r/technology • u/lurker_bee • 23h ago

Biotechnology Burkina Faso says no to Bill Gates’ plan of creating modified species of mosquitoes

https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/burkina-faso-says-no-to-bill-gates-plan-of-creating-modified-species-of-mosquitoes/xyk7xm8
9.5k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

88

u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 22h ago

Every western idiot goes straight to "b-but China" as if we dont have hundreds of years of documented European and American brutality far worse than anything China has ever done to an African nation. Which is basically just loans btw.

30

u/bgg-uglywalrus 22h ago

Nah, see it's different because they were white and so you have to forgive them. /s

22

u/MuyalHix 20h ago

Colonialism is funny.

A country can come in, destroy your culture and commit all the atrocities they want, but you are supposed to forgive them and never bring it up.

Then they get all angry when you choose to trade with someone else.

16

u/Rodot 21h ago

Fun that, the net sum of all Chinese investment in Africa is less than the value McDonald's

Apple has invested more money in China than the Marshall plan, even adjusted for inflation

1

u/Matshelge 22h ago

Just loans? That you say this means you have a very simplistic view of colonization and what China is doing right now.

25

u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 22h ago

I dont see the Chinese military bases littering the continent, taskmasters cutting off the hands of child slaves, slave ships, or anything else Europeans and Americans did.

-3

u/TXDobber 20h ago

Oh but Russian military bases are… anyone who knows literally anything about the war in the Sahel right now (which these tinpot military strong men are losing btw) knowing just how wrong you sound.

14

u/Omnipotent48 20h ago

How tf did you see a discussion about China and immediately hit the "but Russia!" button as if that's relevant to Chinese loans?

1

u/Cute-Percentage-6660 19h ago

Im ignorant, can you elaborate for those of us who do not know

0

u/Synth_Sapiens 22h ago

"just (unpayable) loans"

lmao

9

u/tafoya77n 17h ago

Yep the a thing the west would never do. We'd attach requirements to restructure their entire economy and make sure healthcare is on the chopping block.

-1

u/Synth_Sapiens 17h ago

Imagine believing that there's any "healthcare" to speak of.

16

u/Dokramuh 21h ago

I'm going to lose my mind. What do you think the IMF is? Except china isn't doing the whole instigation of civil war, regime change, colonization, etc that the west has historically done.

2

u/Synth_Sapiens 21h ago

China isn't doing what? 

ROFLMAOAAA 

Imagine being this illiterate. 

You really should look up relations of China and neighboring countries. 

-6

u/PolydamasTheSeer 20h ago

China gets along well with most of its neighbours tho?

10

u/Gyuttin 20h ago

Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, India, Tibet, Mongolia, would like a word with you

13

u/Synth_Sapiens 20h ago

You forgot to include Russia

4

u/Gyuttin 20h ago

They get along with Russia more than any nation I listed there so don’t feel like it belonged, but yea their relationship just extends to anti-west

2

u/Synth_Sapiens 19h ago

>They get along with Russia more than any nation 

They are getting along with the Russian government while covertly buying enormous swaths of land in Siberia and Far East.

-10

u/PolydamasTheSeer 20h ago

Tibet doesn’t even exist. Mongolia and China get along pretty well. Taiwan is a rebellious province. I think their relations with South Korea isn’t that bad either despite South Korea being an American vassal.

3

u/td57 18h ago

Tibet doesn’t even exist

Taiwan is a rebellious province

American vassal

lol. lmao even.

3

u/Gyuttin 20h ago

Tibet doesn’t exist cause of China, Mongolia and China don’t “get along pretty well”. They get along. Taiwan is not a rebellious province. And their relationship with SK isn’t friendly whether you want to call them a vassal or not lol

3

u/Synth_Sapiens 20h ago

Sweet summer child...

-7

u/PolydamasTheSeer 20h ago

So you can’t even defend your own posts? Lol. Average IQ of China haters tend to be so low.

2

u/AccomplishedFail2247 20h ago

I am currently learning Mandarin Chinese and adore the country, but be so for real that China is nothing but the other side of the American coin lmao

-1

u/JFHermes 21h ago

like most people's college degrees or the US national debt.

-2

u/harryoldballsack 22h ago edited 20h ago

History vs present

14

u/MuyalHix 20h ago

The west has been fucking over Africa even to this day...

1

u/ModernJazz-2K20 20h ago

Yep, see AFRICOM as a perfect example. Folks can visit the Black Alliance for Peace website to get an entire breakdown and analysis of that program. We update it every month.

-2

u/harryoldballsack 20h ago edited 20h ago

Not really. The west has withdrawn a lot. Russia and Turkey are more involved than European nations. And China off the charts.

US and maybe Europe probably will start to get back in but probably too late.

China already manages the majority on most rare minerals and they’re not slowing down

8

u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 22h ago

And as we can see with the west fully supporting genocide in the middle east right now, history has no real bearing on the present.

-1

u/harryoldballsack 21h ago

It's important that you learn from the past but not let it hold you back. To just take one country at a time instead of the boogyman. You've got to admit partnering with the netherlands now is quite a different prospect than in the 1700s.

-6

u/andrew5500 21h ago

Fully supporting? Must've missed all the protests

Unless you're implying unilateral decisions by a world leader condemns every civilian under their rule as "full supporters". In which case......

-14

u/Psychobob2213 22h ago

Give them time. China has our playbook and is iterating it as fast as they can everywhere they can.

32

u/man_gomer_lot 22h ago edited 22h ago

Either you are completely unaware of king Leopold II or are slandering the Chinese to be as depraved and barbaric as the Belgians.

3

u/ForrestCFB 21h ago

Yes, because we all know china in it's history hasn't murdered millions right?

-4

u/Shroombie 21h ago

Not in Africa they haven’t

0

u/ForrestCFB 21h ago

So that makes them somehow not barbaric? Because asian lives don't matter?

6

u/Shroombie 21h ago edited 21h ago

“You can say I like pancakes and people will say you hate waffles”

Don’t put words in my mouth like a dipshit. It’s pretty fucking obvious that African leaders would care more about issues that affect Africa, the same way European leaders care more about Ukraine than they do the conflict in Sudan.

Edit: and more to the point, America has also killed and enslaved millions of people in very recent history, and for explicitly ethnic and racial reasons. China is hardly unique.

0

u/ForrestCFB 21h ago

Your point being?

You acted like europe was barbaric, ofcourse we as humans care more about people closer too us.

But in the end we are all the same barbarians, acting like it isn't that way is racist as fuck.

China is hardly unique.

No shit, you were the one arguing China wasn't that bad and that Belgium was worse. You are trying to twist the argument and move the goalpost here.

0

u/Shroombie 19h ago

to repeat myself, "Don’t put words in my mouth like a dipshit", and to add on to that, don't be intellectually dishonest either. What fucking goalposts am I moving? My argument is that China has not genocided millions in Africa.

I did not say Belgium was somehow magically worse than China, I said China has a better history than Belgium does in Africa. Which is like, objectively true.

0

u/ForrestCFB 14h ago

"Either you are completely unaware of king Leopold II or are slandering the Chinese to be as depraved and barbaric as the Belgians."

You put your own words in your mouth "dipshit".

→ More replies (0)

1

u/M0therN4ture 21h ago

They are running mines as slave operations, even doing completely illegal mining as part of "deals".

https://www.mining-technology.com/features/arrests-and-attacks-tracking-chinas-illegal-mining-in-african-countries/

1

u/Shroombie 21h ago edited 21h ago

And again, if you think this is unique to the Chinese I have a bridge to sell you. The French do this, the Belgians do this, the British do this, the Canadians do this, the Americans do this.

I mean a five second look at the history of De Beers will tell you all you need to know about why, even given the abuses given in the article you linked, African leaders still prefer China.

Edit: u/M0therN4ture blocked me, just goes to show the intellectual dishonesty of these people. I genuinely do not understand the point of replying to a comment asking for sources, and then blocking the person you are asking for sources. It just shows a deep commitment to pre-existing biases and an unwillingness to learn.

-1

u/M0therN4ture 21h ago

The French do this, the Belgians do this, the British do this, the Canadians do this, the Americans do this.

Source?

5

u/ItemFast 21h ago

Something tells me you are unaware of the Chinese equivalent. You basically saying because they didn’t do it in the recent 250 years to you they are better than west….listen to what Chinese neighbors say about they. Malaysia Taiwan Australia Korea

You will start noticing that they aren’t so different. You view is gullible thinking any super power nation is “better”

“They have only done loans” Wait and see what happens when those loans collapse and they start taking your land as repayments.

-1

u/andrew5500 21h ago

So the crimes of a European monarch from 120-140 years ago are being used to judge the modern secular democratic West? Let me be clear, is that a standard we’re holding China and other modern countries to, as well?

-4

u/man_gomer_lot 21h ago

You just pulled an uno reverse. Nice work.

1

u/andrew5500 21h ago

Sorry, I don’t play Uno, and you didn’t answer the question

-3

u/man_gomer_lot 21h ago

My comment was in response to something. You've removed it from that context and painted it as the very thing I was critiquing. That's the uno reverse you played and a non starter of a response to my point.

3

u/andrew5500 21h ago

Yes, the context has been removed. The context is Bill Gates fighting Malaria in Africa. And Bill Gates is not King Leopold II, and King Leopold II is not relevant to whether African leaders should accept help from Bill Gates or not...

-1

u/man_gomer_lot 21h ago

I'm not going to spend any more of my Sunday trying to dumb down my point until the lowest common denominator (that's you) has no choice but to trip over it.

7

u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 22h ago

Classic Western projection.

"We did evil shit so the Chinese will too, but WORSE"

7

u/Psychobob2213 22h ago

They are actively engaged in it.

-1

u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 21h ago

Have you ever read about what the Belgians did in Congo? You are very confused.

3

u/droans 21h ago

"Slavery is bad. We shouldn't be doing it."

"Well, that's not what a Belgian king thought two hundred years ago, you hypocrite!'

1

u/Psychobob2213 21h ago

I have. No defense for it other than greed.

-2

u/humdinged 21h ago

Cool but they’re actively practicing debt slavery and cultural genocide.

7

u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 21h ago edited 21h ago

"Cultural genocide"

Hahahahaha while the US and Europe do an actual genocide in Gaza. You people are beyond parody

Edit: you deleted that comment but I still saw it zionist.

1

u/ItemFast 21h ago

What do you mean Chinese will…they already fucking did to their neighbor china is built on several kantons and terrorized everyone around them for years. They have killed their own student in taimen square and slave traded around SEA. It’s not projection they aren’t different

-8

u/EatMyShortzZzZzZ 21h ago

Nothing you said is true, or even approaches the scale of cruelty that the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and the countless ethnic cleansings, assassinations, mass killings the US and Europeans backed within the continent over centuries to maintain their dominance.

3

u/ItemFast 21h ago

You’re dodging the point. Nobody is denying the brutality of the Trans Atlantic slave trade, Even the Trans Atlantic slave trade wasn’t a one way atrocity. Plenty of African kingdoms (Dahomey, Oyo, Ashanti) actively captured and sold slaves to Europeans for profit. So if your point is that only Europe bears the blame, that’s historically wrong. but this doesn’t erase China’s long record of violence and oppression especially toward its neighbors in SEA. Vietnam & Korea: For centuries, China invaded, occupied, and tried to assimilate neighboring cultures, forcing tribute systems and mass killings when people resisted. South China Sea today: They’ve militarized and stolen territory from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, etc., sinking fishing boats and harassing locals whose livelihoods depend on the waters. Cambodia & Laos: Historically treated as tributary states, repeatedly invaded when they resisted Beijing’s control. SEA slave trade: Chinese traders were heavily involved in trafficking women and laborers across SEA for centuries, a system of exploitation that echoes today in forced labor tied to Chinese criminal syndicates. Modern influence: From financing brutal regimes like the Khmer Rouge, to propping up dictatorships with weapons and debt traps, China has exported repression to SEA.

And that’s on top of Tiananmen, Xinjiang re education camps, Tibet, and the crushing of Hong Kong.

Atrocities aren’t a competition. Pointing out China’s brutality doesn’t diminish Europe’s history it just means both can and should be condemned. However, you pre disposed to view once as worse since your history probably reflects on it.

-9

u/iupuiclubs 22h ago

If China was using our playbook they wouldn't be anywhere near as successful as they are lol.

The Chinese are like Americans cracked out, they do not need our philosophy to further themselves lol, they already have one.

Whens the last time you met an American that works 6 days a week the entire year except for 2 weeks of Chinese new year. You haven't.

We aren't competitive, we were only competitive because the rest of the world was ravished repeatedly in the world wars.

7

u/Psychobob2213 21h ago

"Whens the last time you met an American that works 6 days a week the entire year except for 2 weeks of Chinese new year. You haven't."

Personally, I know dozens of them. American Capitalism is a ruinous endeavor.

0

u/Slammybutt 21h ago edited 21h ago

Shows this guy lives in a bubble. Edit: the guy above you, not you.

3

u/MuyalHix 21h ago

Whens the last time you met an American that works 6 days a week the entire year except for 2 weeks of Chinese new year. You haven't.

Because you export all of that to other countries. Why do you think your iPhones are so cheap?

1

u/Slammybutt 21h ago

My last job i never got a single day off work unless I paid someone to cover. I certainly didnt get vacation and that line of work is in literally every single city or town in the Country.

You gotta be pretty fucking sheltered to think America doesnt have employees that work 6 days a week with 2 weeks vacation.

1

u/sorry-not-tory 20h ago

In 2023, Africa received $60 billion in aid - mostly from the west. Not a loan, just donations. Just in one year.

But keep bragging about those predatory loans that will be used as collateral in the future.

1

u/Dapperrevolutionary 20h ago

Don't forget Arab brutality or fellow African brutality.

-5

u/Fine-Side-739 22h ago

Bro what have i done to be grouped in people who are dead and i have never known? should i make current americans jailed because they used two nukes?

5

u/Aaarya 21h ago

Nah just elect a Cancervative like Trump.. and he will do stupid shit that will make us forget the fucking nukes.

-4

u/krutacautious 21h ago

anything China has ever done to an African nation. Which is basically just loans btw.

Many African countries even refuse to repay those loans. It forces Chinese banks to forgive them. Despite the vast Western military presence in Africa, there is a reason the West refuses to invest in African infrastructure development projects.

China does benefit from it as well. It gain diplomatic support from African countries because of its investments and also receives some natural resources. But still, about 50% of rare earth minerals come from China itself, and China mainly dominates the refining process, about 90% of it takes place within China.

-3

u/harryoldballsack 21h ago

Usually restructuring those loans to get more resources.

You could make the same arguments in the 1800s. The middle east and Europe did a fair amount of loans, investment and refining rare earth minerals.

-4

u/Remote_Cantaloupe 20h ago

hundreds of years of documented European and American brutality

This is just racism, plain and simple.

0

u/justforthisjoke 11h ago

It's racism to point out the west's love affair with colonialism? Damn, sorry, I forgot white Americans were actually the victims of the transatlantic slave trade