Memes

The 1% how much taxes they pay

You can tell the poster is American because they blame the government involved for all of these except the US, where they blamed the CIA.

CBS NEWS: “We saw no bodies, injured people, ambulances or medical personnel — in short, nothing to even suggest, let alone prove, that a “massacre” had occurred in [Tiananmen Square]”

BBC NEWS: “I was one of the foreign journalists who witnessed the events that night. There was no massacre on Tiananmen Square”

NY TIMES: In June 13, 1989, NY Times reporter Nicholas Kristof – who was in Beijing at that time – wrote, “State television has even shown film of students marching peacefully away from the [Tiananmen] square shortly after dawn as proof that they [protesters] were not slaughtered.” In that article, he also debunked an unidentified student protester who had claimed in a sensational article that Chinese soldiers with machine guns simply mowed down peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square.

REUTERS: Graham Earnshaw was in the Tiananmen Square on the night of June 3. He didn’t leave the square until the morning of June 4th. He wrote in his memoir that the military came, negotiated with the students and made everyone (including himself) leave peacefully; and that nobody died in the square.

200-300 people died in clashes in various parts of Beijing, around June 4 — and about half of those who died were soldiers and cops..

A Wikileaks cable from the US Embassy in Beijing (sent in July 1989) also reveals the eyewitness accounts of a Latin American diplomat and his wife: “They were able to enter and leave the [Tiananmen] square several times and were not harassed by troops. Remaining with students … until the final withdrawal, the diplomat said there were no mass shootings in the square or the monument.”

Numerous military buses, trucks, armored vehicles, and tanks being burned by the “peaceful” protesters. Sometimes the soldiers were allowed to escape, and sometimes they were brutally killed by the protesters. Numerous protesters were armed with Molotov cocktails and even guns.

Wall Street Journal: In an article from June 5, 1989, the Wall Street Journal described some of this violence: “Dozens of soldiers were pulled from trucks, severely beaten and left for dead. At an intersection west of the square, the body of a young soldier, who had been beaten to death, was stripped naked and hung from the side of a bus.”

The official report of the Chinese government from 1989 (translated here) shows that more than 1000 military and police vehicles were burned by rioters. And 200+ soldiers and policemen were murdered. Just imagine how much restraint the military and the police had shown.

Wait, how could the protesters kill so many soldiers? Because, until the very end, Chinese soldiers were unarmed. Most of the times, they didn’t even have helmets or batons.

What exactly happened in Beijing in 1989 that lead to this bloody affair?

The answer lies with two key figures: General Secretary Hu Yaobang, and Ambassador James Lilley.

Hu Yaobang was a member of the communist party of China and was one of the three major rightist-reformers that set China on the path its on today, the other two being Zhao Ziyang, and Deng Xiaoping respectively. Hu Yaobang as a reformer was also a spokesman for the intelligentsia and by the end of his life was well-beloved by the youth of China (we're talking below 30 here, folks) therefore when he passed away the youth of China organized public grieving events with the largest occurring in Beijing. This is to say if Hu didn't die from old age that year, none of this would've happened that year. This is to also say this event had nothing to do with "freedom" or "democracy" or whatever pigshit your favorite rush limburger propagandist spoon feeds you, it was a funeral service that was hijacked to unseat the Chinese government - which so coincidentally is a speciality of the agency the second person we're talking about.

Ambassador James Lilley, the son of an american expat oil executive for Standard Oil, was a CIA agent operating in east Asia from 1951 to 1981 with little officially known about him (I know for a fact he's fucked around Korea and Laos, so it's not a stretch to say he's likely been involved with every conflict that occured during his official career). In his "post" CIA career he's acted as a diplomatic liason to the provice of Taiwan, a teacher to future state department ghouls, and "helped" South Korea end its military dicatorship by helping the military win the election "democratically", and abruptly five days after the death of General Secretary Hu Yaobang James Lilley was appointed as the US Ambassador to China by also former CIA ghoul and president of the United States George H. W. Bush. What an astounding coincidence.

In an article from Vancouver Sun (17 Sep 1992) described the role of the CIA: “The Central Intelligence Agency had sources among [Tiananmen Square] protesters” … and “For months before [the protests], the CIA had been helping student activists form the anti-government movement.”

Don't ask OP about the use of prepositions

The US about indigenous Americans.

Oh wait, they made hundreds of movies about killing them.

The Australian's about their treatment of ~~aborigines~~ first nation Australians

The Irish about mother and baby homes.

China about Uyghurs

Never ask a Lemmy user where they've hidden the good posts.

"Was there a massacre in Tiananmen Square?"

—"No."

"Were people killed elsewhere in Beijing?"

—"...Ermh..."

"Ahem. I am asking you if people were killed in the area immediately surrounding Tiananmen Square, even if nobody was killed in the square itself."

—"The protesters in Tiananmen Square left after negotiations with the PLA. There was no bloodshed in Tiananmen Square."

"I understand that, but were people killed elsewhere in Beijing?"

—"Nowhere in Beijing were student protestors specifically targeted."

"Well, were non-students targeted, and were any students injured or killed without being targeted?"

—"Hey did you know that the Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest—"

"Gongchandang, my friend, I am begging you."

—"...Force may have been used when provoked by attacks."

"May force have also been used unprovoked? Could it have been that the protesters felt like they were provoked first, because you were sending tanks past the barricades that they'd put up?"

—"I mean... you know... uhh..."

"Gongchandang. Were you scared that the occupation of Beijing and the potential of a workers' revolt would threaten the survival of socialism in China, by presenting a still-socialist alternative to your rule, because societal division particularly among the less politically literate could be (and was) exploited by outside forces?"

—"OUR YOUTH ARE VULNERABLE TO IMPERIALIST PROPAGANDA, OK‽ ALSO, TANK MAN DIDN'T GET RUN OVER. SEE. HE WAS PULLED AWAY BY A PASSERBY. NOT RUN OVER."

I don't know if I would have used Tiananmen Square.

The Uighur re-education cities seems far more fitting.

One of these is not like the other

The Canadian government about the canadian indian residential school system

The Iran government about Salman Rushdie

The Mexican government about Ayotzinapas 43

The British government about their museums

The German government about their car manufacturers.

The Indian government about Aasif Sultan

The Russian government about how much the war in Ukraine should have lasted.

And many more...

Do let me know btw if you know of anymore of this.

Edit:

Aded russia

imagine believing tiananmen square is in any way comparable to the rest of this list. OP showing their whole ass

Death to America

Never forget about the vicious emu war in Australia either, our shameful defeat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War

How a person reacts to being asked about the version of these things most close to them is telling. If they get defensive and deny the event happened, I would hesitate to trust their opinion on other things. Clearly that person bases their opinions on what they want to be true rather than reality. That's the kind of person whose ideology would likely lead to another event to be ashamed of. If, on the other hand, they admit it was a horrible thing and agree that people should be educated on it and that steps should be taken to prevent it from ever happening again, then I'm more likely to take their opinion seriously and believe that they can be part of the conversations we need to happen to create a better world.

What do you mean don't ask the UK about African interment camps?

Our lovely Tory government spent most of last year proud of trying to deport asylum seekers to fucking Rwanda. Like it was some sort of vote winner.

The Ukrainian Government, OUN.

The Lithuanian Government, what happened to the Jews.

In Thailand:

• 6 October
• Bloody May
• The K--g Never Smiles
• The Devil's Discus
• "Unfortunately Some People Died"

Don't forget Unit 731 for the imperial Japanese as well.

Don't ask the French (Police) what happened in 17 October 1961

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961

Was about to comment "the germans about ww2" but then remembered that we are quite open about that time. Wouldn't have made much sense either as there would be no use in evem trying to hide it

Don't ask the UK anything about their troubling history with black people or slavery unless it's to mention that they were one of the first countries to stop making black people property. They get really mad if you mention anything but that.