China’s firewall has been fully justified - you need to create an online sphere that is disconnected from western propaganda and is controlled by your own country and people, or the vast resources and psychological techniques that at the west’s disposal can and will infect the minds of people into directly opposing their self-interest and genuinely does create that now cliche Orwellian world where you are told to forget what you know and ignore the evidence of your own senses. Except I’m not sure if we can really do that.

China critics were already borderline memes before all of this and by soon it is pretty much going to be impossible to separate criticism of China and straight up delusional if not manufactured propaganda like Zens.

To be clear China is not communist yet and has some quite obvious problems in their economy, but anyone(I mean among leftists here) that comes out of this not recognizing the massive contrast between the western war time propaganda and the existence of China's firewall and mostly isolated internet culture is not going to have any credibility going forward imo.

American totalitarianism has destroyed all aspects of critical thinking in the population. The people are told what to think and follow blindly.

One day, the media expresses their sordid disapproval of the migrant concentration camps on the southern border, even going so far as to label them "kids in cages", the next day the camps are presented as merely detention camps and are 'good, actually'. The same with shootings. Black-on-black crime is presented as savage, freakish crimes while police murders are merely "police-involved shootings". Black victims of violence were 'no angels' while white victims of violence were the most purest angels of heaven. "Lethal aid", an especially egregious example of media manipulation, where the media straight up copies state department statements verbatim. (Newspeak)

In the same article, the Chinese state apparatus is first presented as so capable that they can imprison 12 million (!) Uyghurs without resistance or fleeing. Then, contradicting the above statement, the article pivots over to how the Chinese state is on the brink of collapse and must be given the final 'kick in the rotten door'. (Doublethink)

Public figures are ostracized by the public for merely being perceived as 'weak'. Apparently, merely apologizing to the designated enemies is enough to become unaccepted by the America public these days. John Cena went from a beloved character to public enemy overnight.

The American people, so engrossed in their jingoism, have become completely unable to perceive nuance. Before expressing any slightly divergent opinion to the official line, you must explicitly denounce the designated enemies lest you be accused of being a foreign agent. On any post slightly related to China, you must exclaim "Fuck the CCP!", otherwise you are the #1 wumao of the century. You must have your 2 Minute Hate.

And the American people, never questioning a single thing, believe this, then believe that, simultaneously - they simultaneously believe contradictory thoughts but never realize it because they never actually critically evaluate the information they are fed. They are told that the 'free press', by virtue of being free, is always correct, never considering that the only thing the American free press is free of is factual information.

As with all American accusations of foreign wrongdoing, the accusation of Soviet totalitarianism is projection too.

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I completely quit expecting Americans to consider "how would this action benefit the supposed perpetrator" about geopolitics when everyone insisted that Assad gassed those people after the US announced they chemical weapons were the deciding factor on whether or not they'd attack Syria.

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