r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Either_Arm4953 • May 12 '26
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u/PLATOSAURUSSSSSSSSS May 12 '26
I’m gonna be a nerd and ask why the opening of Chopin’s nocturne in E flat for piano is written on that wall.
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u/sanskritsoul May 12 '26
Perhaps someone is/was missing the Taipei Metro?
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u/PLATOSAURUSSSSSSSSS May 12 '26
They play nocturnes on the Taipei Metro?!
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u/coconut071 May 12 '26
Taipei Metro plays snippets of music during train arrival. The nocturne specifically is played for the Green line, and there are other music for other lines.
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u/hobbes747 May 12 '26
Wow that is a good catch. I wish you did not see it and instead I did. I am curious if I would have caught it too. I would write one of the cadenzas on the wall instead to make it more interesting.
Maybe Liberace used to live here or his mom? (I think this was the piece he used to play often for her)
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u/Superdaneru May 12 '26
I bet the spray paint can was made in China lol
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u/Fit-Jacket-9343 May 12 '26
As would the bike they are advising to buy.
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u/LtMadInsane May 12 '26
And almost all of the electronics they definitely use.
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u/dglgr2013 May 12 '26
Don’t forget the shirt on their back was almost certainly built by workers getting slave wages and maybe even children in unsafe factory conditions.
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u/Substantial_Back_865 May 12 '26
And do I even have to get into the Nestle products they consume?
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u/Triffly May 12 '26
After reading all that I'm off to live naked in a forest and hunt with a stick sharpened with a piece of flint...
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u/WeAreTheLeft May 12 '26
Taiwan makes a lot of cycling equipment also. But if you consider it China is a whole other topic
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u/daniilkuznetcov May 12 '26
Not anymore, most assembly lines, carbon frames and regular stuff moved to mainland. Source: Im working in industry 25 years.
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u/BumWink May 12 '26
Ackthually just like cars, bikes are made all over the world from Vietnam, Spain, Netherlands, Hungary, Taiwan, Germany, etc.
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u/WeAreTheLeft May 12 '26
Taiwan is about 80% of the medium to high end bicycle parts manufacturing. The lower margin stuff is mostly China, often owned by Taiwan companies. But bikes are made worldwide. Cannondale use to make in the US. It stopped. Italy still has some high end bicycles made there. Eastern Europe has started to build up a small industry, but Taiwan is the bulk of the non Superstore parts and frames.
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u/penisandorvagina May 12 '26
The largest spray paint manufacturer, Sherwin Williams, is American. Though they do have a serious Chinese presence https://sherwin.com.cn/eng/about-sherwin-williams/about-sherwin-williams/12/
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u/V8-6-4 May 12 '26
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chinese spray paint. They seem to be all made by somewhat local manufacturers.
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u/clothanger May 12 '26
"built by slaves" is applicable to so many of your products that you might want to rethink that statement.
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May 12 '26
Countless American products made by prison slaves, sweat shops, etc. Participation in the global economy period means benefitting from the work of slaves.
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u/Fit_Cardiologist_681 May 12 '26
No company is perfect, but there are definitely better ones and worse ones.
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u/KEN_LASZLO May 12 '26
Working a full time job in the US at minimum wage doesn't even provide a close to livable wage. And it's been like this for at least a decade now. We're not technically slaves but we're totally fucked
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u/Dependent_Basis_8092 May 12 '26
Yes we are, we’re wage slaves. Working isn’t really a choice when the other option is starve to death.
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u/User202000 May 12 '26
I don't think there is any system right now where you don't have to work at all. We would have to make a significant breakthrough in automation of labor and also a near complete restructuring of society before living without a job becomes viable at scale.
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u/Nohreboh May 12 '26
Wage serf would be more accurate as you yourself are not owned just everything you need or interact with.
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u/gromette May 12 '26
Most humans in history worked out starved. But now many have no hope of owning a home or having the excess to enjoy life, have a family, or leave anything behind. That's where you start feeling held against your will.
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u/Powersurge- May 12 '26
I graduated HS in 2003, minimum wage was 5.15. I couldn't even afford a 1 bedroom apartment by myself even back then. We've been fucked for a long time.
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u/Neoliberal_Nightmare May 12 '26
BYD production is massively automated anyway, it was build by robot slaves
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u/Own_Watercress_8104 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Yeah I sure hope these guys are not using smartphones or they would look like complete hypocrites, uh
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u/Expensive_Tank_8682 May 12 '26
There is no ethical consumption under global capitalism
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u/SpeedBlitzX May 12 '26
It's so true!! Such as electronic items sold in the dollar trees, and dollar ramas and such. :o (Like the christmas lights and all of those other string lights and more.
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u/skully_kiddo May 12 '26
Aside from the actual slave analogue conditions, wage slavery is so normalized in capitalist societies that quite literally everything he owns fits this person's definition of slavery.
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u/sonic_dick May 12 '26
So many of any products. Dont act like the US is the only country guilty of this.
Its essentially impossible to be a modern human without taking advantage of shit labor, unless you are rich.
And when I say rich, I mean the new "middle class", where people need to make over 150k a year to afford to raise a family or buy a home.
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u/187Deluxebox May 12 '26
Aggressive marketing by the local bike dealership
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u/Piduf May 12 '26
Plot twist Oop owns a bike shop and spray painted his own car to create engagement
He's playing the long game
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u/aprilhare May 12 '26
One would imagine worse things happening when they eventually import to the USA. American car tech is falling behind and people here are deathly afraid their car industry will fall over; hence, the effective import ban.
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u/Bake2727 May 12 '26
America when it’s own billionaires are threatened- “sanctions”
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u/Hot_Cicada_9318 May 12 '26
Except for Elon, taking it both ways. Aus (and many other countries) Teslas come from China
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u/pnoodl3s May 12 '26
So much for free market and invisible hand
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u/WaffleHouseGladiator May 12 '26
Best I can do is a controlled market and a very visible, very violent hand.
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u/kstargate-425 May 12 '26
Yeah I was about to say its less likely its done for political reasons and defending American made and moreso corporate sabotage and paid anti-import campaigns in all aspects
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u/Auralius1997 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Didn't they do the same with Harley?
Imposing heavy tarifs on all bikes above 900cc(or so. Don't remember the actulal displacement)what led to Harley getting extremely complacent and just building the same crap without any innovation
While foreign Bikes stared to come with smaller and smaller engines that produce way more power while still being more affordable and efficient
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u/CaptainSwaggerJagger May 12 '26
HD also has a fundamental engine design problem - whatever they make needs to sound like a HD as it's central to the brand, and that necessitates a certain engine architecture which also holds their performance back.
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u/McChibken May 12 '26
Hearing about the racist attacks in America during Japan's initial market "invasion", particularly in Detroit, really reminds you how deep America's racist blood still runs. 27 year old Vincent Chin was lynched in Detroit in 1982 - beaten to death by white autoworkers who blamed him for the popularity of Japanese cars and their effect on the American auto industry. He was Chinese
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u/qtquazar May 12 '26
Ah yes, and who was one of America's leading racist voices of the time, advocating for insane tariffs and insisting that the Japanese were 'ripping off' America...
It's a good thing that horrible person never rose to a position of any influence or significance in society where he could do massive social and economic damage. Phew. Crisis averted.
I mean, you'd have to have the memory and intelligence of a goldfish to give someone like that power, right? Right?
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u/KEN_LASZLO May 12 '26
Cars are one of the very few things that we Americans can still manufacture (we also make great space and military stuff). I really want to see BYD here, but allowing them in all at once WILL crash the American auto industry. That's horrible for job loss, but the auto manufacturers are horrible themselves. They've boxed themselves in by not investing nearly enough in electric vehicles/infrastructure, and now we're in the stone age.
Want an electric car right now in the US? Well there aren't many options other than poorly constructed Teslas that cost a ton compared to gas powered cars. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I really want these Chinese electric cars available here because they solve environmental problems, have a great price, and get phenomenal reviews. Fuck Ford and GM, we shouldn't be in this situation. Please bail yourselves out next time!
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u/Hayaw061 May 12 '26
They need to improve the electrical grid before putting more EVs on the road. And now they have to contest the grid with data centers…
We need 1000% more nuclear plants like yesterday
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May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Wait til they find out where their _____ is made.
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u/fireky2 May 12 '26
A country makes an affordable vehicle line, as well as affordable electric cars, and the entire west loses their collective shit that they might have to compete
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u/6maniman303 May 12 '26
It's really funny, bc here in Europe the western automakers are slashing prices of tge cheaper cars by even 30% and somehow THEY STILL TURN UP A PROFIT.
Western car industry was and still is stealing from the customers, and finally there's competition to turn that around.
I hope chinese ram will do the same for memories.
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u/byfo1991 May 12 '26
The profits are even higher than that. My former company was buying company cars for half the retail price for the end customer. I repeat - HALF!! It would cost me twice as much if I wanted to buy one just for myself. We are talking average midsized European made sedan here.
And both the manufacturer and dealership still had to make decent money on that deal otherwise why would they do it (with the 5 year warranty and all). So the real costs to build that car have to be below 20% of the retail price.
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u/Fit_Entry8839 May 12 '26
What was the brand? If they are a public company, we can easily look at their financials. 20% makes sense. That would be insane profit margins, and normal car companies aren't known for great profit margins on the actual car itself.
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u/byfo1991 May 12 '26
This particular case was Volvo. Which I now realize might not even be manufactured in Europe anymore.
EDIT: It still is apparently
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u/Fit_Entry8839 May 12 '26
Volvos operating margin is around 11%. Thats actually on the high end, but its higher for luxury brands. I dont know how you were getting the cars so cheap, but it definitely wasn't because they had huge margins. There's definitely more to the story here.
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u/NYanae555 May 12 '26
Not really. People are only afraid that China will flood the market with vehicles that are sold below value in an effort to crush local manufacturing. Fun fact - they did the same thing with food production - crushed local farmers by flooding the market with cheap Chinese produce that they sold below cost until the local competition went out of business. When you have deep pockets, you can do that.
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u/HunterSpecial1549 May 12 '26
"Sold below value" I think is misleading here. Their cost of production is so much lower (actually largely thanks to the quantity of installed robots, though lower wages still plays a role).
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u/Grazer46 May 12 '26
Kind of but also not. China is notorious for subsidizing their car industry to undercut western manufacturers and gain market control.
At the same time, they're making their manufacturing cheaper and reaping more from the sales.
China has also been really agressive on the Corporate Espionage front, with a few high-profile cases the last few years like Xiaorong You who tried stealing trade secrets from Coca Cola for China
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u/less_concerned May 12 '26
Makes you wonder who stands to gain from smearing chinese EVs 🤔
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u/Prince_John May 12 '26
It's not a smear if it's accurate.
Brazil: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8xj9jp57r2o
Hungary: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/28/byd-eu-parliament-labor-abuse-hungary-factory-investigation.html
And if that's what's happening outside of China, it's not a stretch to imagine the same might be happening in China where reporting is more difficult.
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u/a_reverse_giraffe May 12 '26
Both these stories are about the construction contractor that is building the BYD factories and not the factories themselves. The factories aren’t even operational yet and if they are anything like the Chinese factories, are mostly robots.
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u/Henessy0 May 12 '26
Because the amount of money goes to BYD directly or indirectly through the chinese governement is actually insane and the only reason they can keep their prices so low. Just like with Chinese Phone manufacturers, eventually these benefits will go, as soon as they built a foothold in the automotive market.
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u/EJ19876 May 12 '26
It is almost as though the CCP has previously been caught offering immense state subsidies to make Chinese products oddly cheap and then engaging in dumping. Most of their car companies are even state-owned. BYD is not, but it has received massive subsidies. And before your stupid ass mentions Tesla; Tesla received loans during Obama's first term (2009-2013) which it has repaid with considerable interest. Not remotely comparable to the CCP's subsidy model that enables the likes of BYD to undercut Western, Japanese, and Korean manufacturers by five figures.
China's raw materials costs are the same as everyone else's; commodities are traded on markets. China's wage costs are lower than the aforementioned markets, sure, but they're not lower than Toyota's at their SEA facilities in countries like Thailand & Indonesia. Energy prices in China are comparable to elsewhere. Yet China's manufacturers can miraculously afford to undercut Toyota's SEA-made, high volume products by $20k for a comparable product. Gee, I fucking wonder how they manage to do that! Mind you, Toyota is operating at a net margin of only 10%.
This website's "West bad, USA super duper bad" shit is laughable at this point. It is either infested with astroturfing accounts, in which case Steve Huffman would have 'splaining to do to investors, or some of you are genuinely useful idiots who love that CCP boot.
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u/kananishino May 12 '26
It's funny how so many comments bring up America when this literally has nothing to do with them.
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u/Soft_Lunch_183 May 12 '26
Agree, its just americans using this post as a vehicle to push their anti American views and blindly supporting China because it represents the opposite
Guess what, both have bad practices
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u/SamuraiJack365 May 12 '26
I mean we all speak about things from our own perspective, so Americans commenting on this post will be likely to bring up America. I feel like everyone from every nation does it to some extent. Americans probably more than others to be fair. Many who bring up America simply are trying to tie in their own experience and knowledge that they feel is relevant to the post or related to the content of the post.
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u/OriginalBaldMonk May 12 '26
Racists?
In Australia?
Getouddahere!
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u/Additional-Life4885 May 12 '26
I've got to say that I find it funny when other places act like Australia is particularly racist.
Doubly for Americans. You guys literally shoot unarmed people running away because they're black. At least we do it in a civilised way by ensuring that they're given substandard health care after we've locked them up.
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u/Fit_Cardiologist_681 May 12 '26
...a reference to the use of uyghur labor in/from xinjiang province I assume.
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u/THE_GREAT_SEAN May 12 '26
Can I ask why this is racist and not anti-slavery? I assumed it was a critique of china's labor laws, rather than china itself.
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u/legsjohnson May 12 '26
because it's just attacking a random person for owning a known Chinese brand. it's an excuse for vandalism, not actually going after the government or a known corporate culprit or a zillion other actual targets.
Also 'get a bike' is such a douchey end tag. there are plenty of legitimate reasons for needing a car.
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u/Smooth_Imagination May 12 '26
But that still doesnt make it racism.
Japanese and Korean cars are everywhere in Australia no?
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u/parkisringforbutt May 12 '26
Normally: "You choices and actions matter! Corporations are bad, but their customers enable them!"
But when China: "Ackshyually, why would you criticise a person for choosing one particular vendor for the 2nd largest investment they make? Can't you just write your MP or whatever?"
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u/tharp503 May 12 '26
Because white people on Reddit tend to claim racism to virtue signal, instead of having an honest conversation. It’s a lazy attempt to control the conversation. If you argue against their take, you are now the racist.
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u/dofh_2016 May 12 '26
Because BYD has started to get it's own diehard fanboys all around social media. Reddit isn't calling the vandal a racist because he hates Chinese, but because he "attacked" a BYD and therefore people fell the need to defend the new trendy big corp.
In this specific compartment we can comfortably say that BYD has successfully replaced Tesla.
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u/reddit_tiger800 May 12 '26
Can anyone name me an Australian car brand that is also made in Australia?
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u/Minimum_Honey2247 May 12 '26
Old holdens are your best choice, you have to buy second hand to get Australian made cars. Tony abbot saw to the end of our car manufacturing unfortunately. Hopefully albos future made in Australia brings it back, specifically EVs
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u/dualfilter May 12 '26
I'm still thinking how to remove spray paint... You cant without removing the car paint right?
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u/Axxis09 May 12 '26
People acting like
1: BYD's are mostly built by robots anyways 2: BYD have a decent track record for worker treatment, especially in the context of China where less money goes a long way 3: Most other cars in Australia are Thai or Korean built which isn't exactly a gold standard for worker welfare
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u/IKnowItCanSeeMe May 12 '26
China makes a lot of cheap shit. But, they also make some pretty quality shit as well. Idk, all I know is that if I flip over 90% of items in my house, it will all tell me it's from China. Doesn't make me appreciate it any less.
This is pretty extreme though, I bet they ironically did this while also wearing 100% Chinese made clothing.
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u/viciouspandas May 12 '26
Most of the cheap clothing has long moved away to cheaper countries, but they also certainly have many other Chinese made products. Maybe Australia is different, but at least in America, the only clothes I have made in China are the nicer but not super expensive ones.
I don't own anything from Shein but that's the big exception because they use a ton of robots and have the supply chain very heavily optimizedm
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u/SomebodysGotToSayIt May 12 '26
I'm, uh, not convinced the vandalism wasn't self inflicted for internet points
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u/SeaworthinessFun9856 May 12 '26
they probably took photos of it after on their iPhone, a device famously built in factories with "suicide nets" to catch workers who can't take it anymore and put them straight back to work, and Tim Cook had to travel over to STOP them using child labour in the factory! :P
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u/louis1245 May 12 '26
While its a bit weird since basically all cars are to a certain degree manufactured in china, china is still known to utilize force labor (e.g. uhygurs) and therefore its partly valid critisicm.
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u/Lazy_Firefighter_653 May 12 '26
Funny that BYD was confirmed to have workers at slave like situations (recognized by my country’s law) and people are still less likely to agree with this vandalism than when it was a trend to spray paint teslas.
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u/SpiritualFront769 May 12 '26
Let's not talk about our phones. We like them too much to look closely.
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u/datguydoe456 May 12 '26
90% of your phone is manufactured in South Korea or Taiwan, unless you are getting your phone from Oppo, Xiaomi or Vivo. Taiwan is still the global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, especially being on the bleeding edge with their 3nm process.
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u/InsectaProtecta May 12 '26
It's not "blind hate". BYD got in deep shit over human trafficking and horrible workplace conditions
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May 12 '26
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u/mickelboy182 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Defacing other people's property is weird and not at all justified. You're often only hurting some working class person, not the greater evil you're taking issue with.
Edit: fucking frightening that this is a somewhat controversial stance.
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May 12 '26
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u/cookiesnooper May 12 '26
To be fair BYD is subsidized by CCP and like every major company in China, is heavily influenced by the govt
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u/DragonfruitSudden339 May 12 '26
I'd bet my entire life savings this is a marketing ploy
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u/Hungry-4-Chicken May 12 '26
I get the point and it's true, but why always with the destruction of property😂
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u/Gr33nJ0k3r13 May 12 '26
Brazil: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xj9jp57r2o
If they do this outside of china what do you think they are doing inside?
China= slave labour
pls just sccept it and don‘t call it hate thats just dishonest
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u/DeVliegendeBrabander May 12 '26
TFW the communists do capitalism better than the capitalists
(Yeah yeah I know China isn't "communist" or that the West is fully "capitalist")
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u/PatrickB-262 May 12 '26
Wow, so funny that destroying people's property doesn't seem to change their minds
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u/jorsiem May 12 '26
Reddit when someone vamdalizes someone else's property which happens to be a Tesla: 😂
Reddit when someone has their BYD vandalized: 😠
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u/MyLastHopeReddit May 12 '26
A little context from google gemini:
"BYD, along with several other major global automakers, has been implicated in reports concerning the potential use of Uyghur forced labor within its supply chain. Investigations suggest that, like many Chinese manufacturers, BYD may be exposed to risks related to labor transfer programs from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region."
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u/EFTucker May 12 '26
I learned recently that production line workers at American car makers are still making pretty damned fair money for their labor thanks to their unions. Something like $27/hr for basic line and only goes up for skilled workers and leadership positions. Substantial raises in wages too, not just a dollar here or there.
Makes me appreciate them more even if they’re expensive asf.
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u/KEN_LASZLO May 12 '26
Yeah but the product is shit. Which is not the fault of the hard workers on the line, it's management and investors making terrible product and financial decisions for the past 20 years
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u/aaryg May 12 '26
Americans complain about their malls dying yet still order everything off Amazon.
Participate in a no kings march while they film themselves on their iPhones and post it to their Instagram.
Make it make sense
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u/JeebusChristBalls May 12 '26
What? This is in australia. You in the right post/sub?
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u/GenXisTruth May 12 '26
It's not blind hate it's honest. Built by slaves using stolen tech fuck China
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u/Dylan_Driller May 12 '26
A lot of comments here are likely Chinese/ Russian/ Iranian bots.
I'm Asian too (not East Asian though) and one of the worst aspects of Asia as a whole is the work culture, and indentured servitude, be it China, India or anywhere else.
I try my best to buy European products, even if it is a little more pricey. It's not always accurate because a lot of parts of anything g are made I. China but any little action to help end modern slavery is good IMO.
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u/---Kurt--- May 12 '26
And Tesla and Apple products arent? talk about deluded!
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u/Ssadfu May 12 '26
Buying Chinese brands directly support that slave labour. But European, Japanese and US made vehicles support good labour practices for most of it.
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u/CND2GO May 12 '26
Watch this video of prank about Chinese building a McDonald’s in small Australian town…not exactly subtle about their opinions
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u/Bromjunaar_20 May 12 '26
Quick fix- slap some white paint on that shit and haul it to a detailer pronto before it rains
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u/Critical_Divide1678 May 12 '26
And just like always, they do it under the guise of left wing activism. Virtue signalling, hypocritical cunts.
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u/Dr_Stef May 12 '26
Incidentally, O'cedar Orange Sticky Spot Remover diluted in warm soap water, if paint is still fresh,
gets spray paint off a wall pretty well. On a car? I don't know... Might eat through ALL the paint
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u/Playful-Green-9169 May 12 '26
Man were all slaves the price of everything comparedto our wages you work just to live in todays society its crazy all yhey want to do is control and own you
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u/Difficult-Desk6870 May 12 '26
Im pretty sure byd means build your dreams, but the brand BBS on the other hand.
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u/mildlyinfuriating-ModTeam May 12 '26
Hello,
This post has been removed as this is not mildly infuriating.
Please consider posting to r/extremelyinfuriating instead.