> Republicans are getting what they voted for and they STILL want what’s happening.
Trump was elected as a specific reaction to the previous administration’s immigration policies. You’re right that voters supported that, but they didn't sign up for the rest. If you look at the polling, the tariffs and the Greenland push are explicitly unpopular.
> having free elections doesn’t make you the good guys if you elect a tyrant.
it does. The point of democracy is that voters make mistakes. Even European countries have elected tyrants in the past. The difference is that a free system allows you to survive a bad leader and vote them out; an authoritarian one doesn't.
This excessive faith in democracy is problematic. The founders of the United States, the Romans, and the Athenian philosophers who came up with democracy all openly talked about one of the risks of democracy in mob rule. Sometimes the most popular idea is in fact not nice. Good things don't just automatically come from adding a little democracy to the mix.
Sometimes (it's not so rare) the majority of people WANT horrible things to be perpetuated by their government. It isn't just "mistakes" or being tricked or some sort of scam, governments act with the consent of the people and a ruling majority voting for atrocities is not uncommon.
I'm not saying democracy is bad, but I am saying it's delusional to think that just having democracy cures all ills.
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I have heard first hand people I know, seen people in videos online, and seen plenty of comments online to the tune of "ICE is doing EXACTLY what we want, keep going". A lot of people want exactly what has happened and while I think either the majority is eroding or already lost in support for these things, it is by no means a landslide in public opinion against the rising fascist politics in America. Sitting by and expecting to win the next election and just gritting your teeth until then is not the right response.
A huge portion of why this has happened is democratic "knowledge" that they deserve to win so they will, and making really bad political decisions based on this attitude.
China is buying 50% of Russian gas and supplying them with drone parts and gunpowder which is directly used to kill Europeans and destabilize Europe.
They are also exporting their surveillance state technology to dictatorships in Pakistan, Iran, and Venezuela. Look at Iran, 16000 protestors are dead in two weeks. That is the Chinese model of stability.
Bad leaders exist everywhere, Europe included. But in the US, they leave. Trump is gone in two years. Good luck aligning your economies and value systems with China. I’m firmly on the side of liberal democracy.
The US just kidnapped the leader of Venezuela, Iran got into this theocratic regime situation in the first place because of US interference, and our closest NATO allies are legitimately preparing for war with the US and decrying the new world order. Not to mention the previous decades of destabilizing, arming, overthrowing, etc. many many countries to serve our own self interest.
You're a European leader looking at this situation frankly trying to decide whose atrocities and foreign policy is worse, it's not exactly obvious and choosing China because at least China isn't trying to annex your neighbors and is behaving rationally even if it's not nice things it's predictable.
There's a big difference between "We're the good guys, we stopped the bad things happening in our country before they started" and "I know we're doing awful things but I bet it'll stop soon with our next election".
I think that the biggest problem with Iran right now, is that there is no clear opposition party.
South Africa had Mandela, India had Gandhi and Chile had Aylwin. We only have "Reza Pahalavi" being pushed by United State and Israel. He is nowhere qualified to run the country and hasn't stepped a foot there for decades.
None of these movements are going to succeed, unless someone from within the country forms a strong party and unifies everyone.
Either way, I'm afraid that Iranians are going to be suffering for a long time.
Isn’t China buying 50% of Russia’s Gas and supplying them drone parts and gunpowder which is directly being used to kill Europeans and destabilize Europe?
The downside is that this tech stack is also being rolled out to Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Venezuela to build their own local versions of the Great Firewall. It is currently being used to crush dissent and imprison anyone who disagrees with the regime.
I guess if you consider that “winning” then definitely continue to support Chinese dominance.
> in the US, which also has many examples of large scale human right abuses.
Excuse me? Citation is needed here for present day human rights abuses in the US.
> Canada should just do what's best for its citizen, which is get good trade deals, and ensure that our values don't morph into something unrecognizable. What other countries do in their own borders is largely irrelevant.
It’s extremely relevant, if you believe in personal liberties and democracy you should to do business with societies that uphold personal liberties and democracy it’s that simple.
- Depending on who you ask, you could also point to large-scale violations of the rights of migrants and asylum seekers, as well as the over-policing of minority populations.
The US also does not consistently uphold the same values that you say liberal democracies should. It does business with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and others.
As for your second point:
“It’s extremely relevant. If you believe in personal liberties and democracy, you should only do business with societies that uphold personal liberties and democracy. It’s that simple.”
I would ask, why? I believe in personal liberties and democracy for my people, my community, and my country. If another country’s population does not hold those beliefs as a majority, why is that my concern? If we truly restricted trade only to countries that share our beliefs, our list of trading partners would be very small. What would the benefit be?
Additionally, given your request for citations, I suspect we would disagree significantly on which countries actually reflect our values. I am not sure we could arrive at a consistent list of partners that share our values. For example, I do not believe the USA has a strong democracy. It has a rather weak one. Should it be excluded as well?
Right.. but it’s WOTY in 2025 not 1600. The reason this word and many others (including doomer, neckbeard, zoomer, etc) are popular can easily be traced back to 4chan.
There’s a book called“Algospeak” by Adam Alekaik specifically talks about how internet slang terms often originate from radicalized communities like 4chan and slowly filter into the mainstream while losing their original political meaning. Goyslop-> AI slop is a textbook example of this.
Where's the evidence that "AI slop" actually originates from "goyslop", though? Just because one predates the other and both contain the same root word? It's equally if not more likely that both terms were derived independently. Like I said, "slop" is a word in common usage that precisely matches the usage of both terms: something bland, low-quality, and high-quantity.
The way “slop” is used here is very specific. It implies a power dynamic between the slop producer and consumer where the consumer is viewed as cattle, and the producer feeds the cheapest possible product.
GP cities specific examples of this usage on 4chan in 2022 which is proof until someone can find a counter example.
I'm not sure that connotation is all that present in the way it's commonly used, but I'll grant it. However, like the other person you responded to has said, "slop" already had that meaning, because it is the low-grade cattle feed. So If both "AI slop" and "goyslop" carry these shades of meaning, it would not suggest one descends from the other, but that both descend directly from "slop".
That's maybe true, but "goyslop" was specifically referring to vapes, processed food and tiktok. Then shortly after people started calling tiktok "slop" and ai tiktok "ai slop".
I think its a stretch to declare there is zero relation considering how much internet language originates from 4chan.
>"goyslop" was specifically referring to vapes, processed food and tiktok
That doesn't sound very specific, that sounds quite broad. Looking around posts up to 2023 I can see the word used for just about anything, including HDMI and Disney. Honestly, this says to me it's just used as synonymous with "slop" in the broad sense, with no added meaning.
>I think its a stretch to declare there is zero relation considering how much internet language originates from 4chan.
There's no zero relation. The relation between the two terms is just not parent-child, but fraternal. Both simply inherit their meaning from "slop". "Slop" already has connotations of cheapness, low quality, high quantity, and cattle feed, and is a word that has existed since Old English. There's literally no reason to think "AI slop" is descended from "goyslop". At best someone heard the latter and by analogy coined the former, but given that "goyslop" had already been coined by simply prepending a modifier to "slop", there's not even any need for that explanation.
"gas" as in "natural gas" is not a shortening of "gas the Jews" either. Just because antisemites used a word, that doesn't mean the word is antisemitic.
Trump was elected as a specific reaction to the previous administration’s immigration policies. You’re right that voters supported that, but they didn't sign up for the rest. If you look at the polling, the tariffs and the Greenland push are explicitly unpopular.
> having free elections doesn’t make you the good guys if you elect a tyrant.
it does. The point of democracy is that voters make mistakes. Even European countries have elected tyrants in the past. The difference is that a free system allows you to survive a bad leader and vote them out; an authoritarian one doesn't.
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