Eileen Gu, world’s greatest free skier chooses China over the USA: agreement, outrage, indifference?

Probably become XI Jinping's new covert consort

so many losers on the LRC forums still hanging out in mommys bas wrote:

Typical LRC thread filled with middle-aged men that are losers - vineyard vines & kobbs hessler. They somehow think their loser status allows them to pass judgment on a teenager that has accomplished more in her life than they will in their entire lives.

You said it best, what you're seeing is the unhinged rambling of middle-aged losers on this forum. They lap up any anti-China propaganda they can get their greasy hands on and parrot it to make themselves feel better about... I'm not sure exactly. Maybe they need an ego boost.

Mondo Duplantis did the exact same thing. Let me repeat that: He did the exact same thing, yet I don't see posters on here throwing out disgusting generalizations of Swedish people to go along with his decision.

The fact that the State Department can so easily declare a new flavor-of-the-month geopolitical boogeyman and the way the American population so willingly laps up propaganda is pretty sad. Americans are truly brainwashed at worst or genuinely dumb at best with the cherry on top being racist undertones. No wonder China is getting ahead and we're falling behind. They're putting out more engineers every year than we have in total, and all we have to show for it is the coping and seething embodied by threads like this. Pathetic. Do better.

Not the same. China requires that Gu renounce her US citizenship. Mondo is a dual national. Big, big difference. No? Also, you don’t really think Sweden = China as a benign or malign force in the world.

The entire concept of athletes representing a country needs to be reexamined.

It is the same. The crux of the situation is an athlete straddling the boundary between two nations despite being born and raised in the US, ultimately deciding to represent the other. Anything after that is simply a product of geopolitical mudslinging and are beyond the grounds of an athlete's individual choice of which country to represent. Thank you for proving me right by confirming that you can't separate the two.

Let's say Eileen and Mondo chose to represent the US instead. Are they suddenly paragons of an even larger "malign force in the world," as you put it, than China, and are hence worthy targets of scorn and borderline racist slander? I doubt you've ever considered the flip side.

First off, we do live in a world of politics and nation states and Gu will become part of the Chinese propaganda machine like it or not. Sure, Gu’s making a personal choice, but in doing so, she must relinquish her American citizenship (unless she struck a special deal with the Chinese govt). If you think that’s some minor act you are more naive than I thought, or a nihilist who doesn’t think there is any difference between nations. This is nothing even remotely like the choice Duplantis faced. Now, maybe the Chinese have made a special exception for her and are keeping it secret to serve their internal propaganda needs. And yes I agree, the USA is not a paragon of virtue…..

No sane human would equate Sweden with China. Sweden isn't stealing our intellectual property by the terabyte, building the world's largest military, threatening regional allies, holding trillions in US debt, and rampaging across Africa and South America. Oh yeah, and Sweden didn't release a virus that crippled the global economy. Get a clue, dude. Or just move to China and leave us freedom lovers alone.

She's a Mondo Duplantis but in a different sport. Oh well, win some lose some.

I hope she faceplants hard enough to destroy her model looks.

Kobbs Hessler wrote:

No sane human would equate Sweden with China. Sweden isn't stealing our intellectual property by the terabyte, building the world's largest military, threatening regional allies, holding trillions in US debt, and rampaging across Africa and South America. Oh yeah, and Sweden didn't release a virus that crippled the global economy. Get a clue, dude. Or just move to China and leave us freedom lovers alone.

Wow, thank you for exactly proving my point, yet again. You and that other guy must be soulmates.

"stealing our intellectual property by the terabyte"

Boy, do I have a lesson to tell you about the NSA and how we steal every other country's data with impunity.

"building the world's largest military"

We're the United f'n States. How little self-awareness does it take to override the fact that we spend more on our military than the next 10 countries combined (

), and that we spend three times more on our military than China spends on theirs (

), despite them having over 4 times our population? How ignorant are you? Genuinely asking; this is some next level stuff.

"threatening regional allies"

Like I said, zero self-awareness. We have warships patrolling their waters. Imagine if they had warships doing laps in the Gulf of Mexico or right off California's shores. That would be the equivalent. We're no stranger to invading and annexing territory, as well. Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, the list goes on. We have 800+ military bases on foreign soil compared to China's one in Djibouti of all places, but sure, they're the ones threatening regional stability. It's quite laughable that you're pointing the finger in that regard after we just wrapped up failed 20 year war that quite literally caused an EU migrant crises due to us bombing 40-60 million people out of their homes.

"Oh yeah, and Sweden didn't release a virus that crippled the global economy"

Now you're steering into conspiracy land, but that's expected of middle aged losers like you. How much money did you pay to compensate the world for the 2008 financial crisis, which was virtually completely the fault of the US? None? How much did you pay in reparations for war crimes like the bombing of Laos, the atomic bombs, or how much did you pay in reparations to black Americans for the long-term economic damage of slavery? Zero? If we're going to engage in this game, then you should be prepared to pay for damages from the "Spanish" Flu as well, since it originated on pig farms in Kansas. If you want to play this game, you're opening the floodgates for yourself. But something tells me you never considered any of that since you're incapable of any higher order critical thinking besides pointing fingers and foaming at the mouth.

"Or just move to China and leave us freedom lovers alone."

There it is. Thank you for showing how dumb you are. This is exactly why my country is failing. People like you pat themselves on the back over useless platitudes like "loving freedom" while our country erodes around us due to an inability to assess our problems whilst the public subconscious is flooded with an "it's their fault, not ours" mentality.

Also, I'm not sure a talented kid with a bright future would appreciate a talentless, middle-aged, LR-bound loser using a play on his name as his username. You should probably change it since Hobbs doesn't deserve this.

Wise Old Man wrote:

First off, we do live in a world of politics and nation states and Gu will become part of the Chinese propaganda machine like it or not. Sure, Gu’s making a personal choice, but in doing so, she must relinquish her American citizenship (unless she struck a special deal with the Chinese govt). If you think that’s some minor act you are more naive than I thought, or a nihilist who doesn’t think there is any difference between nations. This is nothing even remotely like the choice Duplantis faced. Now, maybe the Chinese have made a special exception for her and are keeping it secret to serve their internal propaganda needs. And yes I agree, the USA is not a paragon of virtue…..

How is it not a minor act? Does Meb Keflezighi becoming a US citizen and doing an interview with NPR make him a part of the "US propaganda machine," or does sensationalist doomsday terminology only apply to non-Americans? Does Mondo doing interviews with Swedish media in Swedish and being paraded as Sweden's pride and joy make him a part of the "Swedish propaganda machine?"

So, again, how is it not a minor act? The "damage" is limited to her renouncing her US citizenship. That's her problem, and it's limited to being her problem. How does her requiring a visa to visit the US from now on, assuming she doesn't have some sort of exception, impact anything beyond her life and her life alone?

Let's say the Chinese government does indeed use her for propaganda. What would that affect in your life? How would articles saying "look at how good Eileen Gu is at skiing" written in Chinese (that you wouldn't be able to ever read anyway) affect you? You're only making a big deal about this because you've been conditioned by Yellow Peril, Cold-War-mentality headlines, and you don't even realize it. It's rather pathetic that some nebulous concept like a skier "becoming a part of the Chinese propaganda machine" is of any remote concern to you or anybody else. It's her life. The mental gymnastics required to inflate her decision's significance to such a degree and spin it as something akin to an existential threat to America is baffling and, again, pathetic. What's really alarming is how useful idiots permeate American society.

You are wacky. Where did anybody suggest that her decision is posing an existential threat? I’m not that paranoid and often not that big a fan of what goes on in America. You think China and America are equally bad actors in the world. Ok, I get it. However, regardless, it’s an interesting story, no? I actually know this young woman. She’s very smart and very nice. I certainly don’t think she has any particularly selfish motives and she more likely has some noble ones. However, if you don’t think somebody born and raised in the USA who decides to renounce her US citizenship and become a Chinese citizen on the eve of becoming a global superstar (good chance she’s one of the true stars of this Beijing Olympics) is unusual and of interest and worthy of discussion, what is? You think this is equivalent given the current environment to Mondo? I certainly don’t. Anyway, if this is not of interest, what is? Nothing about Cole Hocker, or Mondo or any of it effects your life either. The Gu story is a big story. The Chinese care a lot. She’s met President Xi even before she’s won Olympic gold because she is a symbol, wittingly or not. Me, I truly wish her well, but yes, I’m fascinated by her decision and wondered what others thought about it. I hope it goes ok for her and she does not regret it.

Sure, sure. Backpedal after your points get dismantled. If that's how you operate, then fine. You don't just say that her switching nationalities "isn't minor" and then attach political stigma like "becoming a part of the Chinese propaganda machine" that and then pretend that it's just "you being fascinated by her decision." Backpedal all you want. If you want to raise more Yellow Peril alarmism, then own it.

Again, what isn't "minor" about her relinquishing her US citizenship? Not minor to whom, you? The consequences of losing her US citizenship is her problem, and hers alone. Anything beyond her call whether it's minor or not is just middle aged LR posters like you attaching additional stigma to it. Get that through your head.

"You think China and America are equally bad actors in the world. Ok, I get it."

Nope, you don't. My point isn't "China bad, but US bad too." What kind of middle-school-level oversimplification is that? My point is about you and others like you who are neck deep in propaganda being useful idiots while being blissfully unaware of it.

More like Guileen Ew

How does your head fit through any door? And can't you make a point without continuous name calling?

Washed up, middle-aged LR poster detected.

So your contention is that the internment of a million of more Uyughurs, the forced separation of families, etc, is US State Department propaganda?

What about the invasion of Tibet, the forced suppression of Tibetan culture, the government imposed mass migration of native Chinese into Tibet to dilute the Tibetan population, etc? Was all that State Department propaganda as well?

Trying to engage with you in a civil discourse, but your too immature for it, or maybe your just a jerk. You think you’ve taken the red pill, and are here to enlighten all of us deluded old timers on the true state of the world, but your deep into your delusion too.