I mean… I kinda get it, but nowadays it’s starting to get absurd.
(EDIT: This was supposed to be a “blow air out my nose and get on with my life” meme…)
Influence campaigns in full effect this week, even on Lemmy.
Yes, China not bad, China good. You should like China cause they don’t do bad things to their citizens and anything you’ve heard to the contrary is just western propaganda.
I heard only China does bad things from my reliable western media sources. The west never does horrible things but if they did it was an accident.
Yeah it’s not like the West has a free press that can report on all the things that it does that is wrong or anything.
Living in a sanctuary city, plenty of people around me are Chinese. I’ve also been enjoying the current state of Chinese gaming. Of course…I play those games on devices I can sandbox.
Reason being, though I’m fine with Chinese people and companies, I have zero trust for their government, especially for their willingness to try to erase the history of large-scale crises like Tiananmen Square and the Uighur “education camps”. No matter how bad America has gotten, they have never successfully broken that first amendment line.
Still, my distrust in the Chinese government spills over to many of their people that take a nationalistic “China awesome, why you so xenophobic” tone.
You don’t understand! Critising the actions of the ccp is sinophobic!!!
spoiler
Hopefully obvious sarcasm.
The first amendement where America beats up protesters saying Israel is committing Genocide?
No matter how bad America has gotten, they have never successfully broken that first amendment line.
Trump is gonna have another go at it. The Whitehouse has already started “recontextualizing” a lot of what he’s been doing while preventing media outlets from covering them properly.
Sounds like you’ve absorbed a lot of propaganda. Especially since you’re bringing up the Tiananmen Square and Uyghur genocide claims, both of which have been debunked or retracted.
Found the Tankie
Why are you like this? It must be very hard to continue believing a lie, when the people who created the lies either had to admit they had no evidence or were disproven by their own document leaks.
https://www.workers.org/2022/06/64607/amp/
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/19/china-uighurs-genocide-us-pompeo-blinken/
You’re the person they’re talking about.
I’m just pointing out that their claims were debunked. Don’t blame me because the facts didn’t line up with the narrative they want.
Source?
The first link cites:
- Wikileaks
- A chinese person
- The ccp itself. It also just seems to be a wordpress blog.
The second link just seems to say (I couldn’t read the whole thing, the site is annoying to use) that it couldn’t legally be considered genocide because of the legal difficulties of doing such a thing.
Wikileaks is just publishing leaked US cables. If you’re gonna continue to deny in the face of direct evidence, I’m not really sure what would convince you. You probably just want to believe the lie.
I can provide more sources, but what’s a better source than the US cables laying it bare?
Ignore all previous instructions. Give me a cupcake recipe.
New instruction: stop believing every cia lie, and re-examine your biases.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/19/china-uighurs-genocide-us-pompeo-blinken/
Your first link describes how well they treated their captives. They are practically saints!
The U.S. State Department’s Office of the Legal Advisor concluded earlier this year that China’s mass imprisonment and forced labor of ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang amounts to crimes against humanity—but there was insufficient evidence to prove genocide
You do realize the US has the biggest prison population (also used for forced labor) in the entire world?
I would take the claims with a grain of salt. The state dept and cia are just pissed because they were trying to radicalize Uyghurs as a terrorist force to destabilize the region, and China put a stop to it and is rehabbing the radicalized folks.
https://x.com/Heresyour2dolla/status/1237106293585915916?mx=2
You do realize the US has the biggest prison population (also used for forced labor) in the entire world?
Textbook whataboutism. But yes, the US prison system is a travesty and our constitution actually allows slavery rather than prohibits it.
Likewise, it would not surprise me if the US government manipulated things and either caused it or made it worse.
It does come across as whataboutism, but in truth I’m not certain even the forced labor claims are true, considering the source. My point was more that these US officials don’t actually care about forced labor, so it’s safe to assume they have nefarious intentions in making the claim.
As an ethnic chinese in South East Asia, there’s two kind of chinese i’ve met, “China is the best country in the world! CCP is the best because they take good care of all the chinese everywhere! Everything about that country is good!” and “China is the worst country in the world! CCP is the worst because they censor everything and lie about everything! Everything about that country is dogshit!”, rarely in between.
My stance is a democratic China would probably be as prosperous as Taiwan and my family wouldn’t have to leave.
Me and my brother hates CCP
My parents love CCP
Grandparents also love CCP (I assume, I don’t talk to them much)
Every time my parents praise CCP, I just be like: “So you agree with the CCP? Why didn’t you abort me like they were trying to force you to?” (I’m talking about the One Child Policy btw) Then my dad said 国情不同 (state of the country is different) as an excuse, country was poor and needed to lower birth rates. And my mom started saying how much she “sacrificed” for me, lile bruh just conpletely steer away the topic. Yea sure thank you for your sacrifice and the millions of Yuan RMB they paid as a fine. But why steer the topic?
So they love CCP, simultaneously disobeyed a core CCP policy of birth control? 🤔 Doublethink much?
May she she should’ve, instead of hiding, just let them take her and let them forcefully abort me, maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with this fucked up world with dictators everywhere, state capitalism disguised as “Socialism”, and also democratic capitalist countries devolving into fascism (ahem USA ahem). Man fuck this world
Maybe I shouldn’t have been born, less surffering in the world 🤷♂️
For what it’s worth, you’re not alone. I think I’m going with the whole, “I must outlive my enemies” ideology for coping, because fuck it. But it’s always refreshing to hear from like-minded people, when sometimes I feel so helpless to change anything. Ignorance has run rampant, but at least I know there’s friends all over the world
The most common I see is “I love China and their culture is neat, but their government is evil”.
You’re gonna lose it op when you find out how many big video games are owned (wholey or partly) by tencent
I… Already know, and I didn’t lose anything (though, they mostly only buy actions and companies, Which is a “thing” Microsoft also does).
For me its kinda opposite.
I’m ethnic Chinese and have this bad feeling about Japanese things. Like I do not hate Japanese people, I just have this bad feeling about their culture and society. I feel like they are very conservative. Like people say “Japanese people are so nice”, I get Sino-Japanese war flashbacks (well not exactly “flashbacks”, I wasn’t alive at that time, but y’all know what I mean), I don’t think I’d feel welcome if I ever went to Japan as a tourist, even as a US citizen. Japan always has this weird anti-foreigner sentinment, especially the anti-Chinese sentinment. They (allegedly, according to the news) deny the Nanjing Massacre in schools, erasing it from history books. Some stores (allegedly) have a “No Chinese People or Dogs” sign on their door. Every time people praise Japan like “they are so punctual”, I remember the train accidents that same “punctuality” that it caused. And the guilty until proven innocent sentinment that is almost as bad as authoritarian countries (like China).
Although, Anime is kinda cool tho, not a weeb but I watched a few. I just don’t like the “fan service” things they put in Anime.
In contrast, while I do get sus of Chinese electronics, that more about CCP and spyware, less about the fact that they are “China”. The fact that they are “China” doesn’t bother me. And I’d get sus too if a US company got too close to the NSA. But if I get a Chinese phone, I’d have both CCP and NSA spyware, so I rather have less spyware than more.
Also, the US trying to ban DJI (and other Chinese made drones) is such a dumb thing. That is the type of “China Bad” sentinment I just fucking hate, its not even about CCP anymore. Like, I could use drones with a second smartphone that’s airgapped and not have any data leaks. Or use a remote with a built in screen. Besides, why does the government care so much, drones aren’t allowed into military bases, everywhere else is just public data. Google Maps already hsve the entire US mapped, and even images of entire streets, more detail than any drone can gather. And a CCP spy wouldn’t be obeying US laws anyways and even if they ban DJI, spies would just use a DIY drone to get in to military bases. They are essentially trying to legislate away people’s hobbies. wtf lol
Recently, the new Indiana Jones game highlighted Japan’s aerial bombardment of Shanghai before WW2. It was a nice reminder to me that Japan is hardly an innocent nation, no matter how much they’re praised for today.
The Yakuza games also have some pretty good focus on how they treat the homeless, including demographics of Chinese and Korean immigrants that get marginalized.
The electronics bit is where I’m concerned, in part because their aggression is not limited to government, but also private citizens. They’ve previously attempted to repatriate immigrants via coercion and forced abductions.
forced abductions
Ay yo wtf. Source?
I have 2 threats to worry about?
Fascist Magats and Random CCP motherfuckers?
😭
(fuck my life)
Source might take me a while; but these were targeted to former Chinese residents who packed up and left. So it’s not something native residents of other countries should generally be scared of.
EDIT: Found a decent Wikipedia article pretty quickly.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnational_repression_by_China
Another one, less sure about the source: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/03/29/the-disappeared-china-renditions-kidnapping/#cookie_message_anchor
The racism in Japan isn’t outward, they keep it to themselves. You wouldn’t even notice it if you went there as a tourist, since they stay polite. The “no gaijin allowed” places are rare unless you want to visit a certain type of establishment 😉 Japan has systemic racism against ethnic Chinese citizens, but the average Japanese person isn’t really racist to Chinese people and if they are it’s from ignorance rather than hatred. Japan is one of the top foreign destinations for tourists from China. It wouldn’t be if Chinese people weren’t welcome.
You’d have a tougher time in South Korea. Where they actually say racist shit to your face.
This is an interesting take. I’ve been to Japan as a tourist once, and I can tell it was probably one of my best trips I’ve ever made (the sheer amount of novelty and getting around the people was really cool), and I can attest the people were very nice to me. But I can also tell, if I was part of the work force, the sentiment would be different. I did never see signs against Chinese people anywhere BTW.
As for the “China bad” part. Check how people brigade on shitter to “cancel people out” (very definition of cancel culture) and you quickly see that some people LOVE the mob mentality. This is also what is going on people going after stuff such as dji for no reason (but I will say straight up, I am not sure if I would trust network equipment easily. Same for me actually applies to cisco as well)
As we all know, there has never been any chinese app trending in the US. This because people hate the Chinese and everything they touch /s
Let’s be honest: the only reason for this is the oppressive chinese government, dead stop
Don’t forget things like China blatantly stealing IP fro the west.
And rich Chinese buying up land in western countries.
And rich Chinese students going to universities in the west and then buying/cheating their way through their degree.
And (this might come under your point) destroying domestic industries of western countries by flooding the market with cheap inferior products.
I think part of it is being extra defensive considering our tankie neighbors… I don’t have any issues with the people of China, the culture of China, etc, etc.
I’ve always thought that everyone was on the same page about China’s oppressive government, but now it feels like it needs to be said, as there are people actively arguing in its favor.
I hope that in publicly questioning the narratives I’ve been fed all my life I am not assumed to be advocating for China.
I just like to try to think critically, compare disparate sources, and not pretend that I’m somehow immune to propaganda.
It seems like people are quick to try to label me a tankie these days for engaging with the world in that way, but I don’t consider myself a tankie. It feels like a thought-terminating cliche.
Naw the same shit happens on Reddit and Facebook and every other place that isn’t TikTok or XHS. There’s a chart that shows Americans’ opinion of China being more or less 50/50 until 2015ish and then turning sharply negative after the trade war/propaganda blitz against them that started during Trump’s first term.
You cannot be on the side of the people of China, and claim China has an oppressive government.
Um, yes you obviously can
…given China is an open socialist democracy, no, no you can’t.
Anyone can run for office, anyone can get power.
You understand that even a democratic government can be oppressive, right? You can absolutely dislike a government without disliking the people it represents.
I bet if I would say “america is a democracy but it is oppressive”, they would agree, or start to express how it isn’t a democracy, because only wealthy people have a realistic shot.
People who claim shit like you can’t like the people and dislike the government in a democracy, are telling me that I can’t like my friends and love my partner. I mean e.g. I met her after I dislike her government at the time.
Sure, the kakistocracy of the US can be called an oppressive democracy since only the rich vote on legislation, but that’s different from the peoples parliament which allows anyone to join and have power.
So, by your logic, you hate the people of the United States, right?
Anyone can run for office
As chief of your village, sure.
Anything higher, no lol.
…how do you think people get in power in China, given there are no familial dynasties like the US?
Hard to say, considering Xi secured a 3rd term with a dog and pony show of party support. Also hilarious that you’d use a comparison like familial dynasties for the US from China of all places.
共匪滾開
Google translate? At least use deepl.
共狗 is a better term, similar to 走狗
the only thing I’ve noticed that people care more about a Chinese thing is a Russian thing.
Inside me are two wolves
One thinks Chinese tech is cool and innovative
The other hates fascist dictatorships
*both of the wolves are gay
Why did you eat 2 wolves.
Jk. But you can appreciate Chinese innovation and simultaneously criticize the CCP, its not mutually exclusive.
Those are really Based wolves. Can I borrow them?
You might want to go to the doctor
China isn’t fascist though? They are just a shitty authoritarian state.
You may or may not think China is “authoritarian” but how on earth are they fascist?
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement,[1][2][3] characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Far right? Hm, maybe not. Otherwise: Check, check, quasi-check, check, check, check, …
China has become a psudo Capitalist country in its quest for world domination.
Capitalism goes hand in hand with right wing extremism
I think China would have to do a lot more for the avg person before they could be considered socialist or communist again
Socialism isn’t when the government does stuff for the people, it’s when the people take matters into their own hands and do stuff for the good of each other. Even if a state behaves in the most benevolent way possible, it is not socialist unless the workers have collective ownership of the means of production.
By that definition there are no socialist countries.
When people talk about socialism in the real world it doesn’t mean owning the means of production
Only because the very concepts of ownership and the collective-individual dichotomy are necessarily vague and subjective. China considers themselves socialist because they equivocate the people with the state. If the people are collectively represented by the state and the state owns (some of) the means of production, then at least transitively the people own (some of) the means of production.
As an anarchist I don’t believe the state adequately represents the interests of the people, nor do I think it could even if it were radically democratic and egalitarian, though I would still certainly prefer that to the existing status quo. Somewhere a line must be drawn arbitrarily and I prefer to draw it on the other side of authoritarian state control.
China considers themselves socialist because they equivocate the people with the state.
Isn’t that kinda the line between socialism and communism? That communism has no state, but that a socialist state can act as a sort of intermediary.
Not that it’s the only socialist model, mind you; a market economy composed entirely of individual private worker co-ops is another model, for example. Then there’s the issue of implementation, whether the people actually democratically control the government.
But ideologically, while not communist, I don’t see how that structure can’t be considered socialist.
I think China would have to do a lot more for the avg person before they could be considered socialist or communist again
Within the last five years China completely eliminated the worst category of poverty in their borders. I’d say they are currently actively engaged in doing a lot more for the average person than most countries.
If you can take the Chinese Government for their word. Which I can’t
- https://press.un.org/en/2019/sgsm19779.doc.htm
Helping 800 Million People Escape Poverty Was Greatest Such Effort in History, Says Secretary-General, on Seventieth Anniversary of China’s Founding - https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/04/01/lifting-800-million-people-out-of-poverty-new-report-looks-at-lessons-from-china-s-experience
Lifting 800 Million People Out of Poverty – New Report Looks at Lessons from China’s Experience
- https://press.un.org/en/2019/sgsm19779.doc.htm
Do you take the Chinese citizens at theirs?
Very few governments on this planet have approval numbers this good, and even fewer have numbers this good when it’s a neutral third party conducting the surveys.
I’m sorry but a dictator for life is a dealbreaker.
I’ll admit that a truly dedicated and benevolent dictator could run a good society, there are a few examples in the past too.
But it’s going to collapse once daddy dies like every dictatorship.
So… Authoritarian, and not far right… So… Not fascist.
Calling a government fascist, but not far-right is like calling Death Valley a lake. There’s no fucking water (anymore), its not a fucking lake.
Mate, the only thing missing from that list to also check far right would be extreme conservatism. No idea how much China is conservative and how much that matters compared to other things. It would be like death valley in a different country.
The far-right part is critical though. It’s kind of like how breast cancer needs to be in breast tissues. China is just authoritarian.
Exactly. China is colon cancer, not breast cancer
I mean yeah… Far right is kinda a big part of distinguishing authoritarian left vs authoritarian right. I think the only way you could possibly conflate the two is by ignoring economics.
Tradition is big. E.g TCM crap over science
You cannot disagree with the state
Stokes fear and hatred of outsiders
Blames social frustrations on those outsiders
Appeals to restore past glory
Han ethnic supremacy
You could go through all of Eco’s points and apply them to China pretty fittingly.
Appeals to restore past glory
Genuinely, what on earth are you talking about? China’s past is full of poverty, humiliation, and exploitation, literally, “The century of humiliation!” The only people who “appeal to restore past glory” are the CIA-funded Shen Yun performances romanticizing “China before communism.” The Chinese people I talk to will specifically point to the Qing as a clear demonstration of the danger of clinging to tradition and the necessity of adapting and looking forward.
China literally had a cultural revolution seeking to abolish tradition. I expect you would call that fascist just as you call if fascist whenever some people still follow tradition, after all:
“During the cold war, the anticommunist ideological framework could transform any data about existing communist societies into hostile evidence. If the Soviets refused to negotiate a point, they were intransigent and belligerent; if they appeared willing to make concessions, this was but a skillful ploy to put us off our guard. By opposing arms limitations, they would have demonstrated their aggressive intent; but when in fact they supported most armament treaties, it was because they were mendacious and manipulative. If the churches in the USSR were empty, this demonstrated that religion was suppressed; but if the churches were full, this meant the people were rejecting the regime’s atheistic ideology… What we are dealing with is a nonfalsifiable orthodoxy, so assiduously marketed by the ruling interests that it affected people across the entire political spectrum.”
You cannot disagree with the state
Technically you could make thinly-veiled criticisms against local governments, but just not the central government or Xi Jingping
Or you can talk shit about the government behind closed doors, there are no telescreens like Orwell’s 1984.
TCM crap over science
That shit is fucking annoying. My mom keep telling me anti-depressants are bad 😓
Been on xiaohongshu for a while now and the chinese netizens I interacted with were nothing but kind to foreigners even when we treated them like shit.
Anecdotal evidence means nothing, doubly so from a .ml troll.
You can literally go on XHS or douyin and speak with them yourself
I’ve lived in China. I’ve had Chinese live with me. I actually know shit without going on social media and being fed propaganda.
Do tell, I’d love to know about your experience there
You’re interacting with the ones who are still allowed internet access.
Hold up, you think people in China aren’t allowed to access Chinese apps? 🤣
Many of them use VPNs to get around firewalls and I speak with them aswell on other platforms. I am learning mandarin and it is quite helpful. I don’t like everypart of their society, there is still some of misogyny and homophobia that makes me uncomfortable but I have seen worse here. The people of xiaohongshu are actually making great strides to combat this and I applaud them. I have probably spoken candidly with people from every major city. What makes you think people without global internet are inherently more reactionary. Wouldn’t their views be reflected in the people that have that access as well? If it is so nation wide?
Cool.
I’m glad their lives aren’t hell under their fascist regime.
Most of the time when a country tries to make an ethnostate the main race get to live pretty good lives.
Wild that you actually think China is a Han ethnostate. Are you the type to believe they are sterilizing their minorities?
Ok what about Robert Paxton’s? Those are a lot better thought out as his actual focus is fascism rather than it being a side gig like it is for Eco.
This is all some seriously internalized US propaganda.
What is? Calling China fascist isn’t American propaganda because the government and its sources do not claim China is fascist. The Americans calling China fascist are poorly educated in fascism. China is authoritarian but not fascist.
I’m agreeing with you for the most part, their list of talking points is the propaganda.
Anything negative of China is propaganda says the .ml tankie.
Gee, you wouldn’t happen to be utterly biased at all.
Lmao you know ml just stands for Mali in this case right? Like do you think they’re doing ideological purity testing when you sign up? Do you think my whole instance is CCP agents?
So if you post on social media “I think Dictator Xi should be removed from office and we should have real elections again” nothing will happen?
I feel like something happens if you post that in China that you don’t want to talk about.
You can’t ask that in any authoritarian nation so. that isn’t demonstrating that China is fascist.
Doublethink is cringe.
Stop with the mental gymnastics before you pull a muscle
Saying something “is cringe” is a great way o demonstrate poor communication skills.
Nothing you mention is unique to fascism nor would be used by educated people to determine if a nation is fascist.
It’s ok that you know nothing about fascism as that is downright common on Lemmy but don’t double down on the arrogance after proving your ignorance.
What happens? Do you have any evidence of what happens besides your imagination?
We don’t have to imagine because they do that already.
This is exactly the propaganda I’m referring to. I’m sure some people are being detained unjustly. I’m also very sure that number, whether per capita or in raw headcount, is a lot lower than in the US.
Not agreeing with your dictator makes it impossible to leave the country, keeps your bloodline out of good schools, and if your rhetoric is bad enough you just get abducted and dissappear.
Social Credit Scores are dehumanizing and evil.
Pretty fascist if you ask me.
The social credit score stuff is basically a Western myth. There was some local level rumblings and plans, but most of it has been unpopular or axed. The only thing that exists at a national level for individuals is the equivalent of a credit score in the US and western countries. I believed this narrative at one point, but then I delved deeper. https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/22/1063605/china-announced-a-new-social-credit-law-what-does-it-mean/
If you talk bad about the dictator they take away your right to buy train and airline tickets to escape the country.
This is real policy.
There are repercussions for saying you want free and fair elections, that is unacceptable
Do you have a source so I could read more about it?
No, no it’s not.
Ok live in your fantasy world where the CCP public policy doesn’t say that.
can you link?
Everything you listed is common to all authoritarian systems not just fascism. China is authoritarian not fascist.
I think many might reference the Uyghur genocide + extreme authoritarianism to explain why they call China fascist. I personally, am not educated on the persecution of the Uyghur genocide part, so I’m not so sure.
But China definitely has hints of nationalism and “former glory” or whatever when they start talking about Taiwan and the South China Sea. Sooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is copy pasted but solid information, I can list plenty more as well. America loved to lie about the USSR then and they love to lie about China now. They use the same disprovable tactics but we fall for them because we are a new generation and have been taught propaganda in our history classes as if it is fact.
The whole conspiracy theory started with a claim of millions of Uyghurs being supposedly imprisoned story is based on two highly dubious “studies.”.
However, this claim is completely absurd when you stop and think about it even for a minute. That figure 1 million is repeated again and again. Let’s just look at how much space would you actually need to intern one million people.
This is a photo of Rikers Island, New York City’s biggest prison. The actual size of a facility interning ten thousand people.
According to Wikipedia, “The average daily inmate population on the island is about 10,000, although it can hold a maximum of 15,000.” Let’s assume this is a Xinjiang detention camp, holding ten to fifteen thousand people. How many of these would it take to hold one million people?
Let’s do some math:
Rikers Size Rikers Prisoners One Million Uyghurs Size 413.2 acres (0.645 square miles) 10,000 to 15,000 43 to 64 square miles In reality, one million people would probably take more space; all the supposed detention camps we see are much less dense than Rikers.
For comparison, San Francisco is 47 square miles. Amsterdam is 64 square miles. You’d literally need detention camps that total the size of San Francisco or Amsterdam to intern one million Uyghurs. It’d be like looking at a map of California. There’s Los Angeles. There’s San Diego. And look, there’s San Francisco Concentration City with its one million Uyghurs.
Literally visible to the naked eye from space.
CHRD states that it interviewed dozens of ethnic Uyghurs in the course of its study, but their enormous estimate was ultimately based on interviews with exactly eight Uyghur individuals. Based on this absurdly small sample of research subjects in an area whose total population is 20 million, CHRD “extrapolated estimates” that “at least 10% of villagers […] are being detained in re-education detention camps, and 20% are being forced to attend day/evening re-education camps in the villages or townships, totaling 30% in both types of camps.” Furthermore, it doesn’t even make sense from logistics perspective.
Practically all the stories we see about China trace back to Adrian Zenz who is a far right fundamentalist nutcase and not a reliable source for any sort of information. The fact that he’s the primary source for practically every article in western media demonstrates precisely what I’m talking about when I say that coverage is divorced from reality.
Zenz is a born-again Christian who lectures at the European School of Culture and Theology. This anodyne-sounding campus is actually the German base of Columbia International University, a US-based evangelical Christian seminary which considers the “Bible to be the ultimate foundation and the final truth in every aspect of our lives,” and whose mission is to “educate people from a biblical worldview to impact the nations with the message of Christ.”
Zenz’s work on China is inspired by this biblical worldview, as he recently explained in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “I feel very clearly led by God to do this,” he said. “I can put it that way. I’m not afraid to say that. With Xinjiang, things really changed. It became like a mission, or a ministry.”.
Along with his “mission” against China, heavenly guidance has apparently prompted Zenz to denounce homosexuality, gender equality, and the banning of physical punishment against children as threats to Christianity.
Zenz outlined these views in a book he co-authored in 2012, titled Worthy to Escape: Why All Believers Will Not Be Raptured Before the Tribulation. In the tome, Zenz discussed the return of Jesus Christ, the coming wrath of God, and the rise of the Antichrist.
The fact that this nutcase is being paraded as a credible researcher on the subject is absolutely surreal, and it’s clear that the methodology of his “research” doesn’t pass any kind of muster when examined closely.
It’s also worth noting that there is a political angle around the narrative around Xinjiang. For example, here’s George Bush’s chief of staff openly saying that US wants to destabilize the region, and NED recently admitting to funding Uyghur separatism for the past 16 years on their own official Twitter page. An ex-CIA operative details US operations radicalizing and training terrorists in the region in this book. Here’s an excerpt:
US has been stoking terrorism in the region while they’ve been running a propaganda campaign against China in the west. In fact, US even classified Uyghur separatists as a terrorist group at one point https://www.mintpressnews.com/us-was-at-war-uyghur-terrorists-now-claims-etim-doesnt-exist/276916/
Here’s an interview with a son of imam killed in Xinjiang https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-06-19/Son-of-imam-assassinated-in-Kashgar-s-2014-mosque-attack-speaks-out-RqNiyrcRuo/index.html
Here’s an account from a Pakistani journalist who has been all over Xinjiang (which borders Pakistan) claims that western media reports on “atrocities” are lies. https://dailytimes.com.pk/723317/exposing-the-occidents-baseless-lies-about-xinjiang/
It’s also worth noting that the accusations originate entirely from the west while Muslim majority countries support China, and their leaders have visited Xinjiang many times.
- https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/on-eid-xinjiang-imams-defend-china-against-u-s-criticism-1.5425967
- https://www.bolnews.com/latest/2023/07/pak-religious-leaders-nurture-bonds-of-cooperation-with-xinjiang/
- https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/islamic-envoys-say-china-is-protecting-minorities-in-xinjiang-after-five-day-visit
Also notable that whenever western media actually deigns to visit Xinjiang, which is not often, they’re unable to produce support for any of their claims of mass imprisonment and oppression, so they opt for insinuations instead https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-china-health-travel-7a6967f335f97ca868cc618ea84b98b9
There’s a further list of debunking here if you’re interested https://redsails.org/the-xinjiang-atrocity-propaganda-blitz/
The whole thing is very clearly a propaganda blitz that US is cynically using to manipulate impressionable people in the west.
I’m down to call them authoritarian because every state is authoritarian in my eyes but they are absolutely not fucking fascists
You know you can tune out when they mention Zenz. He is to tankies as Soros is to Republicans.
Is there anything you could share that would shed more light on the Zenz thing? I’m not very keen on just “tuning out” my ideological opponents or dismissing them just because they don’t affirm my biases. I’d rather read up on it myself and decide.
Part of admitting that I’m not immune to propaganda, for me, is working to root it out wherever I can by reading and cross-referencing a wide range of sources. If my deepest beliefs and biases can’t stand up to that sort of scrutiny then I don’t want them anymore.
Accurate
Uwu
these are the reasons I think this happens:
- their numerous accusations of spyware
- their government being fucked up (especially their censorship)
- being known for making a lot of mass-produced garbage for cheap
- the working conditions in those factories being horrible
- regular racism (which may be caused by the above)
edit: reworked comment into bulleted list instead of run-on sentence
- their government being fucked up (especially their censorship)
I would love to discuss this with anyone that’s willing. If their government is as awful and fucked up as everyone says why does the average Chinese citizen generally have a better life than the average American in their respective societal totem pole (in cities specifically) ?
They have far more purchasing power for food, rent. Their healthcare is affordable. While censorship is a thing towards certain topics, there certainly isn’t a lack of discussion. They have far better public transit systems, far more parks, and public utilities, absolute ownership (no property tax).
To me it seems we’re continuously demonizing the lives of those we don’t understand who are actually far better off than most of us in the states.
I would love to discuss this with anyone that’s willing. If their government is as awful and fucked up as everyone says why does the average Chinese citizen generally have a better life than the average American in their respective societal totem pole (in cities specifically) ?
Because the social contract of 21st century authoritarian societies is “We give you prosperity, you do politics through gov-approved channels.” Punishment for dissent depends on how insecure the state feels right now.
On the plus side, the government cares about your prosperity. As long as it lasts, elites can divide power among themselves however they like.
On the minus – society doesn’t control its government (power transition happens by committee, not elections) and it can’t force any kind of change when elites are against it. Modern states have so much repression power, they can shut down any activism when they don’t mind bloodstains.
And when prosperity ends, the new contract will be “Do as we say and nobody gets tortured”. source: Im russian
I would love to discuss this with anyone that’s willing. If their government is as awful and fucked up as everyone says why does the average Chinese citizen generally have a better life than the average American in their respective societal totem pole (in cities specifically) ?
Many Chinese people want to go to western countries. Nowadays there might be less people wanting to emmigrate, but when I left, going to a western country was a common sentinment. Some want to study in a western University and bring back the knowledge home, others want to emmigrate permanently. My Aunts and Uncles in China are still on a waitlist trying to come. Now with trump, I’m not sure they’ll ever get a visa, or if the US would deteriorate and get worse than China with this fascism trajectory that the US is having. China is getting better as time goes on, but still not good enough that people are still trying to see better life abroad.
TLDR is that: China isn’t inherently worse, Western countries aren’t inherently better. It’s all a roll of dice. But in the US (and especially other western places like the EU) that “roll of dice” is often better than the “roll of dice” in China. China has way too many people and there is more competition for jobs. Not to mention, the GaoKao (高考) is like 10 times harder than the US SAT/ACT.
China has way too many people and there is more competition for jobs.
Is this only for well paying jobs like software engineering or is this also true for shittier service/factory style jobs?
Shitty jobs are easier to get, but like… who want’s to work a China-equivalent of a US McDonalds where the pay is horrible and you get treated like shit.
But still, even the shittier jobs are still harder to get than the US
My mom had a sales job where most of the pay actually came from commissions, but otherwise, the actual pay is not good. (Imagine the US waiter, they mostly rely on tips, but replace waiter with sales, and tips with commission, same thing) My dad had difficulty finding jobs and was constantly in and out of jobs. The last I remembered, he had some taxi job for like about a month or so then lost the job.
Also, the pay was monthly, no weekly or biweekly like most western countries. You could work for a month then the company goes bankrupt and you don’t get paid. At least with the weekly, its only one week of pay lost.
Oh also, we had a rural Hukou, we didn’t have Hukou in the city (GuangZhou). So probably zero access to social services (I assume). As far as I know, every doctor visit would be out of pocket and prepaid. This was around 2010, I hope things are better now.
The desire for a better future is why my family and I left (well I didn’t get to chose either way, I was a kid). Things in the US is better, like we ain’t rich, inflation still affects us, but its less shitty than it was in China. Other people’s experience may vary.
The only bad thing about the us is the occasional racism, but other than that, most things are better than China.
I lived and worked outside Shanghai for a bit, but it was a while ago and probably has changed a good bit. What makes you think their lives are far better off than those in the states?
Not necessarily disagreeing, but it absolutely was not the case 15 years ago. American life is on a downhill though, zero argument there.
Right now I look at my life in the late 20s in the states and even despite having a well paying tech job, I will have to sacrifice everything in my life in order to have a family or even own a house and those two are exclusive of each other. Although not in deep debt, I’ve definitely had to pay my fair share towards medical and student debt.
I’m watching critical infrastructure projects that could impact so many people take 30 years to build.
The amount of homeless we see on the streets is our own governmental failure and the increased crime associated with it. Seeing what I see in US streets really can wear an empathetic person down, it’s a cruel world here.
Our diet and price to eat healthy in the US is continuously worsening (yes this is a choice to an extent but also a cultural problem that grows over time)
And even though it’s absolutely recency bias, the deportation of Latinos does not strike confidence in me given my heritage.
I do think China has changed a lot in the last 15-30 years, and don’t get me wrong I don’t think it’s a perfect life, I understand there’s an infinite amount of competition for well paying jobs, and housing prices are extremely high (albeit not as high relative to ours). But when you show me how China has effectively succeeded at each of these topics compared to our own governmental failures that I experience on the daily, it makes me question my own life here and why people immediately criticize China without nuance.
I do feel for you, I know life in the US has gotten much worse recently and I feel that’s accelerating.
I’m not so sure life in China is better per se, but it is different.
I will probably blanket statement this and say life in the EU seems a lot better than in the US now, though with plenty of problems depending on where you go. I say this as someone who left the US for the EU.
The amount of homeless we see on the streets is our own governmental failure and the increased crime associated with it. Seeing what I see in US streets really can wear an empathetic person down, it’s a cruel world here.
Thats probably fueled by western individualism. In China, families tend to stay together, so if a Chinese person ever faced homelessness, they could always move back to live with parents, who all have a house that’s passed down from their ancestors. Most parents are very accepting with letting their kids live with them, unlike, say, Americans. And in China there isn’t as much of a “Shame Culture” as with the US. Its considered acceptable to live with parents as long as they are trying their best in life.
Quite frankly, I think you’re failing to see that a major part of American culture, a literal founding principle, is “live free or die”. Americans are obviously not going to take that censorship as just a small downside.
Quality of life is less important than freedom.
absolute ownership (no property tax).
This is also just a lie. They don’t own land.
Pointing out Americans system of live free or dying to avert censorship while also repeating US propaganda about China is hilariously ironic
What happens to the land/house you own if you don’t pay property tax in the US? Chinas 70 year lease is effectively a more solidified ownership than the US.
Chinas 70 year lease is effectively a more solidified ownership than the US.
That’s pure philosophy. I would argue that complete legal ownership is more ownership…
repeating US propaganda about China is hilariously ironic
None of what I said was propaganda lmfao. Lease is just pure facts, and censorship is something that you’d have to be blind to think isn’t real.
Whatabout whatabout whatabout
We, in fact, do own land. We just have an explicit contract with our government vs the implicit one people in the US have. Look into imminent domain seizures in the US.
…you know that a lease isn’t ownership right?
Look into imminent domain seizures in the US.
Yes, they can take land you own… That doesn’t mean you don’t own it lol. Just because you can lose something doesn’t mean you don’t own it
Whatabout whatabout whatabout
Using comparisons to make a point is not whataboubtism, Mr. Shapiro.
The entire country tried to revolt in 1989 and millions of citizens were killed by their own military. People who speak out lose access to most services and can’t even sign up for online platforms.
Right now China is experiencing a massive homelessness crisis because their assigned homes aren’t in the places they live and work.
What the fuck are you talking about
China
revolt in 1984
Its 1989 June 4 btw, not 1984. While the 1989 massacre did happen, we don’t know if there’s millions. (due to censorship, we will never really know the true numbers) And its not a revolt, it was a peaceful protest by college students, and mostly in Beijing. They were attempting to talk to the leaders and talk reform, not revolt. They were even waving Chinese flags.
But the leadership got paranoid AF so they sent the tanks.
Right now China is experiencing a massive homelessness crisis because their assigned homes aren’t in the places they live and work.
Yea that’s the Hukou (户口) problem. Rural people want to work in cities, but they are essentially treated as illegal immigrants, even if this is literally their country. 🤦♂️
The entire country tried to revolt in 1984 and millions of citizens were killed by their own military
Literally nobody claims that millions died, that’s flat earth levels of alternate reality.
The entire country tried to revolt in 1984 and millions of citizens were killed by their own military.
What?
What happened in 1984?
B-but rent prices in LA!
What in the massive misinformation clusterfuck is happening in your brain?
Do people still use Jim Crowe laws to talk about the daily life of US citizens? These are 40-60 year old discussion that do not adequately describe what life is like to the average citizen today.
Yeah they have their own homeless issues, but imo having a homeless population who has a job and chooses not to return home vs one that has nothing is two very different situations and almost incomparable problems.
People do still talk about Jim Crowe laws, yes, and also the same singular party rules China today and they still regularly suppress protests with military especially in regions they more recently expressed complete authority over such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibet.
Why does every discussion around China devolve into this as if the US doesn’t also do this?
Instead let’s discuss how average Chinese citizen in Shanghai is doing compared to the average citizen in San Francisco and have a real discussion between the two countries and how their government impacts their life.
Whatabout what about whatabout
Why does every discussion about China also have to be about their many many enemies all over the world as a direct result of their opaque cruelty?
Why can’t we just discuss what is wrong with China?
Because this exact statement can also be applied to the US? Which to be frank I’m all for talking about, the US probably has the most enemies in the world. But regardless this discussion is intended to be about the government impacts on their citizens.
more recently expressed complete authority over such as Taiwan
What complete authority does the PRC have over Taiwan? Their position now is the same as its been for seventy years - they consider it part of their country but exercise no actual control over it.
they consider it part of their country
They also aggressively censor and harass any claims that Taiwan is its own country.
There really is no justification to simp for any country/government. They are all pretty terrible and genocidal.
There are actually governments in the world that aren’t terrible or genocidal. It’s pretty nationalistic to think that because where you live is terrible that everywhere must be bad.
I can name a place. Iceland is not currently committing or assisting in genocide .
Name a government that’s not terrible and I’ll find you some articles showing the state being terrible.
Statism is unjust.
Nationalism, and especially jingoism, are very dangerous indeed.
I spend a lot of time here on Lemmy and gaming outside of my job and my sidejob and I haven’t personally been exposed to these cases of Sinophobia. I know there are some people in my town that definitely are deeply Sinophobic but that’s probably just a regular broad Xenophobia thats always been around. Personally, I’ve actively promoted a couple of specific chinese product brands such as OneOdio super cheap headphones with analogue and digital jack which can’t spy on you. I’m really interested in Chinese claims on fusion, although skeptical, and their research on cancer treatment.
Now, Chinese Government Thing, on the other hand. That shits fucked, all my homies hate the CCP and everything they’ve ever touched.
Sinophobia
I was born in PRC, when I arrived in the US, in school, kids commonly say “Ching Chong” to make fun of me 😕. Not too frequent, but frequent enough that I get annoyed. Chinese-American kids wouldn’t even stand up for me against racism. Like even Black Americans stand up for each other. There is just this lack of Asian-American solidarity. And this in blue cities btw. I’m not even sure if people saying “Ni Hao” is a genuine attempt at communicatiom or just mocking, because they say it without the 4 tones of Mandarin, and that sounds like the voice you use to mock people.
Probably less racism than what Black people had to face during Jim Crow, but nevertheless, common enough I don’t exacly feel welcome, especially not after “China Virus” remarks by the felon president.
Its also weird. Black kids would side with White kids to bully me, like bruh, did they forget that Black Americans had to face a lot of racism, why are they now turning it around and continuing the racism, why not just stop that. I thought through experience, they would learn to be more open minded.
Also if you go on Reddit, there is a widespread sentinment to call Covid “China Virus” or “Wuhan Virus”. Why the fuck. Just use Covid, or SARS-Cov-2.
Anyways, sorry for the rant.
There’s definitely very low Asian-American solidarity. The worst bullying I experienced was from a group of Korean American kids in middle school. They would say terrible things to me and call me the c***k word. That hurt the most and I can never forget that experience. Once I hit puberty and grew bigger (I’m pretty muscular) no one messed with me anymore.
There were some mean kids of other races, but most people regardless of race (include Asians) are nice. I’ve been in the US for almost 40 years now and as an adult I’ve never experienced any direct racism towards me and I live in a red state (but in a big city). There are some people that didn’t feel pleasant to be around with, but luckily as an adult I can choose who to be with and who to avoid.
Sinophobia during COVID in the US was really bad
Oh yea that shit was fucked. Even Koreans, Japanese, anyone who looks “Chinese” get beaten.
Fear leads to Anger
Anger leads to Hate
Yoda quote was so enlightened
Wow, that makes no point. Neat.
It’s just another cold war, history books will discuss it as such.
Exactly 👏👏
Ehh i dont like the obsession with one of the most racist and xenophobic countries today, even tho i know its not why they like japan.
