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Is just such a shock from being in China. Just got harassed and essentially threatened for being a socialist. They searched my bags and commented on my China flag and my little red books and my copy of Blackshirts and Reds. Fucking police state. The security in China is strict, but they don’t give a fuck about your thoughts, whereas this guy was very aggressive about “consequences” for being a socialist.

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[-] Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 79 points 7 months ago

He also thinks it’ll be 5 years until we’re at war. I told him I give it 2 max. Lmaooo

[-] DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml 43 points 7 months ago
[-] Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 33 points 7 months ago

I was just like, man, first I’ve heard someone else say that off the internet. Hell, that was the initial reason I started learning Chinese and incidentally how I met my wife was I expected war by 2025. I really fuckin hope not though, because I will die if I can’t see my wife anymore. I didn’t plan to meet her, but she completes me in a way I’ve never been completed before.

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[-] VeganicTankie@lemmygrad.ml 33 points 7 months ago

"I give it 2 max" average based comment

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[-] Gosplan14_the_Third@hexbear.net 57 points 7 months ago

That reminds me of when I was in Helsinki airport.

I still had some time for my flight, and was walking around to get something to eat. The place itself is very cozy, lots of wooden architecture, places arranged to seem like they're in the middle of a forest, etc. Then I look the wrong way and see inside the smokers' lounge. There, a bald middle-aged guy wearing a black hoodie with the coat of arms of Nazi Germany on it, vaping.

I somehow doubt that person got into any trouble for it. One of the rare Germany Ws is that that would be very illegal here.

[-] Doubledee@hexbear.net 54 points 7 months ago

Good. They're afraid and have no counterargument. Scare them Comrade.

[-] Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 44 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Yeah he tried real hard to imply I might get the wall, and I said, you know, I’ll do what I have to do, and you do what you have to do. He calmed down a bit once he realized idgaf what he says, I’m gonna do me, but he was very edgy lmao.

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[-] HaSch@lemmygrad.ml 53 points 7 months ago

We should be critically supportive of the TSA, given that it helps accelerate the downfall of the empire by wasting 9.7 billion dollars per year on unfounded paranoia

[-] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 56 points 7 months ago

The notion of "wasting money" doesn't really apply to a country that can print the global reserve currency at will. There is effectively no bottom to the money bag for the US.

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[-] vaquera_medianoche@lemmygrad.ml 52 points 7 months ago

it's always such a kick in the face when I go from Mexico to the US. I usually sink into a depression for the first two weeks or so due to the isolation and just kinda oppressive feeling of the United States.

usually the customs officers don't hassle me much because I'm white but tsa is always happy to help themselves to a groping, which is why I typically do not fly in the US. usually I cross in tijuana so I can deal with sane and pleasant mexican authorities instead of like getting groped for my sunscreen or whatever insane shit the US be smoking this week

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[-] MasterDeeLuke@lemmygrad.ml 46 points 7 months ago

Yeah, I recently got back from a trip to Costa Rica and I could immediately feel the fascistic shift in atmosphere coming back. As soon as the plane touched down the immediate first thing I hear is, "LET'S CLAP AND CHEER FOR OUR TROOPS, EVERYONE ELSE WHO BUST THEIR ASS AT NORMAL JOBS, FUCK YOU YOU ARE NOT IMPORTANT."

[-] Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 31 points 7 months ago

Jesus Christ that’s bad. I got rerouted and came back through Vegas airport, and seeing people not even make it out of the airport before getting sucked into gambling really made the differences apparent.

[-] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 21 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Question: I know gambling, prostitution and pornography are all illegal in China - is this strictly enforced or do they kind of informally allow it to happen like most other countries do where such bans are in place?

[-] SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net 22 points 7 months ago

I know that for gambling it's pretty common for Chinese people to vacation to Macau and Hong Kong to do it, and I have to imagine that online gambling is just as prevalent and hard to spot and stop as it is here.

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[-] theblueredditrefugee@hexbear.net 44 points 7 months ago

Lmaooooo I'm never going back to Amerikkka, fuck that shithole

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[-] axont@hexbear.net 44 points 7 months ago

wtf the immigration officer was saying all of this when you got back to the US?

[-] MILFCortana@lemmygrad.ml 59 points 7 months ago

Commies can't immigrate to America. Seriously

[-] axont@hexbear.net 33 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I have no idea how much this is enforced though, since I used to know several Vietnamese people who were communist party members who were also American citizens or permanent residents. One ran a donut shop.

Also one of my comrades in a local org is a communist from Guatemala who was affiliated with leftist groups in central America, he still ended up in the US.

I'm not saying there's restrictions for communists, I just also believe the American state is lazy, inefficient, and probably prioritizes racism over past political affiliation when it comes to deciding who gets in.

[-] ghost_of_faso2@lemmygrad.ml 44 points 7 months ago

Its enforced when black people start doing it

[-] axont@hexbear.net 28 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

yeah I added an edit, immigration in America is guided by white supremacy first and foremost

[-] ghost_of_faso2@lemmygrad.ml 28 points 7 months ago

oh no big need, wasnt a correction mostly just a thought.

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[-] DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml 42 points 7 months ago

American officials at the airport will grill you on whether you're affiliated with any communist party, they never stopped the McCarthyism.

[-] axont@hexbear.net 37 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

This has made me realize I really need to up my commie game then because border agents have never said a peep to me. I'm affiliated with 2 anarchist orgs, 1 Marxist-Leninist party, and 1 homeless support network. I thought my name would be on a file by now wtf. Fucking Immigration feds are calling me a liberal.

Border control has never stopped me when I've come back to the US from abroad, and I've left the US twice this year already. I had a bag with the Disco Elysium commie symbol (the stars and antlers) but that's probably too subtle. I'm also very visibly non-binary

Ugh do I need to tattoo a sickle and hammer on my face

[-] ghost_of_faso2@lemmygrad.ml 34 points 7 months ago

American survielance really is a paper tiger, they dont have the time or resources to actually monitor 90% of the shit they want you to think they can.

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[-] nat_turner_overdrive@hexbear.net 29 points 7 months ago

When I was a teen and traveling I would always, always get picked for extra search. I wore all black, had long hair, and black fingernails. TSA is just going off vibes.

[-] axont@hexbear.net 22 points 7 months ago

So you're saying I need to seem more commie and more punk? I'm already both of those things but I gotta try harder it seems.

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[-] Gosplan14_the_Third@hexbear.net 27 points 7 months ago

I thought my name would be on a file by now wtf.

It might. It however needs to be actually accessed. If they don't think it necessary, then they likely won't bother.

[-] DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml 23 points 7 months ago

I'm not American, so I'm just going off of what I've heard from others. So maybe it isn't as prevalent as I thought. I just assumed based on what I've heard from American comrades that being questioned at airports about communism is just a normal thing they do, but I'm going off of secondhand accounts.

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[-] Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 41 points 7 months ago

I think they searched me because I had a whole bag just for gifts I brought back. It wasn’t until I got to the secondary search area that this happened, when they popped open my bag, saw the Chinese flag, the mao books, etc haha

[-] axont@hexbear.net 42 points 7 months ago

This at least fills me with some hope. They're scared. They're jumping at books and flags now.

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[-] BoxedFenders@hexbear.net 42 points 7 months ago

I've read accounts from people returning to the US after a visit in China saying it feels like returning to the 20th century after experiencing what 21st century infrastructure is like. Did you get that sense that all? I suppose it is highly dependent on which city you visited.

[-] Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 42 points 7 months ago

Yes. I literally was just telling someone it felt like it was both a century ahead and a century behind in some ways. Infrastructure and walk ability are amazing. The trains are so nice and so fast. I took multiple high speed trains, and next time I go back I intend to do the maglev train from Shanghai to… wherever it goes, I just want to ride the train 😂

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[-] CommunistBear@hexbear.net 41 points 7 months ago

What I wouldn't do to be able to leave and never come back

[-] Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 34 points 7 months ago

I think my wife and I are gonna retire there, but I have a criminal record, so I can’t work there. Our plan is suck as much capital out of American jobs as we can and then retire there and hope we can live for a long time without her having to go back to work, since I can get a spousal residency.

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[-] atturaya@lemmygrad.ml 34 points 7 months ago

the US really sucks now and is just going to keep getting worse. it still sucked 5+ years ago, but at least you could say treats were cheap. food was cheap. housing prices weren't as exorbitant as they are now.

now even living is unaffordable, the infrastructure is falling apart, I really don't see what's left.

[-] bigboopballs@hexbear.net 27 points 7 months ago

I really don't see what's left.

waiting for everyone to realize that their society is in free-fall collapse. but it's more likely that civilization will completely collapse before the working class of the west wakes up.

[-] atturaya@lemmygrad.ml 28 points 7 months ago

there won't be a "free-fall collapse" - like a single event - though. things are just going to slowly get worse and worse every year. the right wing courts will get rid of more rights. businesses will be more free to exploit workers and the environment. infrastructure will continue collapsing. life will keep getting more difficult for the working class. just like how the UK went from a globe spanning empire to a backwater.

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[-] D61@hexbear.net 26 points 7 months ago

consequences for being a socialist.

What... like healthcare? pension? affordable housing? Shit dawg, sign me up!

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this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2024
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