So on one hand, I have propagandists who I know have been lying to me for years.
On the other hand I have friends over to my house who occasionally talk about China, and say that while its not particularly amazing, its really not much worse than growing up poor and black in America (and we live in areas of America that aren’t batshit).
I don’t think China is some bastion of democracy, but I am increasingly skeptical when Capitalists tell me how awful China is supposed to be…and by “Awful” they mean that China might do the same shit that America does, except they actually arrest government officials who are too corrupt.
Yeah, if you don’t do any political activism, and you don’t say things that are unapproved too loudly, and you don’t end up at one of those slave labor (BYD) or corpo plants with the suicide netting, then you can certainly get by with the way things are.
But political activism and freedom of speech and the bill of rights is also how we make things better. Without those, and without people who fought for those, we wouldn’t have “the weekend” as a concept.
And with how much efficiency has risen over the last hundred years, we should be able to do better than just the weekend.
Yeah, if you don’t do any political activism, and you don’t say things that are unapproved too loudly, and you don’t end up at one of those slave labor (BYD) or corpo plants with the suicide netting, then you can certainly get by with the way things are.
Is this America or is this propaganda about what China is supposed to be like?
But political activism and freedom of speech and the bill of rights is also how we make things better. Without those, and without people who fought for those, we wouldn’t have “the weekend” as a concept.
China also has the concept of the weekend…
And with how much efficiency has risen over the last hundred years, we should be able to do better than just the weekend.
But we live under capitalism, so the most likely result is that the weekend is going to only be for those born wealthy.
Secret police and propaganda: The Chinese agents spying on expats in US 16 May 2026 - bbc.com
So on one hand, I have propagandists who I know have been lying to me for years.
On the other hand I have friends over to my house who occasionally talk about China, and say that while its not particularly amazing, its really not much worse than growing up poor and black in America (and we live in areas of America that aren’t batshit).
I don’t think China is some bastion of democracy, but I am increasingly skeptical when Capitalists tell me how awful China is supposed to be…and by “Awful” they mean that China might do the same shit that America does, except they actually arrest government officials who are too corrupt.
Yeah, if you don’t do any political activism, and you don’t say things that are unapproved too loudly, and you don’t end up at one of those slave labor (BYD) or corpo plants with the suicide netting, then you can certainly get by with the way things are.
But political activism and freedom of speech and the bill of rights is also how we make things better. Without those, and without people who fought for those, we wouldn’t have “the weekend” as a concept.
And with how much efficiency has risen over the last hundred years, we should be able to do better than just the weekend.
Is this America or is this propaganda about what China is supposed to be like?
China also has the concept of the weekend…
But we live under capitalism, so the most likely result is that the weekend is going to only be for those born wealthy.