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Re:TikTok, Trump, and the Future of Open Source Surveillance by themacguffinman on Wednesday August 26, 2020 @04:31PM (#24286922)
I generally think it's more productive to address assumptions and arguments head on instead of vaguely implying that criticism of your hypothetical scenario comes from indignant moralists. Perhaps there's a fault in my criticism you want to address? If you have something to say about the comment instead of the person who made it, I suggest you express it clearly and directly.
Re:TikTok, Trump, and the Future of Open Source Surveillance by bryanrasmussen on Thursday August 27, 2020 @05:20AM (#24291625)
I argued one possible reason why people should fear Chinese companies more than American, you seem to be in agreement that people should fear Chinese companies as well, but the argument I used was not your argument, at which point you implied that there was something morally deficient with me (at least that is how I read your comment: "Or maybe those people just aren't anyone you care about.") for not making the argument you find preferable.

>vaguely implying that criticism of your hypothetical scenario comes from indignant moralists.

No, just your criticism so far. I'm sure there are other criticisms people might make but I read yours as an accusation of being morally bad for not hitting the notes you want hit, as if by not hitting those notes in this comment I cannot ever do so in another one should I feel the timing is right.

I guess you also feel you were making a comment on my immorality because otherwise you would have said something like "you've misread my comment, perhaps don't be so quick to aggravation"

Re:TikTok, Trump, and the Future of Open Source Surveillance by themacguffinman on Thursday August 27, 2020 @06:22AM (#24292085)
I wasn't commenting on your morality and I probably could have phrased it more neutrally. I wanted to point out that China's actions aren't a mystery, so the scenario that you appeared to phrase as a possibility/hypothetical is more clear cut than that. I honestly found it odd that you'd phrase it with "as long as I don't think..." as if China's actions aren't well established.

My last sentence "Or maybe those people just aren't anyone you care about" isn't necessarily some kind of veiled insult, it's a real position that some people hold and one that I offered as an option. There was actually a reply to my comment (it's currently flagged so you may not be able to see it) that implied China's actions are justified because Falun Gong is a separatist group. This kind of reasoning is not uncommon in Chinese nationals, among others.

Re:TikTok, Trump, and the Future of Open Source Surveillance by bryanrasmussen on Thursday August 27, 2020 @08:29AM (#24292969)
fair enough, I had meant "as long as I don't think" as something akin to a parameter passed to a function changing the result of that function, not as a true reflection of my current state of mind about anything.

So that said, sorry for taking offense. I guess I am on edge recently.