I've been seeing a huge amount of anti-Chinese sentiment online, from obvious places like reddit, to even misinformed friends on social media falling victim to viral posts filled with misinformation.
What are we to make of this? Is this the slow march to war, by portraying them as pure evil, à la the fake story of Iraqi soldiers killing Kuwaiti babies to help get the public on board with our military response? It seems disadvantageous for the US and their allies to fight China, as we are incredibly reliant upon them economically and don't stand to gain much from the conflict.
Are these the irrational decisions of a dying empire? Or is there something else at play?
It's incredibly exhausting, and that's when I only have to see it on the English internet. I have to remove myself from it every time because the dehumanization just gets to be too much. And they won't listen to you. Anything that some white "China expert" says is law, no matter how racist and easily disproved. We don't get the same purchase as real human beings. Issues that are approached with nuance and depth in their own countries are just painted with one brush for us.
Such is life though, I was born Indonesian-Chinese under Suharto, so at least it's better than that.