American century of humiliation continues unabated as we sell our parks to the highest bidder
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025
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... china is looking better and better all the time :\
here in the 'states, people always reflexively bark "but you can criticize the government here without being thrown in jail or executed" and yet that statement is becoming shakier and shakier by the DAY. The US government has detained and attempted to disappear legal residents for criticizing the regime, and It's starting to look terrifyingly possible that they'll soon do that to full-fledged CITIZENS TOO.
Man. We are fucking cooked.
China is working on embarrassing the US whenever they can. And in this case I very much approve of this specific case.
It's not like they have to work very hard at it at this point.
And fucktard Trump‘s trying to destroy the American national park system.
That's the problem with autocracy: too much depends on the monarch. If the monarch is an adequate ruler, then you have something like China: many autocratic nuances, but overall progress. Not so much progress in freedoms, but democracies aren't famous for granting new freedoms to citizens either. But if the monarch is an imbecile, then you have something like the USA. And it's only the start. Less than half of the year has passed. Can't even imagine what Trump will do with the USA in 2-3 years. And he "works" fast.
democracies aren't famous for granting new freedoms to citizens either
The history of the US has been one of slow and steady increasing of individual freedom. Similar with other democracies I assume.
Non-land owners can vote, slavery abolished, women's suffrage, the equal rights act, abolition of poll taxes... Even the right to free speech has generally been expanded over time to include things like porn and anti-war speech.
US history doesn't start with Trump's first term.
I am not American, but I have lived there.
The impression that I got is there has been a level of regression in rights in the US in the past few decades (going as far back as the 70s, i.e. before Trump).
Enablement of mandatory arbitration clauses de facto removes your ability to fair civil trials and force you to use a USSR-style kangaroo court. Legally allowing unlimited campaign donations by oligarchs undermines universal suffrage.
As with almost anything, the line of progress never goes up constantly and steadily. Progress is as messy as we humans are, it’s spaghetti.
Definitely, it's not a straight line.
But a country regressing on a more or less permanent basis in the medium to long term is not unheard of.
Fair. It’s not backtracked as much as you think. Lemmy makes it sound like the end is nigh when we’re far, far from that. Honesty that’s my biggest problem with this place, events are almost always blown way out of proportion, Gaza being the exception. I guess that’s what sensationalism breeds.
I'm pretty sure it's current events and analysis of them from e.g. climate scientists, fascism experts and Legal Eagle on Youtube that are making it sound like the end is nigh to me. Lemmy is just where I discuss it.
I can't speak for Lemmy, but I had a very different opinion on say things like prevalence of local corruption compared to the average American when I lived there (and this was under the second Bush and Obama, so not that recent).
I will admit, the US seems very far from "end is nigh" (I don't mean this in a positive sense, it can get infinitely worse, I know from practical experience), but that doesn't mean regressive tendencies aren't broad and have deep roots (completely unrelated to Trump's direct actions).
Again, treat this as a perspective of a foreigner who lived in the US for multiple years and visited regularly before COVID. Just an alternative perspective of sorts.
I think this is a fair perspective and more in line with the truth.
So you missed all the gay rights stuff that happened? Yes some of it is being undone currently but progress is nonlinear. Such rights still exist in entirety in many states.
Also Title IX protecting against sex discrimination, women in the military, etc.
You can't see evolution happening in real time. You need to look backwards.
I am not saying there wasn't any progress (perhaps even a lot), but from my impressions living in the US there were serious regressions in terms of democratic governance and rule of law (in the broad sense of the term, not US specific).
Just my view from my time living there.
And those that start out as adequate often get surrounded by yes-men and lose touch with reality, after which it gets weird.
that's basically the history of China.
They always were mostly autocratic, of course they don't differ much from any other autocratic country.
The interesting part here is that full autocracy is a new thing for the USA. Previously it always maintained some minimum level of democracy. This status quo is ending now.
But like the republicans, China often distracts to do bad things. So… Great national parks for Chinese people but then forced labor for Muslims
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/china-national-parks-system
It's a good read, parks bigger than Florida. Ambitious goals. I'd like to visit.
Your entire body is censored there… so, good luck.
Visiting China is pretty safe, easy and affordable (after the flight). Not a great government but that is mostly a pain in the ass for the citizens.
This is not a comment for you
I've been to a few of them, they're pretty excellent. At least the ones I've been to had good signal and wifi throughout the park. Also a ton of staff to help.
Edit: I guess I've been to the national parks that are not IUCN certified like some of the historic mountains. Still awesome parks.
That's... not a good thing. Not having a signal in national parks is one of the perks, it keeps the glampers away. I fully expect a park with WiFi to have Bluetooth speakers playing nonsense everywhere you go.
This news still makes me fantasize about moving to China, though...
Having good wireless coverage (even cellular, let alone wi-fi) in national parks implies a level of development that such parks should not have. I mean, sure, they're not "wilderness" (in the US park taxonomy sense), but still...
Absolutely! Even something janky like dirt roads can be a helpful barrier to keep crowding down and nature preserved. I live in WA and the road to the famous Hoh rainforest recently washed out and it's actually a blessing. It'll take a few years to repair, giving the Hoh a much needed break.
Tourists peel the moss off the trees!
I suppose you also have to be careful not to make your dirt roads too janky or else they become fun for the 4x4 folks and mountain bikers (and yes, I'm speaking for myself in both cases). It always sucks when a trail gets closed because too many users and/or inconsiderate users tore it up too much.
Haven't heard a single speaker other than for a tour guide and those are clipped to their belts and connected via a cable to a mic.
Yeah, and I have a great bridge to sell you