• Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Is there any proof that Xi’s photo is staged, or are you just assuming people don’t like him? He has overwhelmingly high approval rates in China, upwards of 95%, so it wouldn’t make sense that they would stage such a photo beyond how they frame it (as all political pictures would have).

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          23 hours ago

          Yep, these kinds of claims never have any backing or logic to them, it’s like they came in a dream.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              19 hours ago

              Is there any proof that Xi’s photo is staged, or are you just assuming people don’t like him? He has overwhelmingly high approval rates in China, upwards of 95%, so it wouldn’t make sense that they would stage such a photo beyond how they frame it (as all political pictures would have).

              • Devconsole@sh.itjust.works
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                19 hours ago

                Fair callout. I suspect we pretty much agree then beyond debating semantics of where you draw the line between staging and framing.

                • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                  19 hours ago

                  Staged, to me, would imply complete fabrication with no actual basis in reality, ie paid actors and an invented setting. Framing would imply angles, selective moments, even seating arrangements in order to be more flattering and positive, but may not necessarily be wholly divorced from reality.

                  • Devconsole@sh.itjust.works
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                    18 hours ago

                    What would you call the selection of friendly people to sit around the leader to create photogenic moments? “Hey Mr Albenese, here are some friendly people for you to chat with”.

        • Devconsole@sh.itjust.works
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          19 hours ago

          Anyone who disagrees with this along the lines of “Oh but Trump/Obama/Xi/Trudeau/Macron/Stalin/Hitler is really loved!” then you should put get off the Internet until you grow a bit.

      • WbrJr@lemmy.ml
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        24 hours ago

        I literelly don’t know which “side is right” in this argument. In a country where there is propaganda and social media is strictly moderated by the government and not a lot of independent journalism (like YouTube or blogs even get pressured to shut down) and which has a social score controlling your life and thougs - how would one make a actually independent and fair survey? There is no democracy, so why turn against it if you have no way of changing it?

        Of cause we are a bit brainwashed by the west and Chinas enemies and I think trump helped a lot to remove the elusion of a “good and strong america”. But it still feels like the people are more free in the west, we have democracy and solid education and independent social media and journalism which is very important to me.

        And its very impressive what China achieved in the short amount of time, compared to the west, industrially speaking. But socially (like what the government does) I really would not want to live there at all.

        I feel like many people here on Lemmy have just the same black and white thinking of “china good, murica bad”, which is maybe just as delusional as all the MAGA idiots.

        Plus there are many other western countries that are quite solid and doing well mostly, which often get overlooked in this debate

        Any thoughts?

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          24 hours ago

          I think you have a great opportunity to learn more about the PRC, and how socialism works in the real world. No, it isn’t black and white thinking. You can find good socialist critique on Lemmy, I normally focus on exposing holes in the lazy critique or outright slander because that’s what’s dominant in the west. Socialist spaces already have discussions on China, and since we communists already spend a good deal of time trying to study it as well as communist theory and history, it helps elevate discussion beyond what’s normally had in the west.

          A good example here is your claim that China isn’t democratic. This is wrong, though a common misconception. China has a comprehensive, whole-process people’s democracy based on gathering input from the people and laddering decisionmaking upwards from the local level. The top of the CPC is like the brain, while the different regional and provincial organs make their own decisions and inform the brain. Chinese citizens are overwhelmingly satisfied with their democracy as a consequence:

          There’s a lot of western polling supporting this as well. This should come as no surprise, though, the west seeks to understand why the CPC enjoys such positive support so they can undermine it. A fun place to start learning about Chinese democracy is Democracy is not an Ornament by Xi Jinping himself!

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              23 hours ago

              It’s a speech, not a “personal propaganda book.” Secondly, why would you not want to understand the perspective of the head of state of China on democracy when trying to research democracy in China? It isn’t the only thing one should read, but it’s a good speech and elaborates on the Chinese position well, helping contextualize the positive perception around democracy in China compared to western countries.

                • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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                  19 hours ago

                  What exactly makes a “propaganda speech” different from a regular one?

                • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                  21 hours ago

                  Any speech trying to push a viewpoint is propaganda, ie pretty much every political speech. Propaganda can be good or bad depending on what it’s pushing, it isn’t synonymous with “lies.” I still see no reason why one should avoid reading Xi Jinping’s viewpoint on democracy and how it’s used in China, it’s not like after reading it your brain turns you into a Maoist sleeper agent. It takes 14 minutes to read, that’s nearly nothing.