I don’t care that much about how Chinese citizens let their 共肥 party censor them, but it’s not ok when I am being censored for speech that could be considered offensive to the communist party of China.
And all govs control info. Democracies just pretend they don't (they do it covertly, through narrative control, disinfo, etc). Social media now presents them with a problem. They have to censor platforms, which makes it overt.
This is against the historical trend of democracies modus operandi for information control. Brave new world out there!
Edit (this thread now has restrictions, can't reply you, below, so here):
I mean more "nationalistic shtick" as in the trope of "US vs China" or "US vs Russia" etc. They have to be able to start a profitable war, for something, right?
All the same...expanding the argument (as you have) to the "truths we hold to be self-evident", well, they are unfortunately not implemented in as iron-clad a way as us proles would think. It should be obvious. I love the US, living there, the people, the environment, everything about it...aaaannndd....structurally, you can't really say that the debt trap, opioid epidemic, Wall St bailout, social division deliberately inflamed by the media, covert info control and surveillance, democratic "theatrics" that stymie results, really equates with "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" can you, chum?
I mean, I sort of agree with you a little bit, even, in a way. It is sad. And I do think it is an impressive argument. Yes. Very much! ツ
Edit (to your edit ツ): Yes, the Muslims in camps, that is a hard thing for Westerners to get their head around. It's funny, tho. I wonder about it, for a few reasons:
- Western tech supports the security in XJ
- China has protected Russian, and US interests along its Western (Central Asian) borders with regard to the countries there, the Tajik, Afghan and Pakistan areas. It could have caused plenty of troubles for US/Russia there, but on the face of it their security interests align. And honestly, who do you think is coming across the Afghan-Chinese border (or via Tajik) and doing some of the interrogations in the detention centers, working right alongside Chinese? You guessed it, the [C_A] ツ.
- I would have thought an American would be more supportive of counter-terrorism/deradicalization/counter-narrative. Being soft on sepratist terrorists almost seems like being an apologist for terrorism. Something I know no American would ever do...I'm sure. :P Especially considering how tough the English speaking world has been on terrorists in the Middle East. I can't imagine them standing up to support Islamic terrorism in XJ, or is that just because it's against CN and it's like "enemy of my enemy is my friend"? But truth is CN no your enemy. Really no!
- The XJ narrative is actually cooperative propaganda between US/China. 90%+ of "whistleblowers/defectors" are Chinese disinfo agents working this psyop. Preparing for the "great discrediting" that will come. The remaining ones are fakes/unaffiliated individuals trying to get attention. The real story is: There is strong CT presence in XJ, but the "camps" is fake news, as you say. People apply to go. Like college. And yes, some people wish they were not there, just like college! But they can leave. Only people who are "detained" are terrorists, exactly like in the US.
- This XJ propos is a complex info strategy but boils down to:
1) an overly critical narrative works to support China (just like the overly critical MSM actually supported President Trump into election because it fired up his base);
2) regular Chinese, seeing how crazy and fake is Western coverage of XJ, begin to distrust more and more Western media, helping the Party;
3) eventually, when the time is right, XJ will be revealed as to have been wildly-mis-assessed by Western media, in a "mea culpa" moment that boosts Chinese world image, and plays to the idea of it having been unfairly "maligned and mistrusted".
4) For the US side, anything that supports criticism of China plays well domestically for racist/nationalist reasons, and can be used to fire up a base,
5) Also for US, anything extremely emotive and triggering, can be used to make proles act irrationally and distract them, and also thereby to grease the wheels for other moves such as law passage, etc. It's also a distraction to how they're working together.
It's all just calculations designed to take the global proletariat to a destination, through the best path. Path has to be right for each country's circumstances. So each country needs their own story. That's all it is. Don't worry about it. As long as you obey the law, you'll be fine.
I hope this "red pill" doesn't taste too bitter. I'm not trying to rock your worldview. Nor offend you. Actually I hope you feel a little more a peace about everything. The world doesn't have to be perfect, nor make perfect sense...but it's all still OK. Focus on the stuff that matters to you. Ignore the noise because it's a lie, and it's gonna happen anyway. You still have a lot of power to make your own life good.
Edit: all governments control info. I can only think of one government that has a million Uygher Muslims in concentration camps.
Wishful thinking. "Narrative control and disinfo" are categorically different than banning expressions, opinions, theories and thought. The scale and types of information control are not on comparable levels.
There are always contradictions inherent in governance. There are always both open and classified activities. There are always those peoples/departments/regimes that seek to stretch or overstep rules or norms.
But you can't group it all and say "Great Firewall is equal to think tank lobbying."
What citizens, businesses, platforms, politicians and basically every other entity is allowed to say in a free country vs. China is on different planets.
> [XJ secret master plan]
Citations needed. Testimonials of citizens and family members dealing with camps are more convincing than wide-ranging, decontextualized, strung-together internet rants about XJP's secret genius plan.
But yeah about the rest, you're probably right. I can't prove any of what I say to you, and one reason is I don't think you'd take, "just trust me, I'm right", as proof.
I hope you don't believe me. It is sort of an awful thing to believe in.
What can I say? I guess I'm a bit of a nutter. Maybe more than a bit. Definitely more than a bit. Conspiracy theorist whackjob if you will.
I like your ellipsis "XJ secret master plan". Nice quote style. Very funny. Perfect for nutty comments :)
But no one can prove the official narratives either. We just need to think for ourselves. I'm glad I've given you something fresh.
I don't want to believe any of them. I wish the would was very different. But it seems it's not right now...