#and i will say it a million billion times

[saltedlimes]

I think you're the one who changed the subject @nolessthan7 that was kind of a non sequitur bc OP was talking about how people underestimate the severity of feudal oppression but if you want this addressed.

If you know anything about famines, you should know that those death tolls never really have "natural" causes - you can't have such a widespread and prolonged failure to feed a population without human administrative failure first. Populations dense enough to have famines are populations with administrative bodies entrusted with oversight management that should, say, have grain stores or the ability to ask other governments for food aid. As a side note, that means other countries who have the ability to send food to a famine stricken nation but don't, or countries that impede others from sending food aid, are likewise responsible. I think it's worth noting that the US increased their already hefty sanctions on China a few years before the famine in question. Here's a book if you want to read more.

If you know anything about Chinese famines, you should know imperial Chinese history is full of famines. They used to be extremely frequent. We can do a little internet search and find that wikipedia literally has a list of Chinese famines. You'll notice they don't even bother to list all 1,828 famines they're estimating China to have had in its history.

There's noticeably less detail available and/or care to include available detail on all the famines except the "Great Chinese Famine", which also has the wildest range of estimated deaths. Apparently something happened in 1630s to warrant peasant rebellion and contribute to the collapse of the Ming dynasty, but it doesn't even have a listed name or any numbers to speak of. The Qing are responsible for numerous major famines, more than one of them rivalling the estimations of the "Great" famine. A few years before the revolution that overthrew them, there was the "Chinese Famine of 1906-1907" that killed a more exact estimate of 20~25 million. And of course there was a famine caused by the strain of the Sino-Japanese war. The "Great Chinese Famine" is the last major famine in Chinese history though. And the people didn't rise up to overthrow them, even though there's literally billions of them and they have at similar junctures in history.

If you looked up "chinese famines" you should have come across this article from Slate about why. They're very much not horrible commie tankies or whatever so maybe give it a read. It'll mention that a lack of investment in irrigation infrastructure (which was an unaddressed problem for a few centuries already) was finally remedied and a lot of research and care was put into making sure that it wouldn't happen again and farmers could do well for themselves. Similarly successful efforts did not happen under feudal landlords btw, their efforts were more about creating grain stores through taxation than actually investing in farmers.

China used to be a very poor and underdeveloped country, and it's still in the process of developing, but there aren't famines every couple years anymore. Under the CCP China has managed to completely overhaul and update their agricultural system in a relatively short time and without the help of western powers. I don't think you should just dismiss what they've done since then or the context they were living in. There's more going on here than "Gotcha! Lots of people died, so anything you have to say about the government doesn't matter." It's not ontologically evil to take its actions into serious consideration and even approve of some of them.

people who think Mao and the CPC's campaigns against landlords were about like, dudes who rent out houses, and not literal landed feudal lords who owned villages, is always disproportionately annoying to me because like. why are you talking about this if you haven't like... looked into it at all?

[jewish-sideblog]

I know it’s No Jews, No News but I’m genuinely shocked that I’ve never seen anybody talking about the US-backed invasion of Port-au-Prince, which was recently extended by at least another year. The US has put up $370 million for a multinational military deployment to take control of the Haitian capital.

This isn’t the first time the US has done something like this— in the early 1900s, Citibank engaged in a hostile takeover of the entire country’s financial system, including the massive colonially-imposed Haitian debt to the French government. This eventually lead to a nearly two-decades long US occupation of the country in the 20th Century. Naturally, this was followed by decades of political instability and authoritarianism. Then in the 1990s, the first democratically elected President of Haiti suggested that the US and France should pay reparations for the literal billions of dollars of debt that had been forced on them. Those countries (allegedly, but also almost certainly), responded by organizing a military coup, intentionally destabilizing the Haitian government again, and then directly invading Haiti again.

I’ve never seen anybody outside of Reuters and the AP talk about the current invasion of Port-au-Prince. The militia gangs that have taken over Haiti have killed hundreds of thousands of people, and a poorly planned US-backed military intervention is probably just going to escalate tensions and prolong violence. People say they want to bring attention to mass senseless death, colonialist histories, and funding for military oppression in foreign countries, but I’m really not buying it. Those things aren’t just happening in the Middle East. They’re happening in literally every continent across the globe. Only the outrage is selective.

[another-random-goose]

Officially, Joel’s grave was inside of Frog Tower. That’s where they’d held his funeral, and that’s where everybody who knew that he even had a grave knew it to be. Unofficially, however, there was another gravestone for Joel. Under the cover of night, Grian had gone back to Bread Bridge, cobblestone in hand, and climbed up the ladder above the submarine alone and in silence, lamenting the loss of his allies and podcast co-hosts. Eventually, he had reached the top of the ladder and stepped out onto the M-Rye-5, dirt crunching beneath his feet.

There was a little corner of the M-Rye-5 that was seldom visited. It wasn’t over anyone’s base. It wasn’t a good place to drop TNT on others. However, there was an incredible view of the whole server from there. You could see everything: Bread Bridge, the Ocean, the Clock Tower, T.I.E.S. Tower, Frog Tower. Best of all, you could see the stars. You were so high up that you could see the stars so clearly and quietly, above all of the chaos that littered the ground below. That’s where Grian built the grave. Jimmy got a grave in the bunker he had made for the frog he’d cared so much for. It only felt right that Joel got to have a grave on a Bread Bridge, even if it wasn’t the original. He fished Joel’s sunglasses out of one of his pockets and propped them up on top of the gravestone. He flicked his own sunglasses down from the top of his head and began to walk back towards Frog Tower.

“So long, Joel. Bad Boys for Life.”

[potatobugz]

happy dreams

[quinns-art-box]

IT IS ONCE AGAIN TIME FOR SAIMATSU WEEK!!!! (on insta and twt) this is the last one so i went all out :')

for day 1: postgame 💖 i am still stuck on this scenario for a third year in a row sorry FHDKFBD i just think……. after the hugging and the crying and the apologizing and forgiving each other because they were never upset with each other in the first place they just need to take an enormous nap. together <3 they have been apart for too long their little bisexual hearts can't take it anymore (+ bonus doodles)

[zaddyazula]

people who are like ‘i’m literally him’ (seriously) about bb confuse me… i love that man but i need him shot out of a cannon into a pit of flames before being thrown to the wolves and brutally torn apart or i’m not happy

[icewindandboringhorror]

boy in silly sitting positions compilation

[rrover]

as a flight rising fan you can protect yourself from any tidelord or adventure mode hype related grief by immediately assuming that any teasers are entirely unrelated to tidelord or adventure mode

[jopzer]

just noticed jamie flinches before the wembley hug what if i exploded into a million billion pieces.

[thefinalwitness]

y'all are gonna start making me mute dumb shit huh

[suntails]

anyone that ever thought i was crazy for doing this pmv full color: i am two files from fully drawn. i. oughh. i've planned a rough schedule around my job and i am tentatively planning to post on friday 3/1. i can feel it in my BONES im so close to done

[hikennosabo]

[cetoddle]

it’s just so frustrating that even if things do get better someday and i’m able to manage my mental illnesses i still lost over a decade of my life to fighting with them and i will never be able to get those years back

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: May 10

"The Ghosts of Beverly Drive” by Death Cab for Cutie

[gideonisms]

burnout is supposed to end at some point, I have read this. However, how do you know when it has ended and you should gradually force yourself through more activities to get used to living a life again, and when doing that will send you Directly back to an even worse ring of hell. Is there like a guidebook or

[vr46ridersacademyofficial]

they’re supposed to be playing a true/false game but when luca is asked to verify each statement he’s like “idk” or “it depends 🤔” or has to qualify it in some way. also his favorite athlete is roger federer. essential characterization