We all know that the west uses two different words for the same thing depending on where it is happening.
e.g. Secret Police vs Plainclothes Officer
Regime vs Government
Can we have a compilation thread of these words? I am probably using many of them unconsciously without critical examination.
- Bribery/corruption vs lobbying
- Oligarch vs job creator
- Warlord vs leader/general
- Preventable deaths are social murder
- Propaganda vs public relations
- Terrorist/guerilla and freedom fighter just depends on which side of the violence you’re on
- Any use of the term “extremist”
- And the worst is that they call their fascists “neoliberals”
Fascism and neoliberalism aren’t mutually exclusive, though I see what you’re getting at.
The video playback doesn’t really work
Prime minister and Supreme leader are literally synonyms yet have such wildly different implications.
damn that’s true lmao, never even thought of that.
kind of reminds me how chinese titles and names will often get translated into their literal english counterparts, which have weird connotations in english that aren’t there in mandarin. can’t think of examples off the top of my head
Propaganda vs Public Relation Campaigns
From what I understand, Chinese use the same word for both.
Used to be that way in English.
Edward Bernays, the original corporate propagandist/father of modern PR, used to work with companies when they were still called “propaganda departments” instead of “PR Departments”. His book is even called “Propaganda”
That’s aptly fitting. Apple’s
spin doctorspropaganda team is top-notchHe’s also the guy who invented bacon and eggs for breakfast, and was behind the advertising campaign that ingrained diamonds as a part of the go-to engagement/wedding ring.
Interesting historical figure.
I’ll start the thread.
Billionaire vs Oligarch
Custom vs Ritual
Freedom fighter vs Terrorist
Anime vs CartoonAnime vs Cartoon
It appears you have chosen violence.
cartoon sounds derogatory like “its just a cartoon” but anime sounds like a legitimate genre, although I guess it depends on how old you are
All cartoons are called anime in Japan. Same goes for comics and manga. It’s literally just the Japanese words for the media. People outside of Japan just use the words to refer to Japanese and Japanese-inspired animation and comics.
There’s a lot of loanwords that work the same way too. Katana is just the Japanese word for sword, so in Japanese, it’s correct to say that Excalibur is a katana.
17 people are typing
Katana is just the Japanese word for sword, so in Japanese, it’s correct to say that Excalibur is a katana.
Actually, Excalibur is double-sided, so it is a 剣/tsurugi.Yes, but a tsurugi is a type of katana so it’s both
And in France we usually use comics to refer to US comics, in general DC and Marvel
I’m guessing there’s a French word for the French (and/or Belgian?) comics, right? I know there’s a pretty big industry for them over there.
Indeed we produce and consume comics that are pretty different from the US and Japanese ones, both in France and Belgium and other countries. France and Belgium used to have some pretty well-known ones but that’s a bit old news
We say “Bandes dessinées”
Anime is a style of cartoon. The early 00’s teen titans and the current “My Adventures with Superman” are in the anime style, but clearly western.
Weebs claim that, say, The Last Airbender and Wakfu aren’t anime because of some mystical regional essentialism about where they were made.
The early 00’s teen titans and the current “My Adventures with Superman” are in the anime style, but clearly western.
they’re AmericAnime
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Literally Lebensraum
Our Manifest Destiny, their Lebensraum
(serious: I love Liebestraum; it’s a beautiful piece /serious)
Hitler quotes the bath riots and the gas chambers on the american-mexican border as inspo for his own gas chambers.
oligarchy - entrepreneurs
invasion - humanitarian intervention
indoctrination - common sense
surveillance - CCTV
attacking free press - defending national security
racial profiling/transphobia - stopping cultural marxism
freedom fighters - terrorists
united states - america
football - soccer
our ‘hard-hitting journalism’, their ‘state-funded propaganda’
Their regime, our administration
love calling it the obama regime when talking to libs
Our prison, their prison camp
“internment camp” might be good to plug here
Their authoritarianism vs our law and order.
Their warcrime vs our collateral damage.
Their dictator vs our leader.
Their reeducation vs our rehabilitation.
Their state media vs our public media.
The dictator vs our leader is huge. The way all westoid brained people talk about Putin, or Xi, or Kim like they have a personal relationship with them. They act like geopolitics is just based on these individuals personal whims
Their state media vs our public media.
you mean the free independent press (all 5 companies)
Well I was more thinking of the way that enemy country state media are considered nothing but propaganda, while things like the BBC are considered upstanding journalism.
Ah yeah, state affiliated media
Exactly
There’s just a kajillion of them:
Their Stasi Vs our neighborhood watch
Their whataboutism Vs our providing important context
Their unaccountable regime security forces Vs our police officer who feared for his safety
Their re-education Vs our cult deprogramming
Their GULAG Vs our federal bureau of prisons
Their prison camps Vs our prisons
Defector/refugee - Illegal immigrant
Community service - Forced labor
Liberation - Occupation
Enhanced interrogation techniques - TortureCommunity service is not forced labour 💀
You mean prison labour is forced labour. Community service is when they make dumbass teens arrested for something like vandalism or underage drinking, go and work at a soup kitchen, or pick up garbage off the side of the road as punishment.
they make … teens … work
So… Forced labour?
Picking up garbage and serving homeless people food is forced labour?
Calling those things “forced labour” is horrifically derogatory to those who actually have to work farms, factories, construction work, and other extreme labour while in prison.
You realize that a lot of socialist rehabilitative work is community service correct?
So you are saying US prisons are bad for forcing inmates to preform labor while advocating for community service?
(/s hopefully, obviously )
technically non-voluntary labour is forced, yes, although that’s also true for rehabilitation through labour (potentially a good thing) and “forced labour” has a negative connotation
I got hit with 24 hours of community service when I was a teen. Worked it off on a library, not bad. Actually wanted to get a full time job there.
That’s really nice, libraries are vital parts of the community, and volunteering or doing service at one is a very good thing.
It was around Halloween time. I spent my time putting loaned books back on the shelves in their proper place for the most part, but also got to spray-paint some branches and hang spooky decorations! I remember it rather fondly.
Got to take as many smoke breaks as I liked, too, lol. Was not a fan of digging the weeds out of the flowerbed, however.
If and when I am ever offered the opportunity to retire, I believe I would very much like to be a librarian in a rural area.
Don’t forget expat! They love that one.
Migrant vs refugee
Migrant vs expat
Internship vs unpaid labor
“The adults in the room” versus “the unaccountable ruling class and their puppets”
THEY ARE THE SAME FUCKING THING
security forces vs police
i like using that one about america, it makes liberals weirdly defensive lolAren’t security forces supposed to refer more to paramilitary units, such as military unites forced pushed into civilian policing services? Like occupation forces, civil protection units, or martial law units.
Or the other definition is police and military units working in concert.
Those feel a bit above the role of police alone.
The various ways they avoid using “oligarch” for westerns. Western Billionaire, entrepreneur, etc, whereas it’s always “Russian Oligarchs.”
On that note: “bribery” and “lobbying”
“Western philanthropist” vs “Russian Oligarch”
Another good one. Couldn’t think of all the BS words they have to come up with to describe themselves.
