Blue is Me

Category: Politics

Anything related to politics

  • What is your take on Alysa Liu being dragged into culture wars despite her incredible achievements at the Beijing Winter Olympics?

    I don’t think she really asked for any of this and it’s coming mostly all from MAGA side creating this culture war.

    Did any liberals or Dems care? No. This is something that’s totally fabricated by MAGA to create an us vs them divide, as they always do. MAGA loves to divide the country and then accuse the other side of doing what they did.

    And the best part about it? Alysia is totally not a MAGA or right winger. She’s a Cali liberal through and through which makes it kinda weird and comical because MAGA is pitting two childhood friends against each other when they have literally always been on the same side and share similar backgrounds it’s just one chose to compete for China and one chose to compete for USA being literally the only difference.

  • Why are Chinese Americans divided over Eileen Gu and Alysa Liu in the Winter Olympics?

    (speaking as a Chinese-Canadian observer)

    From what I’ve seen online, it’s not so much Chinese-Americans that are divided (in fact most Asian Americans I know are just happy that Asians are doing so well at the Winter Olympics particularly Asian females and Asian American females like Chloe Kim, Eileen Gu, Alysia Liu etc)

    It’s more Americans in general and in particular the right and MAGA that’s been quite vocal about the split.

    I often heard this said about them

    In a world of Gu’s, be a Liu

    (yes they mispelled Alysia’s last name here, it’s Liu)

    They often contrast the two against each other – Gu as this ‘priviledged’ greedy traitor who defected to China for money and Liu as the ‘All-American’ patriotic daughter of a Chinese dissident who chose her country over wealth.

    It’s not quite this black and white and it’s very exagerrated. In fact, they have quite a bit in common with each other:

    • Both are obviously child prodigies at their sport who were world class athletes by the time they were teens
    • Both were raised by single Chinese parents – Gu by a single mother, Liu by a single father
    • Both are mixed Caucasian / Asian
    • Both are from the San Francisco Bay Area
    • Both are contemporaries and differ by only 2 years
    • Both are from all accounts, on friendly terms with each other

    The only reason why Conservatives online have pitted the two against each other is almost soley due to Eileen choosing to compete with China, a country they see as ‘evil’ and ‘anti American’. But Eileen shouldn’t be singled out like this.

    Didn’t Becky Hammon play for Russia for 2 Olympics? And nobody had an issue with it? Despite it being Russia, a historically anti American country?

    What’s the big issue with China? I am willing to bet the people who dislike or hate China so much have never set foot there and actually been in that country. I was in China traveling just a few weeks ago and it has far more freedom than people think. Seriously Americans think China is like North Korea or something. I could drink beer outside on the street in China – something I couldn’t do in Vancouver, Canada where I live. I could sit anywhere outside – something I couldn’t do when I was traveling in Tokyo (officers warn me if I try to do). So I think people’s impressions of China being some sort of dictatorship like country is totally off the mark.

    So what’s the issue with Eileen playing for China anyways? Doing it for money – well isn’t that the most capitalist / American reason possible?

    The real irony of Alysia being so worshipped by MAGA is that she fits the stereotypical California liberal they often make fun of in memes to a T with that dyed hair and piercings and ‘rebellious’ look. Conservatives are literally gaslighting themselves to like Alysia due solely to the fact that they hate Eileen more which is ridiculous and comical.

    My personal thoughts: Both deserve their praise, both deserve their respect, they are both equally talented ahletes of their generation. Don’t hate or single out Eileen just because she chooses to play for a country you dislike (for irrational reasons I would say).

  • In what country would you rather live in, USA or Canada?

    Grew up in Canada (Toronto), lived in California (San Francisco) for working (TN visa) from 2011 to 2018. Back in Canada now (Vancouver).
    I would have to agree with many of my fellow Canadians that currently the States is not a good place to live ever since Trump was first elected back in 2017.
    During the Obama years, I had a great time in California, I enjoyed the weather there, enjoyed the scenery, enjoyed making lots of friends, enjoyed the generally lower prices and easier access to consumer goods there.
    After Trump was elected in 2017, I’ve felt that America was no longer friendly to immigrants, and a substantial portion of the American population was prone to believing in misinformation spread by social media and the Trump Administration. After Trump took office, I decided I could not keep staying there much longer and left for Vancouver in 2018 and haven’t thought about moving back.
    Although Vancouver obviously doesn’t have California’s year round sunny weather, it’s the closest that we have to that kind of West coast chill lifestyle, and I don’t mind living here. I feel that although Canada has it’s fair share of crazies, it’s not quite as bad as in the USA – I still remember that my phone got snatched out of my hands twice in San Francisco and one deranged man had punched me in the head while I was on my scooter there – never happened to me in Canada. The homeless and druggies in Canada usually keep to themselves, they don’t tend to assault people like they do in the States.
    And just the fact that there are so many *more* crazies in the US combined with the high number of racists, mass shootings from Americans being gun crazy, cost of higher education and healthcare, keeps me from going back.
    Canada is not perfect by any means – it’s expensive to live in, it’s a bit *too* liberal at times, the taxes are high, the waiting times are long for the medical system, druggies and homeless exist etc BUT I would still choose to live there over the USA because of the issues I described.

  • Can America finally have a real conversation about gun control?

    USA overwhelming has the most school shootings in the world regardless of what data you use. (And it’s not just limited to schools either you can be shot at festivals, theaters, clubs etc all kinds of places in America).

    Why don’t Americans do something about it? Because gun owners will overwhelmingly protest against it that’s why. Guns are uniquely part of American culture and history and I don’t think anyone who has lived in other countries can exactly understand it fully. Americans are extremely protective of their firearms. As a Canadian, I certainly cannot understand it fully either.

    Cause in the aftermath of the recent Minneapolis Catholic school shooting, here are the most popular comments whenever gun control is brought up:

    They always bring up the strawman arguments as to why guns shouldn’t be banned. Here’s what these gun supporters don’t seem to understand:

    • America has by the far the most mass shootings in the world. Either they also have by far the most mentally ill people in the world OR.. its the guns. Pick one. China has 1.4B people and no mass shootings just FYI. Either they don’t have much mental illness for some reason.. or it’s the fact that they don’t have guns. Pick an explanation.
    • Even if 99% of people are law abiding and don’t use guns to kill there’s always going to the 1% that will. Other countries have decided that the risk of having this 1% easy access to guns is not worth the freedom of owning a firearm. Americans think otherwise.
    • “Criminals will always find a way” except in the vast majority of these cases, the shooter had NO criminal record! They literally were not criminals until the moment they commit the crime. Many of these perpetrators – like the Columbine shooters for examples – were kids themselves. So the ‘criminals’ argument doesn’t make sense because most of these shooters are NOT criminals but mentally ill people with easy access to guns.
    • “But they can use cars and knives to kill” sure and how easy is it to kill people with a car and a knife compared to using a semi-automatic rifle? With a car you have to purposely drive into a large group of people somewhere that is accessible with a vehicle and not have them jump out of the way and with a knife you have to get close to a person and stab them quickly and also have it be a lethal wound. Neither compares to how easy it is to kill someone using a firearm.
    • There’s never any good guys with guns at these places and even if there was they wouldn’t be in a position to fight back against these shooters. The ‘fighting guns with more guns’ argument is patently ridiculous and the good guy with a gun might even end up killing more innocent people by accident. That’s literally what the police are for. They ARE the good guys with the guys. Not some random civilian who shoots deer for fun.
    • Guns don’t kill people but mentally ill people WITH easy access to guns kill people FASTER than they would with other weapons. Don’t know why Americans can’t seem to understand this basic logical point.

    Like if this is so difficult to understand, let’s look at the most heinous school shooting example: Sandy Hook in 2012. In this shooting, the perpetrator Adam Lanza used his mother’s Bushmaster rifle to kill 26 people including 20 children.

    Let’s imagine this in a country where guns are banned ok?
    So Adam Lanza decides he wants to kill people because he’s mentally ill. His mother doesn’t have access to a rifle because they are banned. Since Adam is 20 and not part of a criminal organization, he doesn’t have black market access to weapons. He also decides that it’s too much of a hassle (nor does he have the components) to 3D print himself a firearm. So he decides to take a kitchen knife instead and murders her so she’s still dead. Then he gets some body armor and drives to Sandy Hook elementary school. There, he pulls up in front of the school and runs after everyone he sees with a knife. While he has a knife, teachers are able to protect the kids better and able to overpower him because a knife is much slower and less lethal to use than a firearm. By the time he is able to break free, the police have already arrived. A couple of teachers get stabbed, some are in critical condition, but all of them survive, and no kids are killed. The only victim is the mother who was defenseless and easy prey for him.

    See.. this is how Sandy Hook would play out if guns weren’t so easy to get.

  • Threatening Canada wasn’t even an election topic before Trump went into office. Why do Canadians take it so personally against Americans, when most Americans love Canadians and are against Trump’s threats?

    Probably because there is something very deeply wrong with your country when 46% of the population still approve of him. He’s a man-child, a wannabe dictator, an ignorant buffoon, a habitual liar, a conspiracy theorist, is destroying the global economy, an arm’s length away from starting nuclear war at anytime, a bully, a convicted felon, a known sexual predator and oh yeah likely a pedophile as well. And this ain’t the first time it’s the second time you guys elected him. And this time with a popular vote mandate no less! There’s no excuses for Americans anymore.

  • Why doesn’t the left receive as much criticism as the right if they too have committed questionable acts?

    Well, I think America is messed up in a big way, because what has the left done really to make Americans hate them so much? In recent years, we’ve seen more and more people shifting away from Democrats and this is a big reason why Trump won the last election. As far as I can tell the reasons seem to be:
    -Liberals / Dems care too much about illegal immigrants
    -Liberals / Dems care too much about druggies
    -Liberals / Dems care too much about the poor
    -Liberals / Dems care too much about minorities
    -Liberals / Dems are too woke and care too much about LGBT
    so basically the issue stems from the left being too sympathetic and caring too much about others. People think they waste too much time and money on these issues.
    Ok well in comparison here’s what MAGA has done:
    -round up people, keep them in cages and ship them off to countries they’ve never been to
    -inflate the debt with tax cuts for the rich
    -inflate the debt by increasing military spendingunilaterally bombing other countries
    -try to usurp democracy by trying to overturn election results
    -start economic trade wars and trying to cause a recession
    -point the finger at Democrats whenever something doesn’t go their way
    -spread conspiracy theories to fool the public
    -defund Medicare, Medicaid and public education
    -promote firearms as the solution instead of acknowledging it as the problem
    ..and guess what? out of these two sides, the current majority of Americans chooses to side with MAGA, hence why Trump is back in office. Apparently having sympathy for minorities and disadvantaged people is more heinous than all the things MAGA have done. Boggles the mind doesn’t it?