I can't bring myself to care about Ukraine
I know that might seem heartless but honestly I've tried to give a fuck about Ukraine and its invasion and I just can't, all that is going on in that side of the world is none of our business and we're being bombarded with non stop news cycles about countries that don't even speak our language or hold the same culture or values about how we should do something about it and take up arms and cancel people and set up sanctions and change our profile pictures and send thoughts and prayers and so on.
If you take a step back and realize just how minuscule what is going on in Eurasia is in the grand scheme of things, any feeling towards the invasion or Taiwan or Uyghur Muslims other than a passing or fairly intellectual curiosity is illogical and I can confidently say you are a victim of over stimulation and you really need to take a step back and reevaluate what you consume. The same way there is junk food there is also junk media which can be entertaining but its making your mind obese and clogged and you are misconstruing that for being well informed, the same way some people in Africa see being fat as a sign of wealth.
Chammath was right as well, no one cares about Uyghur muslims either or very few people genuinely do and if you are in the west you shouldn't care anyway. Since he was lambasted over his statements what has any of the celebrities and pundits or people here on WSO that called him out actually done about it? They haven't visited China to protest or stopped using Chinese products or volunteered to set up a militia to liberate them (if you truly cared you would do all this to some degree), they're still going about their lives as usual some probably even watched and supported the Olympics.
If China invaded Taiwan or Hong Kong today, I hate to say it but I wouldn't care either and even though some of you might pretend to have bleeding heart about it, deep down you wouldn't either, some of us here work for banks with deep investments in China and Russia and its support states but we'll still hop on the client call tomorrow and play along immediately we are asked.
Before anyone compares any of this to WWII and Hitler, I beg you to actually read what happened even back then the US and its citizens did not want to get involved until Pearl Harbour even after Hitler went on an invasion and killing spree and liberating people in concentration camps was more like a side quest for getting rid of Hitler.
Glad someone said it, the current government has been hungry for a war since they let afghanistan go and i think they are making the media prime us to want to take up arms
My roommates gf is literally having a panic attack at 3am in our kitchen over this situation, she's from Mexico and has never left the continental USA
did she tattoo #BLM on her ass a year ago as well?
Really?? HAHAHAHA I would love to see that in person just to laugh out loud in her face
I haven't seen a single person claim we should be sending troops in, and MSM is all I read, NYT/WSJ/etc. Biden has repeatedly said he isn't sending troops over, I have no idea where you are getting this claim from?
Agree with you on most points. However, I think Taiwan is a different story. Economic impact >> is much larger than Ukraine. Not saying it'd be a full out war but I think the U.S. hand would be forced in that situation.
I agree about the Taiwan situation given how while Ukraine is the "breadbasket of Europe", Taiwan is the "silicon-chip-basket of the world". The car market, personal and industrial electronics market, and all trest that require specialty silicon parts in them. "You won't care until it affects you personally!" Well, it does. I'm passing on replacing and upgrading the car because the auto market is nuts right now (a year old used car costs more than a new model car...if you can find one) , and I can't rebuild my personal PC because to do so would be exorbinately expensive.
Agreed. If China gets there hands on TSMC it might be game over for the U.S. I know we are building a ton of foundries in Arizona but its nothing compared to what is established. Makes you think if Biden would pull the trigger to protect it.
Yes this is a genuine reason to care being that it affects us directly, I wasn't informed on the semi conductor space thats why I threw it in there. But an analyst that covers semi conductors below said even if they invade it wouldn't reallt affect us the way we think it would. IDK if they are verified but would like to hope so
Ukraine is big for commodities, there's also the risk of things going further with Russia pushing into the Balkans or even the likes of Finland or Poland.
Also: Taiwan would be frightening. You don't have any idea how many things you buy have chips from TSMC. (they buy the cutting edge lithography stuff that we won't sell to China)
Chammath was right as well, no one cares about Uyghur muslims either or very few people genuinely do and if you are in the west you shouldn't care anyway. Since he was lambasted over his statements what has any of the celebrities and pundits or people here on WSO that called him out actually done about it?
I have personally cancelled Chamath by not investing in any of his dogshit portfolio companies. This has been good both for my ESG score and my returns.
At least you have integrity, most people didn't even bother to alter their business practices.
Its called empathy. If we would only care about what we are directly affected by we would have a hell of a time on earth.
True but I am all out of empathy I already care and am involved in too many causes in Africa, America and England, Ukraine can get nuked and it wouldn't even bother me
I understand what you mean but that doesnt make it right tho. Thousands of people get murdered every day doesnt mean that we should only have empathy with 467 of them.
What a stupid, stupid thing to say. A country gets nuked and you wouldn't care? You are not only dog shit, you are totally incapable of thinking through the consequences something like that would have.
You should care about Taiwan because if CCP gets hold of TSMC then the semiconductors will be held hostage against the US tech companies, deteriorating the US economy. This is also reason why this Ukraine situation is very important because it sets precedent for the CCP to engage Taiwan if the West responds badly. In the CCP's eyes, if Putin can get away with invading Ukraine and changing to a Russian state, CCP will invade Taiwan despite its heavy cost because having a hold on the semiconductor line may swing the balance of global power.
No offense but you clearly don't understand TSMC. China taking Taiwan and TSMC is not going to advantage them to our detriment. The real competitive advantage to TSMC is process power (i.e. human capital with decades of experience & know-how). If China gets too aggressive with TSMC, "process power" will be on the first flight out to the United States / Australia / West. It will take a bit of time to spin up capacity in other regions but the advantage will stay with the west. China will be left with a couple factories and nothing else. I've confirmed this with the semis analyst at my firm as well
So I will proceed to not give a crap about some corrupt regime on the other side of the world (Ukraine)
Thanks for the information and that is actually a relief - although I agree that you don't have any obligation to care about Ukraine, the war does not yield well in terms of humanity and empathy standpoint.
Ye who cares we should just let Russia have what they want. Let them have all of Europe if they want it tbh. It's all on 'that side of the world' anyway, not like it concerns us.
9/11? The Cuban Missile Crisis? What are those? History began in 2004 (i.e. the year I was born) as far as I'm concerned.
Great comment… it’s in the other side of the world until it is not anymore.
Plus global power also depends on who is aligned with who. If Europe was aligned with China and Russia, USA would no longer be the dominant power and at that point, who knows what would happen. People doesn’t realise how fragile the equilibrium is.
Honestly Europe has leeched off of our generosity for decades as we've subsidized the majority of their military budget, which vastly reduces my sympathy for them. That said, we do have to draw the line at the NATO states but Ukraine is not one of them so idgaf
I don't know if you are joking but if Russia invaded all former soviet states and burnt them to the ground, I still wouldn't give a fuck, when they start approaching Italy, France, Spain and the UK then I'll be worried and I'll bet my life that will never happen. I am a victim of overstimulation myself, I am actively involved in lots of causes across England, America and Africa because the media at the time made it such a big deal and now I have no more fucks to give, I essentially blue pilled myself so hard I became red pilled when it came to global politics.
For someone who doesn’t care you are spending an awful lot of time writing posts about this conflict on an anonymous message board.
Taiwan should destroy TSMC before China invades how about that?
The epitome definition of phyrric victory.
I agree. Unless an invasion leads to world war III, I do not really care all that much. Some people are going to point to the stock market as a reason to care but no one really knows why stocks rise or fall over a short period of time. If you watch the news, they seem to know!
I don't care much about Ukraine either outside of the fact that they make a pretty good pickled salad. The precedent it sets is not good though. I'm not old enough to remember the cold war. (I was watching Duck Tales when the TV went to static in '93 and I thought I'd broken it, not that the WTC got bombed if you want to know my age) I have an older friend who lived thru growing up in eastern Europe and I understand it was distinctly not fun.
And that's really the concern, right? The precedent that he can invade sovereign nations, annex territories and effectively begin reconstituting the soviet union. I have a hard time imagining that it's just sanctions should he continue forward and start encroaching or outright taking EU member states.
A few things to unpack. Firstly, the whole "grand scheme of things" argument is bollocks. In the "grand scheme of things" the holocaust was a joke in comparison to the countless dead across wars and genocides in the previous decides. Does that mean we shouldn't care about the holocaust? Of course not. Empathy is the main point there. Even if you can't or don't want to do anything about this situation, just saying "I couldn't care less about it" is very tone deaf. According to your thinking I should not have cared at all about American being attacked on 9/11. Not my country, not my enemies. But because it was an attack of innocent civilians, there is a part of you that knows it is wrong and recognizes it is horrible. Same with the Australian wildfires. People all over the world donated towards that effort. Why? Because of empathy. Even if you employ purely selfish reasons to care, the invasion of one sovereign state by another sets precedents for for countries like China to do the same which WILL have global impacts. And if other European countries get involved, it will really affect the US in a major way. Does this mean you have to move to Kyiv, pick up a gun and start fighting? No. Doesn't even mean you should lobby your congressman or senator to do something about it. But just be aware, have some sympathy and see if there are any ways (direct or indirect) you can help. Have some decency.
Eh I don't buy it. Sure in the grand scheme of things nothing matters, but no one has the emotional bandwidth to commit to every single cause / issue out there. You're trying to guilt someone into feeling sad about something that a) is not remotely in their control, b) is not directly affecting them in a meaningful way, and c) is halfway across the world
This is literally the dumbest thing one could commit significant emotional resources to if you live in the U.S. We have a million problems and frankly this ain't one worth getting stressed over
Is your capability for nuance so fucked you can't tell the difference between committing significant emotional resources and simply being concerned a country had their sovereignty violated?
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"The same way there is junk food there is also junk media which can be entertaining but its making your mind obese and clogged and you are misconstruing that for being well informed"
I'm stealing this from you! Going to start saying this to everyone I know ha.
Do you recall why the first and second world War started? I do and the very reason why everyone should be concerned about this.
Do you expect your total comp to be the same as last year? If so you should care. If you are independently wealthy and retired on an island somewhere probably do not need to.
Yes what I am saying is I am inherently selfish unless it affects me and my surroundings(the continental USA and UK), if my comp goes to 40k because of this then I would care bit I highly doubt that would happen. Another user said if you think about this, the invasion probably affects you less than a flat tire when it comes to direct impact
Have you checked their women though? Absolute top tier.
Already lots of them in Asia and I expect more of them will flock east.
MLK said, "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people." I think this very much applies here; unfortunately too much of the world won't speak out about anything unless it effects them.
I don't support US intervention in Ukraine because it would lead to open conflict with a nuclear power. But my heart goes out to anyone stuck in this conflict and I wish there was more we could do.
And who says this war won't affect people? A conventional war in Europe is huge fucking news, especially since all the world powers nowadays have nukes.
You said the obious. AKA, you said nothing.
Typical millennial:
“I don’t care”
”I want to proclaim to the whole world that I don’t care”
"Hitler went on an invasion and killing spree and liberating people in concentration camps was more like a side quest for getting rid of Hitler."
Cringe
I agree that with your sentiment that media consumption leads to many people over reacting about issues that don’t affect them much, but come on guy this affects capital markets and world business as a whole. Shouldn’t an analyst in IB care about that?
Ukraine is below your line, huh
100% agree with craig.owen. I'm much more fixated on what's going on in Taiwan. Ukraine produces nothing of value for us and is a corrupt money watering hole for our elites in both parties. It is purely held up as a military staging point on Russia's border (which is just not needed and actually violates previous promises to stop extending NATO forces closer). It is a connection point for the EU to import natural gas (also partly why the conflict in Syria is important) - an entire argument that could be ignored if Europe wasn't going full retard with their "ESG" push and dismantling nuclear reactors instead of building more. Taiwan on the other hand is the major semiconductor production center for the Western world. If China takes Taiwan we are F-U-C-K-E-D.
So yeah, Putin can have his conflict in Ukraine. The US needs to have priorities and Ukraine certainly isn't one of them. If it truly matters let the EU figure it out, it's their backyard and we've been carrying water for these people for too long. The idea the US can be taken seriously in discussions about a European border conflict in the first place is hilarious when you look at what Democrats are doing to our southern border. At home borders don't matter one bit and saying they do makes you a racist, but we should definitely send our 18-25 year-olds to die in a conflict for some country in bumfuck eastern Europe with a GDP the size of Oklahoma.
Interesting take...
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