I’m sure Xi is beyond having his feelings hurt by Biden, but just look at Bilken’s reaction lmao.

Inviting a head of state to your country to publicly insult them is unacceptable anywhere, so this is only going to further tarnish the shitty reputation of American diplomacy.

  • alicirce@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    Accusing someone of being “brainwashed” isn’t, as far as I have seen, so rhetorically effective that I think we need a drop-in replacement like “hate-passed.” If “you’re super licensed” sounds silly it’s because “you’re super brainwashed” is also silly.

    What about:

    “Do you actually believe that nonsense or does it just give you license to discount the incredible social progress China has made?”

    I think the post earlier in this thread used it well. They’re not defining the term, they’re explaining the phenomenon. Because it uses a familiar term, it is easy to understand and doesn’t read jargony:

    I think this is better understood as licensing American settlers to unleash their preexisting white supremacist worldview onto a politically acceptable target.

    Rejecting the term “brainwashing” means not only improving our understanding of how propaganda works but also improving our rhetoric.

    • Water Bowl Slime@lemmygrad.ml
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      1 year ago

      People call each other brainwashed all the time though? I’ve heard people say another person is “so/super/incredibly brainwashed” irl. It gets the message across pretty well I think

      I’ll admit licensing does sound natural in those sentences but I guess I just want a pithier way of saying something similar. It still comes off as academic, like someone saying “contradiction” instead of disagreement.