• GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Let us look at a specific example. A claim like “There’s cultural genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang” is simply unreal to most Westerners, close to pure gibberish. The words really refer to existing entities and geographies, but Westerners aren’t familiar with them. The actual content of the utterance as it spills out is no more complex or nuanced than “China Bad,” and the elementary mistakes people make when they write out statements of “solidarity” make that much clear. This is not a complaint that these people have not studied China enough — there’s no reason to expect them to study China, and retrospectively I think to some extent it was a mistake to personally have spent so much time trying to teach them. It’s instead an acknowledgment that they are eagerly wielding the accusation like a club, that they are in reality unconcerned with its truth-content, because it serves a social purpose.

    What is this social purpose? Westerners want to believe that other places are worse off, exactly how Americans and Canadians perennially flatter themselves by attacking each others’ decaying health-care systems, or how a divorcee might fantasize that their ex-lover’s blooming love-life is secretly miserable. This kind of “crab mentality” is actually a sophisticated coping mechanism suitable for an environment in which no other course of action seems viable. Cognitive dissonance, the kind that eventually spurs one into becoming intolerant of the status quo and into action, is initially unpleasant and scary for everybody. In this way, we can begin to understand the benefit that “victims” of propaganda derive from carelessly “spreading awareness.” Their efforts feed an ambient propaganda haze of controversy and scandal and wariness that suffocates any painful optimism (or jealousy) and ensuing sense of duty one might otherwise feel from a casual glance at the amazing things happening elsewhere. People aren’t “falling” for atrocity propaganda; they’re eagerly seeking it out, like a soothing balm.

    https://redsails.org/masses-elites-and-rebels/

    • Gorilladrums@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      A whole lot of words to say very little. No, people believe evidence. Evidence shows that the Chinese government is in fact committing a cultural genocide. From satellite imagery, to official CCP documents to thousands of victim testimonies (which all align btw) to pictures and videos of the camps, of cultural sites being demolished or converted to showing the CCP’s forces intimidating people. It’s indisputable. The only people who cry, lie, and deny that the CCP’s actions are brain dead tankies like you and the CCP itself. There’s a reason why the CCP refused to allow the UN to conduct an independent investigation. There’s a reason why the CCP bans foreign journalists from visiting Xinjiang. There’s a reason why they are pumping so much fake propaganda to try and deny it. They know it’s happening, everybody knows it’s happen.

      You’re a brain damaged tankie. I know you don’t care about facts and I know you’re too willfully ignorant to accept any evidence. My point is just to demonstrate that the propaganda you speak of is being chugged by the likes of you, not the people you accuse.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      A claim like “There’s cultural genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang” is simply unreal to most Westerners, close to pure gibberish. The words really refer to existing entities and geographies, but Westerners aren’t familiar with them. The actual content of the utterance as it spills out is no more complex or nuanced than “China Bad,” and the elementary mistakes people make when they write out statements of “solidarity” make that much clear. This is not a complaint that these people have not studied China enough — there’s no reason to expect them to study China, and retrospectively I think to some extent it was a mistake to personally have spent so much time trying to teach them.

      While I agree with the over all sentiment of this write up, as the vast majority of people criticizing China’s government don’t really care about human rights violations against Islamic minority groups.

      However, utilizing that fact to shield any accusations of criticism against the government is fallacious. Any government enacting re-education camps on minority populations should be scrutinized.