You ever read that red sails ‘brainwashing isn’t real’ article? Similar premise, similar conclusion.
Basically guy was spending a lot of time debunking anti China stuff and getting frustrated. Realized really the propaganda isn’t very sophisticated, wasn’t hard to debunk in most cases. So saying people are fooled is kind of a cop out, underselling their intelligence maybe flattering your own. They’re buying in consciously or otherwise because they see the benefit from siding with the propagandist.
Idk was an interesting read for me at least. If you can’t get past the writing style these points are more or less where he ends up:
Stop accusing the masses of being “brainwashed.” Stop treating them as cattle, stop attempting to rouse them into action by scolding them with exposure to “unpleasant truths.”
Accept instead that they have been avoiding those truths for a reason. You were able to break through the propaganda barrier, and so could they if they really wanted to. Many of these people see you as the fool, and in many cases not without reason.
Understanding people as intelligent beings, craft a political strategy that convincingly makes the case for why they and their lot are very likely to benefit from joining your political project. Not in some utopian infinite timescale, but soon.
If you cannot make this case, then forget about convincing the person in question. Focus instead on finding other people to whom such a case can be made. This will lead you directly to class analysis.
Yeah, it’s weird that people prefer democracy to dictatorship. Freedom of speech is pretty important too.
I have a lot of issues with capitalism, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to give up on democracy as a whole. And China has just about as many of those capitalism problems as we do.
And what exactly is the definition of democracy are you basing that of?
https://www.newsweek.com/most-china-call-their-nation-democracy-most-us-say-america-isnt-1711176
When asked whether they believe their country is democratic, those in China topped the list, with some 83% saying the communist-led People’s Republic was a democracy. A resounding 91% said that democracy is important to them.
But in the U.S., which touts itself as a global beacon of democracy, only 49% of those asked said their country was a democracy. And just over three-quarters of respondents, 76%, said democracy was important.
For instance, some 63% in the U.S. said their government mainly serves the interests of a minority, while only 7% said the same in China. Asked about whether their country held free and fair elections and offered all citizens the right to free speech, nearly a third of respondents in the U.S., 32% and 31%, respectively, said they did not, while just 17% and 5%, respectively, in China answered the same questions negatively.
And in China, a mere 5% also said not everyone enjoys equal rights in their country, as opposed to 42% who identified this same issue in the U.S.
Yeah, but the sign of a healthy democracy isn’t how much the people feel like their voices are being heard, it’s entirely dependent on how much people are allowed to complain about things! (But not actually change them of course, let’s not go crazy here).
“but muh freeze peach!”
And China has just about as many of those capitalism problems as we do.
Do you really think China has all of the same capitalism problems?
China doesn’t have:
- a rampant and actively ignored homeless problem
- widespread food insecurity, including among children
- a disgustingly large and widening wealth gap, with the government bribery that comes with it
- inaccessible or unaffordable healthcare for a large portion of its population, especially those most needing of it
- reversal of child labor laws and increasing promotion of its use
- destruction of the education system and villifying those seeking to escape generational poverty
- a massive and increasing renting population (compared to those with outright ownership), spending an increasingly large fraction of their constantly decreasing wages on housing
- an incarceration rate nearly five times average developed nations driven largely by for-profit prisons and slave labor performed by the imprisoned
Does China have problems related to capitalism’s influence? Of course. Does it have as many, or do they permeate it so deeply and thoroughly? Of course not.
As soon as someone says “China’s capitalist too” it’s a sign that they are sorely lacking information on how Chinese system actually functions and it makes me wonder if they’ve even bothered trying to learn about it at all. The comparison is ludicrous at this point.
Where did you get the notion that it’s a dictatorship? Did it ever cross your mind how the world’s largest population has agreed to live in a dictatorship? Same is the case with DPRK.
Did you ever asked yourself how is this possible in 2023 that no news ever comes out about people’s revolt in these countries ever when even one of their leader’s haircut becomes a news.
China does not have parliamentary democracy doesn’t mean it doesn’t have democracy instead it’s more democratic then the western lib dems.
If you never has had a chance to have an alternate view, you are welcome to lurk and learn. We have all been there where you are now. Probably one day you too would see the world for what it really is instead of what its shown to be.
Dictatorship… of the proletariats!
Good luck changing anything in this world in bourgeois democracy if you’re not wealthy and influential… It’s a dictatorship of capitalist class, not more nor less.
World you participate in a mild, painless experiment? Would you carefully read Roland Boer’s Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, and then come back here with an honest review? You don’t even have to agree with him. All I ask for is a fair treatment.
Good post!
+10 social rating
+1 rice ration
+1 cat wife
Glory to the strong jade rod comrade Xi!
Cracker moment
Go home, you’re drunk.
The least deranged westerner has logged on.
Lemmygrad admins ban you. -800 credit score. Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars.
That’s where my policy of being kind to people with opposing views ends. GTFO
