#ccp directive

[william-r-melich]

Tik Tok Bill/HR 7521 - 03/16/2024

Bill HR 7521 passed 3 days ago in the house of representatives by a vote of 352 - 65. If this bill passes in the Senate, which looks likely, Joe Biden said he will sign it, which will purportedly ban Tik Tok. It wouldn't really ban it, but what it will do is force Byte Dance, the Chinese company that owns Tik Tok, to divest by providing a description of what assets would need to be divested to execute a qualified divesture. In other words, they would have to sell it. They would also have to shut down their internet hosting service. Someone in the U.S. would buy it. I've been on the fence with this one as well with whether or not Biden will remain on the ticket. After reading a portion of the bill I saw a loophole regarding what can be done with a foreign person. Donald Trump, who back in 2020 wanted to ban Tik Tok, he's now against banning it. He said that banning Tik Tok would give the government too much power and would make Facebook more of a monopoly. I sure hope his 180-degree shift wasn't partly made because he has a big campaign donor from Tik Tok. Elon Musk is against it. He thinks it will lead to the government having too much control of wording and censorship on all media platforms. He argues that it doesn't just involve foreign adversaries. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie on X posted this: "The president will be given the power to ban WEB SITES, not just Apps.--"The person breaking the new law is deemed to be the U.S. (or offshore) INTERNET HOSTING SERVICE or App Store, not the 'foreign adversary.' " The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) controls what content is allowed on Tik Toc, and the version that is used in China is very different to what's allowed on it outside of China, like here in the U.S. In China they're teaching their children strict discipline and loyalty to the CCP without other harmful content, brainwashing them into their collectivist ideologies. Outside of China they are allowing and promoting content that encourages self-harm and suicide. The big concern in Congress is that the CCP is using the platform to collect as much personal data as they can to be later used against us for nefarious reasons.

Bytedance is the parent company running Tik Toc, and it's former CEO, Zhang Yiming, in 2018 wrote an open public letter of apology to the CCP's headquarters. He was in trouble for not directing his tech companies to push the party's communist agenda far enough, including for what they termed as Xi Jinping thought. Here's some of that letter translated in English:

"I sincerely apologize to regulators, our users and colleagues. I have been in a state of guilt and remorse since I received the notice from the regulatory authority yesterday afternoon and stayed up all night."

"Toutino will permanently shut down the app and the Wechat account of Neihan Duanzi. The product has gone astray, posting content that goes against socialist core values. It's all on me. I accept all the punishment since it failed to direct public opinion in the right way."

"I blame myself for failing to live up to the guidance and expectations of the authorities. In the past few years, the authorities have given us a lot of guidance and help, but I failed to understand properly and to correct properly in the past that resulted in the repercussions today."

"I blame myself for failing the support and trust of our users. We one-sidedly focused on growth and scale without paying timely attention to quality and responsibility of guiding users to obtain positive information. We have failed to undertake corporate social responsibility, and lack emphasis and understanding of our roles in carry forward the positive energy, and guide public opinion properly."

"I reflect that the deep-seated problems for the company are: a weak understanding of the 'four consciousness,' a lack of socialist core values, and a biased guidance of public opinion. 'In the past, we have placed too much emphasis on the role of technology, and failed to realize that socialist core values are the prerequisite to technology. We need to spread positive messages in line with the requirements of the times while respecting public order and good practice.' "

The "four consciousness," to which he referred is described in the following CCP directive as translated into English; CCP Central Committee Publishers Plan for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Agencies. March 18, 2021:

"To deepen reform of the Party and state agencies at this new historical turning point, we must comprehensively implement the Spirit of the 19th Party Congress and persist in taking Marxism -- Leninism, Ma Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Important Thinking of the 'Three Represents,' the Scientific Development Concept, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide. We must firmly establish political consciousness, consciousness of the big picture, consciousness of the core leadership, and consciousness of falling in line with party directives. We must resolutely maintain the authority and centralized unified leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core. We must adapt to the development requirements of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, persist in the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, and adhere to the proper direction of reform. We must persist in being people-centered, and persist in comprehensively ruling the country according to law."

It seems clear to me that the CCP wants to dominate the world and control how everyone thinks. We can't let that happen. The harmful content on Tik Tok can be found on some of the other platforms, but apparently on Tik Tok it's been more harmful and addictive to kids. Amnesty International 2 reports: "Driven into the Darkness: How Tik Tok Encourages Self-harm and Suicidal Ideation and the I Feel Exposed: Caught in Tik Tok's Surveillance Web - highlight the abuses experienced by children and young people using Tik Tok Outside of China. Between 3 and 20 minutes into our manual research, more than half of the videos in the 'For You' feed were related to mental health struggles with multiple recommended videos in a single hour romanticizing, normalizing or encouraging suicide."

Here's how a portion of the Tik Tok bill reads - HR 7521:

(iii) a subsidiary of or a successor to an entity identified in clause (i) or (ii) that is controlled by a foreign adversary; or (iv) an entity owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by an entity identified in clause (i), (ii), or (iii); or (B) a covered company that -- (i) is controlled by a foreign adversary; and (ii) that is determined by the President to present a significant threat to the national security of the United States following the issuance of -- (I) a public notice proposing such determination; and (II) a public report to Congress, submitted not less than 30 days before such determination, describing the specific national security concern involved and containing a classified annes and a description of what assets would need to be divested to execute a qualified divesture. (4) FOREIGN ADVERSARY COUNTRY, -- The term "foreign adversary country" means a country specified with respect to a covered company or other entity is -- (A) a foreign person that is domiciled in, is headquartered in, has its principal place of business in, or is organized under the laws of a foreign adversary country. (B) an entity with respect to which a foreign person or combination of foreign persons described in "subparagraph (A) directly or indirectly own at least a 20 percent stake; or (C) a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity described in subparagraph (A) (B). (2) Covered Company -- (A) IN GENERAL -- The term "covered company" means an entity that operates, directly or indirectly (including through a parent company, subsidiary, or affiliate), a website, desktop application, or augmented or immersive technology application.

The loophole I see is that there are people here from China that are legal to work and live here (green card) and who have a residence in China. The President (Joe Biden) could divest any website or app operated by a company with such a person in its employ from China with a green card who happens to own at least 20% of that company. I haven't read through the entire bill, nor am I an expert on Congressional bills or policies, but there might be other loopholes to be found. Given all that I have considered on this, I think divesting Tik Tok is a good idea, but only with no loopholes or wiggle room. I don't trust the government, their too giddy about this and I suspect they may have something up their sleeves. Next to our own ability to destroy ourselves from within, I think China is our biggest threat. This is serious stuff and we're in some very dangerous situations. We've got to get this right and get the right leader in the White House, which, in my humble opinion, is Donald J. Trump.

#trump #donald trump #tik tok #tiktok #china #bytedance #congress #state #hr 7521 #foreign adversary #national security #joe biden #biden #xi jinping #marxism #socialism #communism #marxism leninism #leninism #party #ma zedong #thought #xiaoping theory #4 consciousness #ccp #ccp directive #collectivism #social media platforms #elon musk #website

[poorsapadvocate]

okay fuck it everyone still calling Neil Gaiman sinophobic re: hugo awards is going on the block list

#ventposting #like im not even a big neil fan ive read coraline and good omens once like 10 years ago #but yall are just looking for reasons to dunk on him!!! #yes we have confirmation that it was the English speaking side of the hugos doing the banning #but we have good reasons to suspect CCP put their fingers on the scale too #and whether it was a direct act of censorship or an act of self-censorship doesnt change the outcome #but!!! criticism of a government is not a criticism of its people!!! #and neil has been very careful to highlight how this is going to affect chinese sff fans!!! #so like!!! calm down!!!!! #this story has a villain already you dont have to invent one

[fairuzfan]

Like I don't have tiktok for a variety of reasons but to say "don't have CHINESE Spyware on your phone" as if that's like a legit concern when the American government spies on you ALL THE TIME (and is more of a direct threat to you as an American citizen and even abroad) like what are they gonna do with your data in China that they aren't doing 10x as much in the US with the patriot act. Get a VPN all that jazz if you're scared but the US is more of an immediate threat than the ccp, even if it were true.

#like come on #what are they gonna do with your info. what. #an american corporation is more dangerous to you than the ccp.

[jadedbirch]

In response to this post about War of Faith

@isilaie said

Finally someone expresses what I was thinking 🙄 I've got a huge problem with propaganda (from any side) and despite the superb directing and acting this one is so blatant that in another context (or country) it almost could be considered as parody. I love Yibo to pieces but ...I think it started with "faith makes great" that there is a kind of red thread (pun intended) in his choice of roles. His success proves him right of course but ...😔🤷‍♀️

I really wanted to address your comment @isilaie because I think it's important we are all aware of the things that are going on "under the surface" so to speak when we engage with this kind of content. Again, speaking as someone who used to live under a totalitarian communist regime, I'm very aware that whatever "choices" and "freedoms" that people like Yibo enjoy are completely illusory. Especially if we assume from the preponderance of evidence that he's queer - and therefore have to assume that whatever lifestyle he may enjoy is sanctioned by the government - then these choices are even more impacted. We've all seen how quickly c-ent can make someone's career disappear (i.e. Zhang Zhehan) and how quickly the CCP can make PEOPLE disappear (i.e. Fan Bingbing) for not toeing the party line or not sending the right message. The more high profile you are (like Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo), the more scrutinized you are for all your "choices." Plus, we also know that these days you can't get anything past the sensors w/o a healthy dose of Patriotism, and at the end of the day, the project that Yibo might sign up for can end up being something else entirely by the time it hits the screen.

So, the only thing I'm going to judge my beloved son on is making career moves that allow him to grow and develop as an artist - and War of Faith definitely gave him the opportunity to once again stretch his acting chops. And I think his success is due to his radiant talent that turns anything he touches into gold, and not so much due to his "patriotic" project choices, but shit, I'm only slightly biased because I gave birth to him LMAO.

As for War of Faith laying it on so thick that it's almost a parody - you're correct - and I actually said to a friend last night that it's ironic that as I watch the show, the Big Communist Heroes actually come off as fanatical terrorists to me. Hmmmm. Interesting.

(On a funnier note, people have pointed out how incredibly GAY this Comrade Drama is for such blatant propaganda, and that perhaps you needed a heavy dose of one to slip in the other. If that's the case even the tiniest bit, then kudos to Yibo for making another secret BL drama right in front of everyone's salad.)

#wang yibo #ccp propaganda #war of faith

[reality-detective]

Greg Reese Report 👇

CCP Satellites Over Maui At Time of Fires.

Mounting evidence suggest that Maui fires were caused by Directed Energy Weapons. 🤔

#pay attention #educate yourselves #educate yourself #knowledge is power #reeducate yourself #reeducate yourselves #think for yourselves #think about it #think for yourself #do your homework #do your own research #do some research #ask yourself questions #question everything #Greg Reese Report #greg reese #news

[revindicatedbyhistory]

You're spreading the old "Dalai Lama had slaves' lie to justify CCP genocide against Tibet. And also we haven't forgotten the disgusting anti-black remarks you made about Haile Selassie.

"In old Tibet there were small numbers of farmers who subsisted as a kind of free peasantry, and perhaps an additional 10,000 people who composed the “middle-class” families of merchants, shopkeepers, and small traders. Thousands of others were beggars. There also were slaves, usually domestic servants, who owned nothing. Their offspring were born into slavery. [16] The majority of the rural population were serfs. Treated little better than slaves, the serfs went without schooling or medical care. They were under a lifetime bond to work the lord’s land — or the monastery’s land — without pay, to repair the lord’s houses, transport his crops, and collect his firewood. They were also expected to provide carrying animals and transportation on demand. [17] Their masters told them what crops to grow and what animals to raise. They could not get married without the consent of their lord or lama. And they might easily be separated from their families should their owners lease them out to work in a distant location. [18]

As in a free labor system and unlike slavery, the overlords had no responsibility for the serf’s maintenance and no direct interest in his or her survival as an expensive piece of property. The serfs had to support themselves. Yet as in a slave system, they were bound to their masters, guaranteeing a fixed and permanent workforce that could neither organize nor strike nor freely depart as might laborers in a market context. The overlords had the best of both worlds.

One 22-year old woman, herself a runaway serf, reports: “Pretty serf girls were usually taken by the owner as house servants and used as he wished”; they “were just slaves without rights.” [19]"

-Friendly Feudalism

#rape mention #also omg black panther anon is back long time no see howve you been

[vomitdodger]

Interesting.

Much comments about “solar flare” likely and “can’t be an EMP because everything would be fried”.

Not an expert on EMP but I can read and research among the best. We’ve had EMPs for over a decade of ALL shapes, sizes and uses. Same as Direct Energy Weapons (DEW). Everyone is fixated on how the movies portray an EMP and everything electrical just gets fried. That can of course happen, but the resulting damage depends on the delivery system, altitude, magnitude and type of delivery system. An equivalent example is a aerial bomb or projectile. They of course comes in nearly infinite designs and consequences. Same for EMP. BASIC explanation in below article but note pic from the article showing the variety of effects:

It’s not like we allowed CCP “weather balloons” to float across our country and military bases in a test run or anything.

[accio-victuuri]

This will be a short discussion of what I originally planned regarding yibo endorsing national / homegrown brands recently and what it all means when talking about the bigger picture. and by that I mean, the connection between celebrities in CHN & nationalism as well as the increasing tension between CHN and other countries. As much as we all wanna live in a bubble of fandom where it’s all pretty boys & happiness, real life isn’t going that way.

I think Yibo knows that too and it’s influencing his choices. He had a personal experience with this — the whole NIKE fiasco in 2020 definitely was a lesson to him and his team. The risk of endorsing big international brands as a Chinese celebrity is real. It happened before and it may ( or will ) happen again. You never know what issue is going to pop up and suddenly, it’s all gone. We have seen time and again how the CCP can quickly direct these celebrities to sing and dance in whatever tune they like.

Let’s start with the biggest one he signed on to right after the whole nike fiasco. ANTA. It’s on record that as soon as WYB dropped Nike, there was a bidding of sorts on who is the domestic brand that will get him. ANTA wasn’t the highest offer, but he chose them because they are a national brand.

Then the list just goes on. A couple of these are due for renewal this year but just to illustrate which brands he is working with since 2021:

(In no particular order)

Redmi, Lenovo, Youku, Pechoin, Chunzhen, Super X, Bananain, Master Kong Iced Tea, Kelly One, Linsy, Bottled Joy, IKIDE, Helen Keller Glasses, SKG, Stride, Tokit, Chando, Unicharm, Rotai

I could be missing 1 or 2 but it’s a lot. for someone who averages 25-30 brands in a year all holding his name as endorser, the number of domestic ones is a lot.

This trend became more evident when looking at his new endorsements this year (2023):

5 out of the 6 brands are domestic.

It’s the reason why I had the urge to make this post, especially with him being announced as YAYA’s chief spokesperson. Personally, the last domestic brand surge I remember was 2021 and there were a couple of articles written about that. This year, the domestic brands are at it again and tapping celebrities to get more attention. It says a lot that these brands picked Yibo to represent this growth. It’s easy to sign on to a well known brand with a string of high profile endorsers before you, so this is again, a testament to Yibo’s character. He is not afraid to lend his name and reputation to the Nameless/Unknown ( i had to reference it i’m sorry lol ). He takes into consideration not just his growth but also his people, these Chinese companies who are fighting with brand titans.

He is also the go-to choice because his good reputation and appeal to the younger generation.

I think Wang Yibo’s age is more in line with this social group. He is a very positive young man. Recently, Wang Yibo is in the process of transforming from an idol to a powerful actor. He is more in line with the youthfulness of our future brand. (quote from tailing’s president )

I have taken this screenshot from an article by jingdaily that is worth a read. another factor is the general population’s preference as well. whether this is something that yibo & his team is taking into consideration, we don’t know but with the choices they are making i guess the answer is obvious.

This year too, I have noticed a shift in c-ent with celebrities being courted by international brands who thinks it’s safe (for) now to be visible in the CHN market again. I have no beef with these celebrities, you gotta do what you gotta do. International brand deals are hella lucrative and some luxury ones are considered an honor to be a part of. I mean even Yibo is very visible in promoting Chanel.

I get the lure of big brand endorsements but that doesn’t take away the reality of what could happen and that planning ahead is important. Yibo is more capable than people give him credit for. I think a lot of people underestimate his ability to look at a situation and make decisions that will benefit his career in the long run. To put it simply, if and when things go south in the political side of things he is prepared and there won’t be much of a loss in the endorsement side of things. It’s a very smart business move and you can add patriotic points too so that makes it perfect.

Yibo is really the one who walks the talk. This saying really applies to him more than anyone cause that is his essence as a person — you will see the truth in him with what he does. His actions speaks volumes. He will take a stand on what he believes in even if everyone else is going the opposite direction. 🤍

DISCLAIMER: This post is very much about Yibo if you couldn’t already tell, and my observation as a fan. It’s not meant to compare him to other CHN celebrities cause I don’t have the time and interest in making a comparison study of who has the most domestic brand endorsements. If another stan finds this and is somehow offended in behalf of their fave, it’s not my fault. Feel free to make your own post talking about how great your fave is. Thank you!

#wang yibo #i just need to get it out of my brain so here it is #this is not as political as it may seem #it’s more of me gushing about yibo as usual

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

I do not posts direct links for anything unless I have reblogged a post or it is from a mutual, so I will not post the original anon.

With that, yes, at one point CQL had been intended to be washed of queer content. The final production that was aired was due to fan intervention and the reason for why it was considered a "big deal" for the conventions of acceptable live actions that are aired for mainland China media. It would have been another standard washed adaption otherwise if not for the fans. It is common practice to completely remove, or, change the designated romance to GB and substitute the next major female as that plot line holder for acceptable media standards to make and turn a profit with the networks that license the original IP.

Regardless to say, the original intent was never to be "as gay as possible", it was done in reluctance after backlash from the very base it wanted to profit from and had been heavily criticized. To save face, they allowed reshoots and minor script changing to lean into the bros only idea, and the emphasis in original promotion for the idea of "more sibling oriented" as a plot point for Wei Wuxian, Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng. The het aspect was very loudly criticized during the filming that had passed standard CCP fare for serialization and, why there is a heavy cleaning spree of Chinese live action serialization for future BL IPs that now do not pass it for airing dates despite having finished filming.

There is nothing to praise for original het washing and the loops to make a profit using exploitations of the original queer work.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #cql #the untamed

[system-of-a-feather]

You know what, I'll admit a thing about being anti-tulpa. While yes, I do stand by the claims of cultural appropriation and colonialism and that people much more formally educated on the topic can put out there - and that yes, as a Buddhist, it is so infuriatingly clownish to correlate "western Tulpamancy" with Buddhism as they are almost opposites in sheer principle.

But ya know, the gaslighting of 'all the anti-tulpas don't actually care about it being cultural appropriation and just HATE endos' whenever someone - like me - speaks up about it actually gets to me as a part enough so that the system TYPICALLY bans me from arguing or talking about people on it

And ya know what? I'm gonna declaw it cause I just realized the only reason it gets to me is cause there is a grain of truth in it and to be fair, I haven't been 100% honest and direct with my feelings on the topic in the guise of being 'formal' about it. Yes I do care and think Tibetian Buddhists and Buddhism should be protected and what not, and yes this and that - none of that is facetious or a lie

But the truth is, it's not what I'm actually mad about. Its not the real reason this pisses me off, but you know what? The REAL reason is not irrelevant.

I'm just tired as fuck of white people taking all sorts of Asian culture and fetishizing it and turning it into some kind of joke then running around acting like its okay in the slightest or calling it "cultural exchange" when REALLY its just "hey look at this mystical Asian culture and how we can have our fun with it!!!!".

I'm TIRED of white people looking at eastern cultures and AAPI saying the way they interact with it is disgusting, uncomfortable, and kinda gross and them going "um ACTUALLY"

I'm TIRED of people entirely ignoring the constant and regular racism, disregard, prejudice, hate and fetishism of Asians and Asian culture in America SPECIFICALLY in regards to Asian Americans and think its their place to talk over them

I'm TIRED of Asian and Eastern cultures being treated like a joke and a "not REALLY POC" or like we aren't marginalized or structurally taken advantage of or have a history of white people fucking us over historically enough for 'not racist people' white to feel uncomfortable debating what is and isn't harmful to us. And the best thing is? 95% of them don't know the first LICK of the fucking atrocities done to our cultures.

I'm TIRED of being the side tangent and the Gotcha point - I'm TIRED of people looking at ONE person on ONE reddit who had ONE opinion and saying they define the ENTIRE POPULACE cause of course.

I'm TIRED of people assuming everyone is Chinese and that everyone who is Chinese supports the CCP

I'm TIRED of people assuming we weren't fucked over by the CCP

I'm TIRED of people not understanding the nuance that while all Asians and cultures in Asia are different that it doesn't mean disrespect to one part doesn't in turn affect others - ESPECIALLY in America and ESPECIALLY from white people.

I'm TIRED of the 'you aren't X enough to have a say on this'.

I'm TIRED of deep personal things rooted in deep history being made into a fun game and community for white people.

I'm TIRED of white people interacting with our cultures and I VERY much understand why my family and my ancestors all fucking wanted nothing to do with White Westerners cause yall (generalizing this to be 'westerners who are a piece of shit, you know who you are') are fucking ridiculous assholes of clowns

I'm TIRED of it and the fucking audacity yall fucking have.

I'll admit it.

Tibetian Buddhism and Tibetian Buddhist culture is not what I'm actually mostly mad about. I'm NOT actually mostly mad about how a thing I value and treasure is turned into a fucking joke that is the opposite of its original meaning while being toted around as a "cool and quirky esoteric fact about the history of this subculture predominantly run by white people and started by a white person"

You are all right on that.

I'm actually just upset on the quiet and inherent SEVERE sinophobic macro and microaggressions that inherently plague the discussion with every pro-"tulpa-term" I've talked to save for like, literally ONE who is ACTUALLY raised understanding more about Buddhism and has my respect.

I'm just tired of me and my culture and my related cultures being turned into a fucking ornament for white people.

That's it. Getting that off my chest.

Call that a conflict of interest or call that valid, I don't care.

White people can reblog, but be a fucking clown piece of shit and I'm fucking blocking you.

#alter: riku #anti-tulpa #discourse #discourse tw #vent #vent tw #racism #anti-aapi #sinophobia #sinophobic #I'm tired of thinking about this #going “well maybe i do just want attention” #or some shit cause yeah #I'm easily gaslit about my opinions and thoughts on my cultural history and identity #because of trauma specifically regarding it #and having to constantly hear XIV go "stfu they're gaslighting you ignore them #“You know you aren't just pettily trying to get attention and its based and justified” #I'm TIRED of my trauma silencing me #fuck yall #fuck westerner thinking #fuck you all #fucking hell #riku gets mad for once #syscourse #syscourse tw

[william-r-melich]

Tik Tok on the Chopping Block - 04/25/2024

Yesterday, Joe Biden signed the Tik Tok Divest-or-Ban bill into law. I covered this bill extensively in my post, "Tik Tok Bill/HR 7521" back on March 16th of this year. This bill forces ByteDance to sell Tik Tok within one year. It's clear to me that this Chinese owned company is controlled by the CCP and is using it to gather information on US citizens and influence children toward committing self-harm and suicide.

Tik Tok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew released the following video statement yesterday. "Make no mistake, this is a ban, a ban on you and your voice. We are confident, and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts. The facts and the Constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again." He was referring to how they circumvented Trump's executive order to ban the app in the U.S. back in 2020. Tik Tok's position is that through China's Counterespionage Law, its customer data is stored in Virginia and backed up in Singapore. They claim that they have never or ever will share U.S. data with the CCP. Yet the owner of ByteDance previously issued a letter of apology to the CCP about failing to follow the CCP's directives. It's obvious to me that they are more of an arm of the CCP than a private company and we should not trust them. At the same time, I'm also conflicted about trusting our own government. Regardless it's now signed into law, like it or not.

Tik Tok and ByteDance together spent over $7 million since the beginning of this year on TV and digital ads in an effort to stop legislation from passing the bill. A Tik Tok spokesperson said this, "This expenditure reflects work we do to educate policy makers about how legislation could affect our community of 170 million American users." Tik Tok officials lobbied Congress and Biden's executive office last quarter. Biden's executive office contains the National Security Council, the Office Management and Budget, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and other divisions.

As I mentioned in my previous post on this bill last March, Donald Trump and Elon Musk both came out against it. Trump is concerned that it could expand government powers on other platforms, and Musk is concerned about censorship. The bill is intended to remove any foreign influence and investment in social media platforms and websites here in the U.S. The government would have to prove that a foreign entity is directly involved and then initially force divestment, and then later if necessary deplatform the app and shut down their operating websites.

I'm all for private companies operating platforms that allow freedom of expression, but not if they're being operated by a foreign adversary like China's CCP. Yet I'm always very skeptical of our government and their tendencies to over-reach in order to go after their political opposition. Especially with this current bunch in charge. All we can do is to stay informed and hopefully for the sake of our freedom and security vote in Republican majorities in both the house and senate, and get Donald Trump back into office, in my opinion.

#donald trump #trump #joe biden #biden #tiktok #tik tok #tik tok bill #us #censorship #social media #platforms #platform #ccp #china #chinas ccp #divestment #foreign adversaries #foreign adversary #office #republican #websites #elon musk #musk #app #government #national security #national security council #office management and budget #us trade council #bytedance

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Toadworrier

Published: Mar 18, 2024

As of 23 February 2024, Google’s new-model AI chatbot, Gemini, has been debarred from creating images of people, because it can’t resist drawing racist ones. It’s not that it is producing bigoted caricatures—the problem is that it is curiously reluctant to draw white people. When asked to produce images of popes, Vikings, or German soldiers from World War II, it keeps presenting figures that are black and often female. This is racist in two directions: it is erasing white people, while putting Nazis in blackface. The company has had to apologise for producing a service that is historically inaccurate and—what for an engineering company is perhaps even worse—broken.

This cock-up raises many questions, but the one that sticks in my mind is: Why didn’t anyone at Google notice this during development? At one level, the answer is obvious: this behaviour is not some bug that merely went unnoticed; it was deliberately engineered. After all, an unguided mechanical process is not going to figure out what Nazi uniforms looked like while somehow drawing the conclusion that the soldiers in them looked like Africans. Indeed, some of the texts that Gemini provides along with the images hint that it is secretly rewriting users’ prompts to request more “diversity.”

[ Source: https://www.piratewires.com/p/google-gemini-race-art ]

The real questions, then, are: Why would Google deliberately engineer a system broken enough to serve up risible lies to its users? And why did no one point out the problems with Gemini at an earlier stage? Part of the problem is clearly the culture at Google. It is a culture that discourages employees from making politically incorrect observations. And even if an employee did not fear being fired for her views, why would she take on the risk and effort of speaking out if she felt the company would pay no attention to her? Indeed, perhaps some employees did speak up about the problems with Gemini—and were quietly ignored.  

The staff at Google know that the company has a history of bowing to employee activism if—and only if—it comes from the progressive left; and that it will often do so even at the expense of the business itself or of other employees. The most infamous case is that of James Damore, who was terminated for questioning Google’s diversity policies. (Damore speculated that the paucity of women in tech might reflect statistical differences in male and female interests, rather than simply a sexist culture.) But Google also left a lot more money on the table when employee complaints caused it to pull out of a contract to provide AI to the US military’s Project Maven. (To its credit, Google has also severely limited its access to the Chinese market, rather than be complicit in CCP censorship. Yet, like all such companies, Google now happily complies with take-down demands from many countries and Gemini even refuses to draw pictures of the Tiananmen Square massacre or otherwise offend the Chinese government).

There have been other internal ructions at Google in the past. For example, in 2021, Asian Googlers complained that a rap video recommending that burglars target Chinese people’s houses was left up on YouTube. Although the company was forced to admit that the video was “highly offensive and [...] painful for many to watch,” it stayed up under an exception clause allowing greater leeway for videos “with an Educational, Documentary, Scientific or Artistic context.” Many blocked and demonetised YouTubers might be surprised that this exception exists. Asian Googlers might well suspect that the real reason the exception was applied here (and not in other cases) is that Asians rank low on the progressive stack.

Given the company’s history, it is easy to guess how awkward observations about problems with Gemini could have been batted away with corporate platitudes and woke non-sequiturs, such as “users aren’t just looking for pictures of white people” or “not all Vikings were blond and blue-eyed.” Since these rhetorical tricks are often used in public discourse as a way of twisting historical reality, why wouldn’t they also control discourse inside a famously woke company?

Even if the unfree speech culture at Google explains why the blunder wasn’t caught, there is still the question of why it was made in the first place. Right-wing media pundits have been pointing fingers at Jack Krawczyk, a senior product manager at Google who now works on “Gemini Experiences” and who has a history of banging the drum for social justice on Twitter (his Twitter account is now private). But there seems to be no deeper reason for singling him out. There is no evidence that Mr Krawczyk was the decision-maker responsible. Nor is he an example of woke incompetence—i.e., he is not someone who got a job just by saying politically correct things. Whatever his Twitter history, Krawczyk also has a strong CV as a Silicon Valley product manager. To the chagrin of many conservatives, people can be both woke and competent at the same time. 

Krawczyk is, at most, one example of the politically correct activist orthodoxy that blinds otherwise competent decision makers to the excesses of their ideology. That culture has organically permeated Silicon Valley, but it also has formal support structures within Google’s AI effort. One of these is the Responsible AI team, whose list of focus points begins with “equity and fairness” and ends with “applications for social good.” Similarly, their list of “AI Principles” is headed by the injunctions that AI should “be socially beneficial” and “avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias.” The idea that it should truthfully reflect reality appears nowhere on the list, not even under the heading of “unfair bias” which Google elaborates in the following way: 

AI algorithms and datasets can reflect, reinforce, or reduce unfair biases. We recognize that distinguishing fair from unfair biases is not always simple, and differs across cultures and societies. We will seek to avoid unjust impacts on people, particularly those related to sensitive characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, income, sexual orientation, ability, and political or religious belief.

Here Google is not promising to tell the truth, but rather to adjust the results of its algorithms whenever they seem unfair to protected groups of people.  And this, of course, is exactly what Gemini has just been caught doing.

All this is a betrayal of Google’s more fundamental promises. Its stated mission has always been to “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”—not to doctor that information for whatever it regards as the social good. And ever since “Don’t be evil” regrettably ceased to be the company’s motto, its three official values have been to respect each other, respect the user, and respect the opportunity. The Gemini fiasco goes against all three. Let’s take them in reverse order.

Disrespecting the Opportunity 

Some would argue that Google had already squandered the opportunity it had as early pioneer of the current crop of AI technologies by letting itself be beaten to the language-model punch by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT4. But on the other hand, the second-mover position might itself provide an opportunity for a tech giant like Google, with a strong culture of reliability and solid engineering, to distinguish itself in the mercurial software industry.

It’s not always good to “move fast and break things” (as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once recommended), so Google could argue that it was right to take its time developing Gemini in order to ensure that its behaviour was reliable and safe. But it makes no sense if Google squandered that time and effort just to make that behaviour more wrong, racist, and ridiculous than it would have been by default.

Yet that seems to be what Google has done, because its culture has absorbed the social-justice-inflected conflation of “safety” with political correctness. This culture of telling people what to think for their own safety brings us to the next betrayed value.  

Disrespecting the User

Politically correct censorship and bowdlerisation are in themselves insults to the intelligence and wisdom of Google’s users. But Gemini's misbehaviour takes this to new heights: the AI has been deliberately twisted to serve up obviously wrong answers. Google appears not to take its users seriously enough to care what they might think about being served nonsense.

Disrespecting Each Other 

Once the company had been humiliated on Twitter, Google got the message that Gemini was not working right. But why wasn’t that alarm audible internally? A culture of mutual respect should mean that Googlers can point out that a system is profoundly broken, secure in the knowledge that the observation will be heeded. Instead, it seems that the company’s culture places respect for woke orthodoxy above respect for the contributions of colleagues.

Despite all this, Google is a formidably competent company that will no doubt fix Gemini—at least to the point at which it can be allowed to show pictures of people again. The important question is whether it will learn the bigger lesson. It will be tempting to hide this failure behind a comforting narrative that this was merely a clumsy implementation of an otherwise necessary anti-bias measure. As if Gemini’s wokeness problem is merely that it got caught.

Google’s communications so far have not been encouraging. While their official apology unequivocally admits that Gemini “got it wrong,” it does not acknowledge that Gemini placed correcting “unfair biases” above the truth to such an extent that it ended up telling racist lies. A leaked internal missive from Google boss Sundar Pichai makes matters even worse: Pichai calls the results “problematic” and laments that the programme has “offended our users and shown bias”—using the language of social justice, as if the problem were that Gemini was not sufficiently woke. Lulu Cheng Maservey, Chief Communications Officer at Activision Blizzard, has been scathing about Pichai’s fuzzy, politically correct rhetoric. She writes:

The obfuscation, lack of clarity, and fundamental failure to grasp the problem are due to a failure of leadership. A poorly written email is just the means through which that failure is revealed.

It would be a costly mistake for Google’s leaders to bury their heads in the sand. The company’s stock has already tumbled by $90 billion USD in the wake of this controversy. Those who are selling their stock might not care about the culture war per se, but they do care about whether Google is seen as a reliable conduit of information.

This loss is the cost of disrespecting users, and to paper over these cracks would just add insult to injury. Users will continue to notice Gemini’s biases, even if they fall below the threshold at which Google is forced to acknowledge them. But if Google resists the temptation to ignore its wokeness problem, this crisis could be turned into an opportunity. Google has the chance to win back the respect of colleagues and dismantle the culture of orthodoxy that has been on display ever since James Damore was sacked for presenting his views.

Google rightly prides itself on analysing and learning from failure. It is possible that the company will emerge from this much stronger. At least, having had this wake-up call puts it in a better position than many of our other leading institutions, of which Google is neither the wokest nor the blindest. Let’s hope it takes the opportunity to turn around and stop sleepwalking into the darkness.

#Toadworrier #Google Gemini #Gemini AI #ideological corruption #artificial intelligence #WokeAI #Woke Turing Test #religion is a mental illness

[madamspeaker]

There is a certain hit dog/hollering predictability when it comes to Nancy Pelosi saying something and how the far-left react to it. Firstly it is important to make clear that during her CNN interview on Sunday she said "some" pro-ceasefire groups should have their funding investigated. Some, not all. Of course that distinction immediately got lost in the hoopla of faux outrage that followed from some quarters of the internet. She also said that there are large numbers of people out there who are sincere in their concern and their protests. You wouldn't know this though from the storm that followed.

Let's be clear, only a naive person would believe that there aren't some nefarious outside parties using the current situation in the Middle East as a wedge among Democrats. It's a pattern that we have seen before - notably in 2016 and again in 2020. It makes perfect sense to assume that it will happen again in 2024, and indeed is already happening. If it hadn't been the issue of the Middle East, then it would have no doubt been something else. 

Israel/Palestine isn't a new conflict, in fact it is very old indeed - but the sheer number of new groups popping up in the last new months should raise red flags as to what their exact concerns are. Another red flag is that only Democrats are targetted. Now you might counter that a Democrat is President, but given the GOP control the House (and in turn the money), and that Israel is one the very few issues that most Democrats and Republicans agree on, you would assume that the GOP should be getting some of the flak from protest groups too. I have yet to see one GOP member get yelled at or protested on the issue of Gaza. Speaker Mike Johnson appears to be sailing through life without so much as a whimper in his direction from the ceasefire contingent. Trump sure as hell is. I have yet to see one person ask him to call for a ceasefire, and he a) besties with Netanyahu, and b) running for the job that so many of the protestors say they don't want Biden to have anymore because of the current situation. Red flag number three is that some of these groups have infiltrated Dem fundraiser events. Those events aren't cheap to attend. A seat at a dinner, like the one that Nancy attended on Saturday in Seattle, and that she was interupted repeatedly at, is at least a couple of grand per person. How many protest groups do you know that have that kind of income to hand to just use on stunts like the one at the weekend?

The thing is, much like Cassandra of Greek myth, and indeed Hillary Clinton of modern times, Nancy Pelosi knows what she is talking about but frequently pisses off people who don't like to hear what she has to say. She has been around long enough to know that causes get corrupted, used, taken over by forces that couldn't give a fuck about the issue, but instead seek to create chaos and division. She has seen it for 17 years on her own door step in the form of Code Pink - a supposedly anti-war group that is actually funded by the CCP, and who among other things take the view that the Uygurs are absolutely fine in China, that the war in Ukraine would just end if the US and the rest of the West stopped giving them money and let Russia win, and that Iran should be allowed to build missiles because the US has them. Incidentally, Code Pink were the group in the clip that did the rounds yesterday. For the record, none of the women in that clip are Asian, it was from a couple of months ago (some brazenly claimed it was from this week), and Nancy was again hitting the nail on the head when she said they should go back to their headquaters in China - because, as verified by the New York Times, that is indeed where their money is coming from - the CCP. If China can so easily fund a group in the US like Code Pink, then it stands to reason that other countries are doing the same. It makes perfect sense to question how some groups can afford to pull off stunts costing several thousand dollars. Where is the money coming from? Why are they only targeting Democrats? In a Presidential election year, in which the choices are a guy that Putin hates or a wannabe dictator who does his bidding, it's not unreasonable to ask the question as to how some protest groups can afford to do what they are doing. Asking that question doesn't undermine legitimate protests.

[manorpunk]

Post-Bailout America

Right, I never told the second part of the story.

In case you’re just joining us, America has just spent the 2030s in the depths of the Polycrisis until China had to bail us out to keep the world economy from crashing yet again.

It would make for such a nice, clean dividing line between the generations - “America went crazy and ate itself, and then the Bailout happened and everything got better” - but it was a long, complicated, and violent process. It was also the origin of the Global Logistics Network.

There is an old saying that all empires are accidental. Such was the case of the GLN - China was so busy celebrating their victory in the Second Cold War that it took them a minute to realize America was now a massive bone in their throat. There had always been a master plan behind the Bailout: even with light controls over both ends of the Chinese-American market, China could manage their gradual transition to a service economy by fiddling with the levers whenever there was an imbalance between production and consumption. There were a couple problems though:

1. even with the modern internet and AI tech, this would require a mind-boggling amount of constant international coordination,

2. the enormous task of managing most of the world economy had been dropped into the lap of a couple of Qingdao-based construction firms,

3. insurrections were already brewing in America, but we’re gonna put a pin in that for a minute.

The GLN emerged as a hasty attempt to make the process easier, taking all of the shipping and production systems previously owned by major American corporations and just kinda duct-taping them together and hoping it would work. On paper it was under direct management of the CCP, which now stood for the Chinese China Party - winning the Second Cold War made China start to go a little crazy, with an immediate rise in nationalism and a lot of rhetoric to the effect of “now that the Century of Humiliation is over it’s time to reclaim our rightful status as the unquestionable global hegemon.” Party officials started competing with each other to see who could troll America the hardest.

wait what the hell was I talking about

right

on paper, the GLN was just another part of the Chinese government, akin to a second Belt and Road Initiative, but this was exposed as a polite fiction during the Sheriff Insurrections.

So remember that pin I mentioned a minute ago? Well, this is that. Sheriffs across America - ‘sheriff’ here is shorthand for local police officers, right-wing militias, modern rural gentry, doomsday preppers, and actual sheriffs (but I repeat myself) - Sheriffs across America launched rebellions attempting to ‘resist China and the GLN’ and ‘regain their local power.’ In reality most of these rebellions took place in rural areas that were far away from any GLN activities, and if you scratched the surface of their rhetoric they’d admit that it was because they just really hated Chinese people.

Still, as the violence and chaos from the Sheriff Insurrections spread from town to town, the GLN began independently hiring mercs military contractors to protect construction crews, and small skirmishes regularly broke out between the contractors and sheriffs.

This put the Chinese government in a bind: they could either let the GLN operate as an independent organization, which would destroy all those grand plans of economic control and unleash an unprecedented new psuedo-state upon the world, or they could continue claiming ownership of the GLN, which would mean that China was kinda sorta technically launching a ground invasion on foreign soil. The Chinese government blinked, and the rest is history.

Anyway, the sheriffs lost. Badly. As a brief aside, far be it from me to revel in punishment and violent revenge, but if one wishes to take a moment and imagine a montage of bloated, out-of-shape sheriffs fumbling with their tacticool handguns before getting vaporized by actual professionals, well, I wouldn’t judge.

And anyway, it’s nice to find a silver lining to things like that. Cause uh. Those goddamn sheriffs probably set us back another decade. The way that the rest of America was pretty cool with the GLN taking over makes a lot more sense when you remember the alternatives.

I mean, yeah, there were the economic impositions, gas and meat and plastic got a lot more expensive, but it was a small price to pay.

And yeah, there would occasionally be scandals, like when the GLN allegedly tried to break the remaining power of the conservative evangelicals by infiltrating religious cults and encouraging mass suicides, or the-

some nice men have politely informed me that I should immediately end this post. Bye everyone, see you next time!

#unreality #history of the future #manorpunk

[gsirvitor]

Just saying man. If Covid was a plot to instill a facist regime across the world, why go with an accelerationist plan? The movement was going very well from 2016 to 2018; slow and steady. The pandemic brought on social unrest and a resistance movement. Sounds more like they were sabotaging themselves (whoever "they" are) by attempting to bring societal collapse.

No, I didn't say it was planned or a plot by the elite to subjugate the people, the release of the virus from the Wuhan Institute of Virology was completely accidental, the CCP's mismanagement of containing the spread most likely wasn't deliberate either.

Governments will use any crisis to gain power, and once they have this power they will never relinquish said power, we have seen this time and time again, from the 1980's when Pierre Trudeau created a crisis to enact emergency powers and install his previously rejected Charter of Rights and Freedoms, (which overwrote the Canadian constitution by adding a line which basically reads as "you have all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, unless the government says so") to 9/11.

Hell, both Canada and the US have had to suffer under 100 years of paying a "temporary" wartime tax, known as income tax, and before anyone cites leftist articles supporting the taxation let us go over history, in Canada at least, the original tax act of 1917 was to finance the war effort, all eleven pages of it. Finance Minister White said it would be a temporary tax and so insisted it be called a "war tax" so that once the war ended, it would be. Instead, in 1921 the government added a sales tax, and even more over the years since.

Governments do not relinquish power, unless they are made to.

We have no evidence that the Governments of the world had ever planned for the Coof outbreak, well, other than

Event 201 is a damning thing for those who remember it, it was held in 2019, it simulated an outbreak of a novel zoonotic coronavirus transmitted from bats to pigs to people that eventually became efficiently transmissible from person to person, leading to a pandemic. The pathogen and the disease it caused were modeled largely on SARS, but it is more transmissible in the community setting by people with mild symptoms.

The scenario ends at the 18-month point, with 65 million deaths. The pandemic begins to slow due to the decreasing number of susceptible people. The pandemic continues at some rate until there is an effective vaccine or until 80-90% of the global population had been exposed.

The Governments of the world reacted the way they did because they trained themselves to do so, this isn't even the first event of its kind, they run scenarios like this every year at Davos, from Nuclear engagements to viral epidemics.

But the truly terrifying thing aren't the world leaders, but those who have openly admitted to infiltrating governments around the world.

Lead by a man who decried the Great Reset as a conspiracy despite his own website having this and he himself having authored a book called COVID-19: The Great Reset.

A man, and an organization that wants you to own nothing and be happy by 2030, fucking German economists.

They're still moving forward with the WEF's plans for digital IDs, which work the same as China's social credit system.

Listen, my point is, they do want you under their thumb, they aren't the most competent or smartest people, but they are persistent, they will whittle away at your rights until you're not when sure you had them in the first place, hell, most Canadians don't even know that prior to Pierre we had a right to self defense with a weapon at that, now you can't even use pepper spray.

[accio-victuuri]

On birthday woes : why zz/wyb decided to stay quiet on their special day 🎂🎁

I’ve been wanting to put all my thoughts regarding this whole topic in one place as I try to make sense of it. also if anyone wants to know what I think, then feel free to read along. please don’t take my word for it. this is just my brain dump.

I feel let down tbh, that both of them are not celebrating their birthdays like the previous years. If you think about it, it shouldn’t be a big deal. I guess most people even antis & passerby will be fine with them being all over weibo on the day of their birthday. No matter what is going on in the country. It’s not exactly classified as “entertainment”, tho they are part of that circle. It’s a personal celebration and fans who support them will want to give their greetings. but that’s just me talking. selfish me who was so spoiled for the past years ( bring 2020 celebration back! ). I know they have a good reason to do so and I wouldn’t be such a fan if these two weren’t so self aware and responsible. now let me write about the possible reasons and a bit of cpn.

• Political Timing ⏱

Yibo’s birthday week fell on Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan ( August 2 ) and the whole political nightmare that created. Tensions were high and people were talking about possible retaliation from China’s side. Add the hyper nationalists who were posting “crying” ( I don’t know how else to call it ) videos on Douyin because Pelosi landed in Taiwan, despite XJP’s regime making them believe that they will shoot down any United States plane that will try and make an independent visit to Taiwan.

All over weibo, you saw people and celebrities sharing the One China ( policy ) post — showing their support to their country. Posts about China’s military, hinting that they are ready for whatever happens. Finally, the morning of Bobo’s birthday, China released their sanctions to the US for what happened. So overall, it wasn’t a good look to be plastering Yibo’s place all over all Weibo. Or in major cities like Beijing or Shanghai for that matter. Tho as i said earlier, a simple personal birthday post or selfie from him wouldn’t hurt— I guess it was just an executive decision to stay quiet.

GG’s day on the other hand, comes right after the National Day Holiday. Also weeks before the National Congress that @rainbowsky mentioned here and if you don’t know the importance of this then let me direct you to @potteresque-ire explanation here. While I do understand how extra careful GG and his team are, also sensitive to current events, I feel like they could still get away with posting a personal photo. It’s also worth mentioning that there are other big-name celebrities who posted birthday content weeks/ days before GG ( Yangmi and WJK for example ). Even someone who posted on the same day as GG ( TJC ).

• Qinglang call & personal decisions

The literal meaning of QingLang (清朗) is “cleansed and uncontaminated.” Originally, the program was presented as aimed at the “control of chaos” (乱象治理的通) in the cyberspace. It was explained that the “chaos” was mostly created by the fan groups of celebrities, where “fanaticism” was on display and inappropriate comments were published on a variety of items.

To those who are not familiar with this, it’s a campaign started back in May 2021 regarding responsible online behavior. You might also remember the boys’ studios mentioning this when they share posts related to fan behavior. particularly with Yibo last year, his studio posted about adhering to rules set by the campaign.

It is important to point out that these rules are not only aimed at celebrities but to big network platforms & companies as well. and as detailed below:

The 4 major points of Qinglang 2022:

• Companies “deepen their understanding’ of the QingLang campaign. They should “effectively improve the political position” and “fight a tough, protracted and overall battle” to make sure that all that is posted expresses loyalty to “the CCP and the Country.”

• The companies should assume and assign responsibility. If something disloyal to the CCP and the Country is posted, the Party wants to know who was responsible for it. “Each responsibility should be assigned to specific positions and personnel to ensure that all stages of work are carried out without compromise.”

• Once the responsible personnel has been clearly identified, it should “control key sections such as topics, groups, and circles.” Further “chaos” will not be tolerated, meaning that posts should be “cleaned up” and if necessary edited or cancelled immediately.

• The companies should “strengthen security. It is necessary to continuously improve the community rules,” and also “improve the political commitment” of company executives. There should be CCP cells in each company office. The Internet companies should acknowledge “the political leading role of Party organizations,” and cooperate in case of “special operations”.

It’s all in the glory of the CCP and gives the impression that everything not aligned to CCP’s ideals is considered chaos. No surprise there.

I actually thought Yibo’s move was something Yuehua recommended and their artists are doing. Since they are, after all, a company that should adhere to the same Qinglang call for suppressing fan behavior. But No. I saw his other label mates posting on their birthday this year ( 2022 ) ( for example Hangeng ).

Which leads me to the conclusion of it’s a mix of this campaign and a personal decision. Let’s face it, these rules were created for fandoms like what ZZ/WYB have. Their solo fandoms are known to be really extravagant when it comes to their birthday ( among other things ) + they have a strong CP following too. Also add the brands they endorse on the mix — they can sponsor birthday events and release special edition bday products. It’s this whole “excessiveness” that the boys and their own studios are ( what I think ) avoiding to happen. It’s a small price to pay for two people who are notoriously private and have always been humble about their fame. The public’s view on celebrities have not been good for the past years — amidst the scandals that happened — it is a conscious choice to not flaunt anything lavish.

Having a quiet and simple birthday isn’t so bad, compared to possible “trouble” they can get into if the celebrations and fan activities are misunderstood.

I’m wondering if the personal part of this decision was discussed between the two of them. It’s not even CPN, even if you don’t think they’re dating, as close friends — they can ask each other. They have celebrity friends i’m sure or even “seniors” to consult but no one in that circle knows what it’s like to be in the position they’re in than each other. Plus they’ve aways had this “understanding” between them from when they met in CQL shoot and beyond. I’m thinking about them sitting down and seriously looking at what they can actively do to be less of a “celebrity” and the first thing that came to mind is give up the whole birthday extravagance. They may have different career paths now but their values are still the same — those of us who pay attention can clearly see that. This is why they work so well together.

I am not privy to what other c-ent celebrities are like but there is a reason why both of them have the fan following they have. They are good people. They ( mostly ) inspire their fans to be better. ZZ/WYB have always tried to set a good example, and oftentimes at the expense of their comfort. It’s so easy to repost propaganda content. It’s easy to attend state approved events. It’s easy to film VCRs/films/dramas to lend “support” to whatever projects the state is pushing. What’s hard is to look into yourself and see what you can let go from all the excess. I am comforted by the knowledge that they can still celebrate their birthday quietly, and that’s how they want it to be. What’s important is they had a good day.

I think the best birthday gift we can give zz/wyb is to have fun on their day. Go out and spend time outside. Have a day to ourselves and not be online.

-END.

#personal #yizhan #bjyx