Even if war with China were justified (it isn’t), I don’t know how anyone thinks we’re coming out of it alive. Even if we wipe out all of China and the US government is still somewhat intact, the devastation a nuclear exchange between two superpowers would cause is the end of human civilization. The US fires > China fires at the US and its allies > Isreal and US allies in Europe fire > Russia fires > Pakistan and India say “Why the hell not?”

Again, even if there are survivors, the entire global supply chain collapses. We’re lucky if the atmosphere is still there and hasn’t been ignited. Radiation kills everything not killed in the explosions.

incredibly exhausting. sorry if you’re also tired of this pasta but I couldn’t help it

Westerners want to believe that other places are worse off, exactly how Americans and Canadians perennially flatter themselves by attacking each others’ decaying health-care systems, or how a divorcee might fantasize that their ex-lover’s blooming love-life is secretly miserable. This kind of “crab mentality” is actually a sophisticated coping mechanism suitable for an environment in which no other course of action seems viable. Cognitive dissonance, the kind that eventually spurs one into becoming intolerant of the status quo and into action, is initially unpleasant and scary for everybody. In this way, we can begin to understand the benefit that “victims” of propaganda derive from carelessly “spreading awareness.” Their efforts feed an ambient propaganda haze of controversy and scandal and wariness that suffocates any painful optimism (or jealousy) and ensuing sense of duty one might otherwise feel from a casual glance at the amazing things happening elsewhere. People aren’t “falling” for atrocity propaganda; they’re eagerly seeking it out, like a soothing balm.