a donor is driving the agenda of the organization and that B either of your above stated donors are such donors, your case holds no water. Furthemore, George Soros was and is one of the most prominent critics of the US invasion of Iraq at the Billionair level. He has a dubious career as a currency manipulator, but his chartable leanings are much more to your liking then you probably realize. Read his bio, find out who he is and what he stands for before using his name as an epithet.

As for the Soviety Union and the Ukrainian famine, it wasn’t that the famine was caused by Ukraine, it was that Stalin deliberately shipped crops out of the Ukraine to keeep the central part of the USSR, namely Russia, productive and famine free, at the expense of the Ukrainian people. It was a direct transfer of resources from a nation that was under the impierial yoke of the Russian centred USSR. There is a reason that the soviet states all broke away after disolution, which is related to russian imperialism stretching back over the last several centuries. The Russian takeover of Siberian territory for example looks exactly like the Anglo American push in North America (the fench were qualitatively better than the English, and the English better than the American rebels that broke away, vis a vis native populations). The USSR was primarily about Russian power, not about advancing workers rights. Whatever validity there is to Marxist theory and Marxist critiques of capitalism (I believe there is a great deal), it is undeniable that the activities of the Soviet Union, from cooperating with Hitler in carving up Poland, to stealing from starving people in the Ukraine, to the Gulag, to the Invasion of Afghanistan, are the same imperial building behaviour you correctly lambast coming from other european and north american power. In fact, Russian interference and imperialism has continued after the fall of communism, as most brutally exemplified by the levelling of Grozny more than a decade ago.

It’s not that your critique of say US power or a history of Western European imperialism is wrong, its that you’re romanticising the behaviour of other violent empires solely on their position relative to the US as rivals. Again, there is a reason Krushchev’s denounciation of Stalinism was such an amazing thing. There was recognition by a high level member of the power structure to the damage that was done by Stalin. I would argue that after that point, the Soviet Union was much less damaging and imperialistic on the world stage than the US, but that’s not to say that it did no harm to others.

As for China, there was a similar break after Deng Xiaping took over after Mao’s death. The entire economic project of Mao, which had seen the most dramatic and disasterous agricultural policies yet pursued (although the ticking bomb of our global machine and chemical fertilizer regime will likely dwarf it), resulting in a decade with 10′s of millions of deaths of ordinary chinese farmers. The decision to on a whole scale change crops based on an imperious decree from Beijing during the Great Leap Forward was at least criminally stupid, and considering that during this time, Mao was using grain to trade for weapons while his people starved shows that it was also malicious. Its harder to assess responsibility for the fiasco because its possible that people would have starved on a large scale anyway, but there is a huge component of state directed failure here. As for the great cultural revolution, as would be expected in a revolution, the winners killed and committed war crimes in a nation of then 400 million people on a similar scale as any revolution. Some people pin 50 million deaths on Mao. Again its hard to assess blame since so many were from the second phase famine, but he was undeniably a great killer this century.

As for Chinese imperialism abroad, it is confined more regionally than Russia and definitely less so than the US. however, it still happened and happens. Vietnam for example has basically been fighting for the last century from constant invasion from outsiders. We know about the US role, but China also tried to invade (and got its butt handed to it), and later on actually supported the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia directly in a strategy of bleeding the enemy (with tacit support from the US). The Khmer Rouge who tortured and maimed their own society to the tune of at least 150000 people (more than 2 million people died during this period in a 7 million person country, although the famine associated with most of the death was directly a result of nixon’s bombing campaign which the CIA estimated would cost a minimum of 500000 lives due to starvation). Obviously the case of Tibet is ongoing and speaks for itself. If you oppose Israel’s slow take over of the remaining palestinian territories, you should be able to see the parallel with the ethnic Han migration into Tibet. China of course was also victimized prior to Mao by western powers as well as most directly and brutally by Japan so it has been both trampled upon and has trampled on.

Lakeshow, Rachel Maddow has a Docterate of political science and is probably the most balanced talking head on TV, both stylistically (she doesn’t get hysterical labling politcal oppenents like Keith Olberman did, or most of the political right) and she’s not a blatant fabricater like Sean Hannity/O’Reilly/Coulter/Malkin/Limbaugh/Fox News staff not named Alan Colmes). Bill Maher says a lot of stupid things and a lot of smart things but his greatest crimes are in doing stand-up, because he just isn’t that funny most of the time. Michael Moore occassionally plays fast and loose with the facts but I’ve never seen him sic a lynch mob on people (Malkin) blame his own side for Nazi attrocities (OReilly), take sex tours of the caribbean (caught with a suitcase of Viagra and Oxy on the way to the dominican under someone elses perscription, which is a crime, and ludicrously not charged), call his political oppenents vile names in a campaign of hate similar to the radio programs in Rwanda leading up to the genocide (Coulter/Michael Savage), or condemn the victims of 9-11 as cowards (Coulter again). You’re as off base as Teddy is, but he’s only wrong about history. You’re part of the problem right now.

Z, your labeling of people as american morons is just name calling, not to mention racist. since about 7 or 8 people are posting on this thread, call people by name, instead of castigating the whole nation, even if that wasn’t your intention. Teddy is Canadian I believe, as am I. If you want to critique something here, do so, don’t resort to ad hominems in your very first post. It cheapens the argument, and damages whatever comes next from you as a contribution.

Redd, if you disagree with Teddy, do a little research to counter him. Finding genuine examples of the evils of Stalin and Mao takes litterally the time to read their wikipedia pages, so go do that. (not to say wiki is flawless, but often their pages point to really good sources that are both accurate and scholarly).

Allenp, thanks for the thanks. I often disagree with what you post, but I always know that I’m reading the thoughs of an adult who is well read and considers what he posts.

” It’s not that your critique of say US power or a history of Western European imperialism is wrong, its that you’re romanticising the behaviour of other violent empires solely on their position relative to the US as rivals.
I think I told Teddy the same thing a while back. It’s that hierarchy of blame all humans like to employ, and typically we do a poor job.

Guns, Germs and Steel is one of the most awesome books in the history of awesome books. It should required reading in all American high schools.

What is Collapse? Unfortunately I don’t read as much non-fiction as I should but I’m always interested.
I also would recommend Slavery By Another Name by Douglass Blackmon if you want more information on the post Civil War life of black people and law enforcement policies that continue in some forms today.

Great stuff here by james. Teddy displaying his stupidity for all to see.

Some people need to travel more before they speak. Going out of state a couple of times or watching documentaries shouldn’t count…

Oh man, where do I start? There are many, many sources that can defend Stalin on the “Ukranian genocide” better than I; I don’t want to dig them up just yet–if/when I do, I’ll paste them here.
I have never said China and the USSR are beyond criticism. What I am saying is that it’s completely asinine that people in the West attack these two countries for violence, ignoring ALL the historical achievements made for peoples and in their struggle AGAINST the dominant prevailing power which is Western imperialism. All violence was not created equally. Your line “Just because someone else is the emperor doesn’t mean you can’t be a pirate” is nothing but tripe–you say this ONLY because you, currently, are living as an “emperor” while 88% of the world are “pirates.”
Again, your comparison of Russia and China to Western imperialism is nothing but liberal doublespeak and a complete denial of the phenomenon of white supremacy. Your insistence on equating the two completely overlooks the power dynamic of the world. Let’s focus on China, then I’ll come back to your points about the Holocaust…

@james aka…point taken, i’ll have to remember to not open my arguments with insults. Your arguments have all been solid, well thought out, even though i don’t agree 100%, i am objective enough about stalinism as well as maoism to recognize that they committed many atrocities (but to my mind, that’s in the past, by no means does that mean that communism isn’t worth pursuing)and your point about hitler using test death camps in africa is something i was unaware of. Sorry i was saying all americans, it’s just redd in particular, and most of us americans in general need to open their eyes to what we’re doing (actively, at this very moment) to the planet we all inhabit.