• Tankiedesantski [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    A big part of orientalism is rolling diverse Asian cultures into a whole to contrast (negatively) with the West.

    Asia is home to many diverse political systems that have been labeled as "authoritarian". However, you're implying a nebulous set of common authoritarian tactics and values that are both inherently Asian and have no other commonality except being Asian.

    The governments of India, the DPRK, China, Japan, and even Singapore have been labeled "authoritarian" by various groups at various times. If you want to draw similarities between the tactics they use, you have to be much more granular in your analysis than just going "well, they're Asian, they do things differently."