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
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!
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.
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.
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?
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!
Removed by mod
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.
Sorry, propaganda speech
What exactly makes a “propaganda speech” different from a regular one?
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.