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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   19517 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 6, 2025

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I wouldn't trust Europe to figure out a way to manufacture toilet paper really. Low cost manufacturing or processing just isn't their strong suit. Either way, no matter where it happens, it'll take a while to even begin to catch up with Chinese output.

I suppose a great deal hinges on how targeted China wants to be with the restrictions, and how capable other states are at circumventing them. A queer state of affairs, but we're setting a thief to catch another thief. If China sticks to crippling specific competitor industries, such as the automotive or military sectors then they should be able to do plenty of damage for little pain. I don't think they really care about the fridge magnet market.

I do wonder how easy it will be to... divert less valuable end-products elsewhere. Are we going to see children's toys selling at record rates so they can be stripped for parts?

I wouldn't trust Europe to figure out a way to manufacture toilet paper really. Low cost manufacturing or processing just isn't their strong suit.

Its funny you say that seeing as europe is the world leader in the production and export of toilet paper.

I stand corrected then. Or perhaps it's because TP has given me hemorrhoids and sitting is agony.

Toilet paper is the literal worst, bidet fam for life. Unfortunately the British seem to be set against moving into the twenty first century when it comes to personal convenience (see the separate taps in a sink instead of a simple mixer).

I can't speak for the rest of Europe, but when I lived in the Czech Republic their TP felt like sandpaper. American TP, even the cheaper stuff, is consistently nicer. Only the super cheap one ply stuff used in public restrooms in the US is comparable in awfulness to what I experienced of European TP.

I haven't noticed a large difference in TP quality between countries (including last time I was in Prague), although the quality improvement in cheap TP in the UK since I was a kid in the 1980's is massive, so there is definitely a correlation with economic growth.

Leave me out of this bleeding anus business 😤

I guess there are more fun way of obtaining one.

I wouldn't trust Europe to figure out a way to manufacture toilet paper really.

My entire nation is screaming in pain RN.

Yes, from scraping your anus raw with barely processed wood. The best feature of TP is that the designers managed to make it turn red to let you know it was done!

You are doing something very wrong. Or you have bought sandpaper from the hardware store by mistake.

Some of the really budget single ply stuff is somewhat similar to sand paper tbh, and given that he works for the NHS I wouldn't be surprised if he's encountered literally the worst toilet paper ever produced by humankind.

Your suspicions are correct, NHS toilet paper was originally invented in a bid to discourage the practice of sodomy on the wards, much like breakfast cereal prevents too much masturbation. Or as an exercise to see if graphene-like 2D structures were practical to make from cellulose.

While triple-ply is still not what I'd want to use (bidet supremacy), it at least doesn't make one long for death.

The big issue with processing rare earths is the pollution AFAIK so yes, Europe probably not a great place to start. Though I bet the Poles or somebody would be happy to stick some factories in a less-used area and reap the increased influence and military protection that comes with it.

Not if it comes with risk of being sanctioned for violating EU environmental regulations and losing access to the cash money.

Europe probably not a great place to start.

By far the best locations within western civilisation for this kind of business are the empty bits of the western US and the Australian Outback.

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