I know that, as Americans, we live awash in a sea of anti-China propaganda and as such a lot of us on the left want to course correct and cut through the lies to stop seeing China as some great evil, and that is definitely a good instinct and desire, but in the process of unfucking ourselves from US propaganda it's important to not then immediately walk into supporting Chinese propaganda. I feel like I've seen more and more folks in my communities jump on the rather concerning trend of uncritically accepting Chinese news and the word of the Chinese government as the antithesis of Americas lies about the country, but the truth is that both the US and China are massive imperialist nations with major skeletons in the closet, whom have committed atrocities to attain and sustain their power, and who continue to exert their influence on the global stage in pursuit of their own ends, and who are constantly attempting to shape narratives about their own countries, their governments actions, and the world at large. Please apply the same critical thinking skills, skepticism, and standards you would hold US news to when talking about other large and influential nations, China very much included.
Hey real quick, can anyone tell me why i'm still trying to have honest, direct, good-faith discussions with people on the internet in the year of our lord 2026?
bonus ask from someone else:
girl... what?
okay having looked through about half of these videos just to be thorough, all of them seem to be pretty horribly researched/sourced and many make their arguments in extremely bad faith. I'm not going to try an argue individual points here, this is deeply unconvincing and i'm tired of this fight already.
If you seriously thought this vomit of youtube videos would be enough to prove that china should be some kind of exception to the idea that you should think critically about the news you read, especially when it's coming from major news networks that operate with the explicit or implicit support of their governments, then you're out of your mind. no government is beyond manipulation of the narrative. i genuinely do not get why this is inviting the kind of response that it is.
I've gotten a lot of messages asking why I'm not getting into specific pieces of propaganda, specific accusations, or responding to peoples points about individual events, or even why i blacked out the links in that last ask. The reasoning is that if i believe what I said, I should be willing to debate the particulars. And that's understandable.
The reason I'm not sharing the links and articles I'm being sent, nor debating the specific issues people in this post are bringing up, is because none of it matters to the point I'm making. All large organizations, all governments, all world powers, will inevitably try and shape the narrative of world events in their favor. That has always happened, and it always will, and that is why it's so important to take these grand narratives with a grain of salt. I don't believe there are any governments in the world that can claim innocence here, though the largest powers are those most guilty.
This post is not about debating the details of any one specific event. This is me saying, broadly, that in my circles i have noticed an uptick in stories minimizing China's faults and emphasizing their achievements based primarily or even solely on the word of sources i personally find unconvincing. I don't feel the need to wade deeper into those waters other than to remind folks to think critically and question the narratives of large organizations when reading the news.
People have responded to this by delivering unto me an onslaught of questionable "proof" delivered by individuals and organizations I neither know nor trust, many of which take hard line stances that the things China has been criticized for are complete fabrications (something which I do not believe to be the case based on the evidence I've seen and heard from both sides of this discussion). To debate these individual sources, these individual events or the veracity of specific accusations, is to ignore the point that, as the great lasagna lover tells us, you are not immune to propaganda.
I, for one, don't feel like platforming these people who read a call for better research and reading comprehension, and hear a leveled threat they must defend against. I am sincere in my call for critical reading. I am steadfast in my belief that very little, if anything, separates the people of America from the people of China, and likewise little differentiates the government of America from the government of China. People are exploited. Powerful organizations exploit. The narratives delivered to us are impacted by the power structures they exist within. I don't have a lot of faith in people who would try to convince me that one nation above all others is the exception.
