• SleepyPie@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Yes, both countries have serious problems. At least Americans can discuss theirs openly.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      So do Chinese citizens, though. The state exerts control over private media and the speech of wealthy capitalists, but there’s broad diversity in political thought and discussion.

      • yucandu@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Really? So Chinese citizens can go out and publish an article about why they believe Xi Jinping is actually betraying socialist ideals?

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          Some have. They’d be wrong, so it’s not super common, but it’s possible, assuming they aren’t a wealthy capitalist or something.

    • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      The freedom to shout into the void and have none of your concerns addressed.

      Not to mention the fact that China has far more open discourse than the US and its media organs / capitalist controlled platforms allow.

      • stickly@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I’ll take “things foreigners say when they’ve never been to China” for 500 Alex

        • KimBongUn420@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          I’ll take “sexpat that’s been to China, never left his bubble and is a China expert now” for 500 alex

          • stickly@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Never claimed to be any kind of China expert but it’s absurd to claim “much more open discourse” if you’ve spent any appreciable amount of time in the countries being discussed. You can literally just walk + talk in public and see the difference.

            Like all these asserted freedoms it just magically happens better and free’er but you definitely can’t verify it because “media”. The open political discourse I see and hear in major EU/US cities pales in comparison to the uh… hidden… open discourse in T1/T2 Chinese cities? Definitely heard some first/second hand political discourse but it was never, ever, ever a public forum.

            By all means, give me evidence to the contrary. Maybe I just keep catching China with a bad case of the Mondays. Have you been? Can you point to any discourse on domestic politics? Where is the asserted diversity of opinion on hotbed issues? Can you show me any strong opposition to the party line on a public stage?

              • stickly@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                I have! Have you been on it in China? Have you contrasted the foreign feed to a citizen’s? Have you seen the coordinated response to genuine spreading political discontent vs mundane petty scandals? Because it kinda sounds like you haven’t if you think that’s a killer response.

                • KimBongUn420@lemmy.ml
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                  9 months ago

                  I have! And I have my Chinese friends feed too. Inside and outside of china. There’s definitely differences, but that’s how algorithms work

                  Have you seen the coordinated response to genuine spreading political disconten

                  Yes i have seen it. They solve things pretty fast e.g. COVID lockdowns when minor protests broke out, petit bourgeois real estate protests, etc. doesn’t look like you pay attention to things like that

                  • stickly@lemmy.world
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                    9 months ago

                    COVID lockdowns when minor protests broke out

                    “Solve” is an interesting verb for suppression of legitimate mass discontent at being physically locked into their apartments. That “solution” worked so well for those “minor protests” that they decided to do a 180° turn from the Zero Covid policy to no restrictions overnight.

                    Truly a bastion of free speech, except for any real discontent is labeled capitalist subterfuge so we’ll just disregard that.

    • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      You’re free to discuss anything you want as long as it doesn’t actually threaten the status quo in any way lol

    • HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      At least Americans can discuss theirs openly.

      Lol have you seen what’s been happening to pro Palestine protestors? BLM protestors? Anti Trump protestors? Julian Assange? Edward Snowden?

      • TrippyFocus@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        And it’s not like those were one-offs, COINTELPRO was crazy in scope and did massive damage beyond just the murders.

        It’s not like that’s all in the past either, just look at how the Palestine protests were handled as well as the Floyd protests.

    • Smackyroon@lemmy.mlBanned from communityOP
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      9 months ago

      Chinese average citizens can freely discuss what they want, the “disappearing” is just western propa