The conversations are amazing
Despite the unhappy circumstances, it's kinda nice Chinese and Americans interacting on social media.
The fact this isn't typically possible because of bans in China is not so nice. Neither is the fact the US is going down the same road instead of proper privacy laws.
But still, kinda nice
This is exactly what governments around the world are afraid of. Every government wants us to blindly accept that every citizen of the nation is profoundly evil and must be obedient to its government.
Russia wants its citizens to believe every single lie about itself and other nations. That everyone in Ukraine is a bloodthirsty Nazi, and Russia is liberating Crimea.
America wants its citizens to believe every single lie about itself and other nations. Every brown person is a terrorist waiting for its Manchurian candidate call sign to do a second 9/11, and that the economy is the greatest in the world.
No nation tells the entire truth, from lying from omission via national security, to straight up war time propaganda, to funding and owning news networks. From Radio Free Europe to Sputnik, a government will lie to your face and tell you its an unabridged raw truth.
The only way we could actually learn the "truth" (if there is such a one when anyone could be as brainwashed as their government wants them to be) is by directly talking to the citizens of each nation. The internet is a great equalizer, the only limit is language and translation. That's why governments censor the internet, or even shut it down when it gets too much for a government to manage.
We all have more in common with the random citizens of China, Russia, Germany, Japan, South Korea, America, Mexico, Canada, Uganda, South Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Ukraine, Brazil... We have more in common with being human and being subjugated and redistricted in doing what makes us happy and free.
And the government and rich of each of those nations and beyond have more in common each other than to the citizens they try to control like dogs. They all disagree on why they do it, but the end result is the same. Status quo, monopoly on violence kept in place with whoever is at the top. The set dressing and costumes change, but the stage play goes on.
You and I have more in common than with the president or prime minister or dictator we are under. The only thing we share with the top 1% and our governments is the lanauge we share and the citizenship. I have friends around the world, and I have more in common with random geeks in Japan and China, than the leadership of my nation.
The governments want you to think that you have nothing to share and love with another human being outside the lines drawn in the sand by people out of touch with the people inside those lines.
But nowhere else on the planet invests as much money and effort into it as the US. $325 million a year on anti China propaganda alone:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1157/text
You never saw that mentioned in the media did you? There is a reason for that:
It is one of the most important aspects of our media system, and yet hardly known to the public: most of the international news coverage in Western media is provided by only three global news agencies based in New York, London and Paris.
The key role played by these agencies means Western media often report on the same topics, even using the same wording. In addition, governments, military and intelligence services use these global news agencies as multipliers to spread their messages around the world.
The unexpected propaganda win for the PRC too lol. Anyone who might have been doubting the benefits of the dictatorship of the proletariat will now have first hand evidence that life is absolutely not better in capitalism
The social score thing isn’t really propaganda as much as it is idiots believing whatever they read. It started from what was essentially thinly veiled racism, and became “true” because people kept hearing it.
There were several "social credit systems" that were set up in various provinces. These were mainly attempts to aggregate public records from different departments into one searchable database. It mostly affected business owners since they have the largest public record footprint. The idea was you could look up who owns what business and how many code violations those businesses had.
This triculates into the american rumor mill and comes out as the "social credit score" meme which is fantasitcal projection from our own opaque credit system.
Great example of how "ironic" racism is still racism. It invites actual racists to join and fit in.
There's a bunch of Chinese posts asking if the stuff about school shootings, fires, homelessness are exaggerated propaganda only to be told otherwise. It's both hilarious and sad.
People of the US and China are both unsure of what to believe about the other, because both are so propagandized lol
I just want to point out that the attempt to compare medical costs in a direct comparison in US dollars isn't exactly easy as it does ignore purchasing power and base wages.
The point would probably be better made with hours of labor at a base pay to pay off treatment which I do think American healthcare would probably still lose quite handedly.
Eh, there's truth and lies on both sides. Coming from someone that lived in china for 4 years and was able to engage with Chinese primary news sources. But basic healthcare in china is faster and cheaper, but then again I went to get a wart removed and they prescribed me acorn paste that accelerated the growth of the wart. So win some lose some.
Everyone pretending Europe doesn't exist? Most countries have most healthcare for "free" (mandatory healthcare taxes).
The kinda people joining Rednote right now are not the same kinda people who know alot about geopolitics, or honestly anything beyond their personal bubble. Yeah, they're just gonna keep pretending Europe doesn't exist.
Trying to dodge Chinese traditional medicine in Asian countries when you go to the doctor is such a pain in the ass.
I had to go to three different Japanese doctors before they would give me something other than herbal powder.
If banning tik tok ends up galvanizing demand for healthcare reform I'm going to laugh my ass off
People are people no matter where they live, which also means you can't trust any government anywhere. Propaganda is powerful.
The idea of a social credit score has always been hilarious to me, like yo bros we have credit scores over here and they legitimately fuck us over since you need good credit to do alot of things like renting a place to live.
Circle jerking about China is as ridiculous as circle jerking about the US. We've been here before with US vs USSR, but this time everyone has a megaphone and an IQ that can be measured with a ruler.
wow the level of cope in this thread (thankfully not that many tho) arguing over stats - which are probably made up anyway.
some people can't handle that most humans just wanna be friends regardless of gov politics bs
Some of this stuff is dated. Chinese healthcare used to be less available and more expensive until the government put efforts in changing that fact. China's a nation that seems to believe that they can use their government to make things better.
It's honestly very wholesome to see this kind of interaction. On top of cute moments like Chinese users telling the new US users that they are their "spies," seeing a lot of blatant myth dispelling surrounding the PRC is great to help tear down the Red Scare.
imagine making social media so bad your own citizens actively procure your biggest rival's networks.
No. So many goods cannot be produced by children, it is inefficient.
New tagline dropped
It's funny that Xiaohongshu is popping off right on the cusp of a TikTok ban. They're not even flocking to established US alternatives.
The fact that Xiaohongshu is Chinese is the point, it's a protest against banning Chinese Social Media without holding US-based Social Media to the same standard.
Remember that "Grapes of Wrath" completely backfired as a propaganda piece because Russians were amazed that poor Americans could still afford cars
Well tbf, even though it's strictly banned in China there are still some cases of it happening in rural areas.
But in the US it's legal. In a bunch of states all you need is parental consent for a teen barely out of puberty to marry an adult, and some will lower the age if the child is already pregnant.
