this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026

52 points (91.9% liked)

World News

54071 readers

3065 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF OCTOBER 19 2025
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world

Recommendations

How to spot Misinformation and Propaganda

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

NewsAutoMod@lemmy.world

Tenthrow@lemmy.world

little_cow@lemmy.world

lemmyAtom@lemmy.world

jordanlund@lemmy.world

How the "Kill Line" Redefined the American Dream in China (fpif.org)

submitted 14 hours ago by schizoidman@lemmy.zip to c/world@lemmy.world

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The term, borrowed from competitive gaming, refers to a health threshold where a character is vulnerable to an instant, unblockable finishing move. In the context of American life, Chinese observers use it to describe a terrifyingly low “margin for error.” This is the point where a single stroke of bad luck—a $3,000 ambulance ride or a sudden layoff—triggers a terminal collapse into homelessness.

This shift in perception is driven by radical transparency. For the first time, the “American Dream” is being filtered through the lens of real people rather than Hollywood studios. Through international students and overseas Chinese on TikTok and Weibo, the “unfiltered” America has been revealed.

Instead of the manicured suburbs of Desperate Housewives, Chinese netizens see the sprawling tent cities of the West Coast. They witness the “Great Reckoning” on Xiaohongshu, where American users share medical bills that look like mortgage statements.

top 12 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 24 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

This article points out something I think a lot of Americans -- particularly younger, educated ones -- don't know about: America has for a long time actually been a place people around the world dream about. That includes dreaming of coming here, either to study and return; to move here permanently; or just to emulate in their own countries.

I think most American millennials were told this, but as they learned that most of what they were told about our country -- its fairness, commitment to justice, opportunities -- were lies, they assumed the concept of the American dream abroad was another myth.

I think more people -- particularly American leftists -- should understand that despite so many other failings, the American mythology has some value. Rather than deride it as anither imperialist lie, we should recognize that it has had some truth to it in the past. And we should aspire to actually make it real in a way it has never quite been.

[–] alonsohmtz@feddit.uk 11 points 13 hours ago

Chinese netizens see the sprawling tent cities of the West Coast.

This is the real reason neoliberals and conservatives want homeless people out of sight; they make it clear that the US doesn't care about you if you don't have money.

[–] etherphon@piefed.world 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Keep pushing that propaganda.

[–] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 7 points 12 hours ago

It's unclear who this is directed at.

[–] beelzebum@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (2 children)

are Chinese citizens allowed to read this article? Or will their computer report them for a forced confession in the tiger chair?

[–] Sundiata@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

reminds me of the american footage of cops beating a suicidal man https://eu.northjersey.com/story/news/passaic/paterson/2019/03/27/video-paterson-nj-cop-beating-up-hospital-patient/3278641002/

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 9 points 13 hours ago

Nice whataboutism. Try engaging with the actual content.

[+] adespoton@lemmy.ca -9 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (2 children)

Most people who hit the kill line have someone to go live with.

The tent cities aren’t a symptom of two totally different issues: mental health and drug addiction.

And THESE are due to a more endemic cultural issue of: who takes care of people when their friends and family won’t, coupled with the people rejecting the help that’s offered because from their perspective, the tent cities are better than the alternatives?

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

thats a rather broad generalization. If and when my wife and I hit the kill line we will not have someone to go live with.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago

Of course it’s a broad generalization; my point was that the tent cities aren’t predominantly made up of people who hit the kill line, that the situation isn’t that simple.

Fixing the kill line won’t affect tent cities that much; there are further societal issues that are also at play.

In China, substance abuse is handled differently as is mental health issues… so you don’t end up with those people in tent cities either.

This doesn’t mean those people don’t exist in a state of suffering; it just means they’re not publicly visible.

[–] andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 6 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Respectfully, this is kind of incoherent. I can see that you disagree with the characterization of America's poverty trap, but I didn't really understand what part of the fundamental thesis of the article you dispute.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 0 points 12 hours ago

Totally incoherent; the first half was meant to be a reply to a completely different comment. Fixing.