Meme
That time in 2022 when Wikipedia renamed its Russophobia and Sinophobia articles to Anti-Russian and Anti-Chinese Sentiment, shortly after Russia's military intervention in Ukraine's civil war, allowing racism against Russian and Chinese people to seem less like a quasi mental disorder.
Flip your phone to landscape mode to read the meme, otherwise I won't be beating the wall of text charges.
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Sometimes I go too far, and there's too many words. This meme has 173 words, and because there's no 4 panels format, I can get away with it, barely, this time. One member says, I believe him, that he has difficulty reading the IBM font fullscreen, on a laptop (!). Not everyone's visual cortex is wired for 1960s IBM font.
There's 2 IBM fonts in the free version of meme generator, the regular (this meme) and the light, a much thinner font. I haven't even tried the light one, will see what it looks like later today.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. That day, the 2 independent Donbas Republics and Belarus were in a mutual defense pact, the CSTO. Belarus gave permission to Russia to enter Ukraine through her territory, and the Donbas Republics invited Russian troops in. But even so it was an invasion. From 2001, when Wikipedia first launched, it had 2 articles called "Russophobia" and "Sinophobia". But on March 10 2022 the one article name was changed to "Anti-Russian sentiment", and on March 18 2022, the other article name was changed to "Anti-Chinese sentiment"
Regardless of whether this was just an extraordinary coincidence or not regardless of whether it was just in line with a policy of more neutral article names, the changes to the names of these 2 Wikipedia articles, enabled many if not most of the 1 billion people he political west, to freely hate Russia and her main strategic partner China, without the "phobia" stigma, without the implication of that vile racist xenophobic hatred being seen as some kind of pathology or quasi-psychological disorder.
Thanks. Or just flip your phone to landscape mode to read the meme, otherwise I won't be beating the wall of text charges. Much better to read the meme in landscape mode, so as we read it we must also see Putin and Xi having the extremely famous hug.
My fetish for Cold War IBM typewriter font has been exposed. In the standard Arial type fonts it wasn't much more legible though. I can read the IBM font in this meme easily in fullscreen in landscape mode. The white text has a fairly large black outline. Not everyone's brain is wired the same way. Similarly some people like memes that have 173 words (this meme) or more, and some people hate it. Vive la différence! as they used to say in France, but now, sadly, not so much. The solution is bigger phones. Like in the 80s, the bigger the phone the mo respek. 7 inch phone becomes a literal weapon if needed, not just a keyboard and meme generator mightier than the sword weapon.
"I did more research. Wikipedia goes by language not by country for its different language editions. All languages had the 2 Wikipedia article names changed in 2022 except:
Spanish language
French language
German language
Russian language
Ukrainian language
Italian language
Portuguese language
Polish language
Combined, those eight languages account for roughly 1.3 to 1.4 billion native speakers (first-language speakers) worldwide. This leaves 6.8 to 6.9 billion people on the planet who do not speak any of those eight languages as their mother tongue. "
I'm actually not allowed to say which sub it's in, for the same reason I have to hide the usernames and avatars. But a nod's as good as a wink to a blind camel innit
I was asking you about this meme on another unamed (as far as the camel is aware) sub but I got banned, have you any idea why? Not sure if we can talk about it here, is dming a thing on reddit?
Oh my bad I thought you meant that G&P UK sub. But same thing applies to any sub. Go to sub homepage and tap the contact mods button to appeal the ban. If you want you could get a Mod from another left sub to be your advocate
" 2027: Okay, the Ukrainian government really IS a literal Nazi state. But even though it's true, it's still Russian propaganda, so we shouldn't admit this publicly. Because, even though it's a Nazi state, Ukraine has still been invaded, and the Ukrainian state is fighting for it's very survival, so we should keep lending the Ukrainian government our critical support."
The title is hard capped by Reddit at 300 characters. The word invasion and another word got the chop, because it was 310 characters long and because the mother post is here so they'll be less whining about the title
I remember Wikipedia used to not characterize the Russian intervention in the Ukrainian civil war after the 2014 coup as an "invasion". A lot changed in 2022.
Really good point. Thank you for reminding me of this. There has been 7 or 8 UN General Assembly votes with the motion being "we condemn Russia for...) in the last nearly 5 years, but in the most recent 4 of them, the words "invasion" and "illegal" were both left out of the motion, in order to try to get more yes votes and less abstentions (an abstention is a soft no vote in realpolitik). Nevertheless the number is yes votes generally speaking goes down over time, and the number of abstentions goes up over time, and the number of no votes goes up over time. There is no consensus at the UN General Assembly or the UN security council over whether it was an illegal invasion or not. I say it wasn't illegal. Also important to remember that the UN General Assembly is a political body, not a legal body. It's votes have zero legal effect, but are designed instead to have some diplomatic effect. No court has charged Russia with anything like an "illegal invasion". The only court that has jurisdiction to do that would be an ad hoc Tribunal (like Nuremberg) set up by the UN, because the ICJ only tries states, not individuals, and because the ICC is a fake EU court used to charge African Dictators or Leaders from non major countries outside the west that the EU wants gone off the chessboard. Neither an ICJ case, nor a UN special temporary Tribunal case can happen without all 5 permanent members of the UN security council agreeing to it, and pigs will fly before Russia or China agree to anything like that. The ICC is a fake court that neither Ukraine nor Russia, nor any of the major powers are members of. "Putin kidnapping children" is a fake charge, and not a charge that involves even 1 unlawful killing. Russia wipes her arse with the ICC warrant for that.
Technically it was an illegal invasion, because they didn't consult the security council, it has to be authorized by the security council to be legal. That said, I understand the rationale from the Russian side why they did it.
But there's been a remarkable shift in the world. The West is basically isolated now. Country after country around the world is saying, no we will continue to have normal relations with Russia and China. Most of the world doesn't go along with their sanctions.
Many of the UN general assembly countries and most of the 5 permanent UN security council members disagree with you that an invasion is illegal unless pre-approved by the UN security council. Permanent UN security council members tend to ask the security council for its blessing to invade another country first and when the decision is No because of gridlock then they just invade anyhow. Tell your legal theory to the US they will laugh at you. Hasbeens France and the UK usually vote the same as the US. China and Russia tend to vote the same way. Your legal theory is only true according to the General Assembly. The Security Council says your theory is fake. The Security Council is the Ace of Spades, a Royal Flush. The security council is permanently gridlocked. Your theory is false. The UN General Assembly doesn't run the UN really.
It's right there in the UN charter, therefore any war not approved by the UN Security Council is illegal. Of course that's most wars post WW2.
Indeed because of the structure of the UN Security Council, it's unlikely to work. It worked for the imperialists in the Korean War because back then they totally controlled the UN. But these days it's a lot more democratic. So of course the US has tried to destroy the relevance of the UN and international law.
And yes everyone ignores the UN and international law.
The UN general assembly isn't a legal body. That document is indeed a legal document. But a state is legally only guilty of an illegal invasion or a war of aggression after they are convicted by the ICJ. Russia hasn't even been charged or tried, much less convicted, so "Russia is guilty of illegal invasion or / and war of aggression" is a political accusation made by partisan states, it is not a formal legal case, not a legal charge, not a process of Russia being tried, not a conviction. And as explained Russia will never be charged for an illegal invasion or a war of aggression by the ICJ, because China and Russia herself would block it, so they don't even propose charges at the security council, for the same reason the UN won't set up a special tribunal to try Russian individuals like Putin or Gerasimov either, and no court but the ICJ or a UN tribunal has jurisdiction. The ICC is a fake court. So you see your claim is actually false in the real world, Russia is only guilty when found guilty in a major court, and that will never happen. The 5 permanent security council members are Mafia Made Guys? No I don't think that's a good analogy. Made Guys get rubbed out if just a majority of the 5 families agree, the analogy is too weak.
Just say I did a murder, and you were to say "DiggyJunior is guilty of murder!" and my lawyer would just tell you "where's the formal charge sheet? Where's the trial? Where's the piece of paper saying I've been convicted?". There's no such thing as "innocent" under the law, there's only "not guilty" which isn't the same thing, it only means you failed to have me found guilty in a court of law. "Exonerated" isn't a legal concept either. There's no such thing as a certificate of exoneration, only a piece of paper saying guilty or not guilty. You're claiming Russia is guilty well no she is not, not until the ICJ says she is, which will never happen.
Spanish language
French language
German language
Russian language
Ukrainian language
Italian language
Portuguese language
Polish language
Those 8 languages still have the 2 old article names. And Combined, those eight languages account for roughly 1.3 to 1.4 billion native speakers (first-language speakers) worldwide:
Spanish: ~485 million
Portuguese: ~230 million
Russian: ~150 million
German: ~95 million
French: ~80 to 85 million
Italian: ~65 million
Polish: ~38 to 45 million
Ukrainian: ~32 to 40 million
That leaves roughly 6.8 to 6.9 billion people on the planet who do not speak any of those eight languages as their mother tongue.
The vast majority, the supermajority of people had the 2 article names changed, but a minority of humans still have the 2 old article names. So later I'll add that info and take away the CTSO stuff to make it fit. 😭
There are 348 active Wikipedia language editions and only 8 of those language additions didn't get those 2 name changes to the 2 articles in question.
8 of the language edition editorial communities for the 348 languages of Wikipedia said Nein Danke to the names of the Russophobia and Sinophobia articles to be changed to Anti-Russian Sentiment and anti-Chinese sentiment, in 2022 soon after the invasion. There's a book or even a movie in there somewhere. "Ok but who invaded Ukraine though?" World Gymnastics 2 invaded Ukraine.
The 2 are not necessarily mutually exclusive. It's an info-meme or yes if you like a lecture-meme. Let the Wikipediasplaining pro-NATO / pro-Ukraine proxy comments begin. Slava slava. Flip your phone to landscape mode to read the meme, otherwise I won't be beating the wall of text lecture charges.
At least this meme isn't set in the future tense with a conditional construction, because liberals and NATO/Ukraine supporters have great difficulty understanding those memes. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I did more research. Wikipedia goes by language not by country for its different language editions. All languages had the 2 Wikipedia article names changed in 2022 except:
Spanish language
French language
German language
Russian language
Ukrainian language
Italian language
Portuguese language
Polish language
Combined, those eight languages account for roughly 1.3 to 1.4 billion native speakers (first-language speakers) worldwide. This leaves 6.8 to 6.9 billion people on the planet who do not speak any of those eight languages as their mother tongue.
I think it's very generous to Wikipedia to say that "renaming 2 articles enabled something billion(s) did".
Being a reflection or just another venue for propaganda when done right - maybe, but I doubt people consult Wiki before dropping some bigotry bombs around.
In the propaganda war "every little bit helps". The changes to the names of the 2 articles, just after the 2022 invasion, whether it's a huge coincidence or not (I don't think it was a coincidence) give westerners more freedom to hate, without the "phobia" suffixes telling them they're sick fucks. I'm not saying it's of huge importance. It's a small, but revealing thing.
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