Seeing some of the comments made here, I want to add a point about strategy vs. sympathy. Considered doing it as its own thread, but eh.

I’ll try to show what I mean with an example. In another comment in this thread, there’s a story I brought up about the “last emperor of China” and how the CPC reeducated him: https://bsky.app/profile/poppyhaze.bsky.social/post/3lea2lmvmg22j

Let me highlight some things from that story. This is a bluesky thread’s description of it, so I don’t know if the representation is exactly accurate, but it’s for example sake anyway:

Puyi was surprised when the Communists, despite putting him in a reeducation camp, treated him quite well. However, the former emperor couldn’t even brush his own teeth at first, and the other inmates ruthlessly mocked the pathetic creature

So what’s being implied here? He was treated well, presumably in the sense of getting needs met rather than, like, being tortured or neglected or something. However, the other inmates were not nice about his inability to do basic things.

They brought him to the former headquarters of Unit 731 in Pinfang, the Japanese biological and chemical warfare directorate. There he was shown how they experimented on Chinese civilians and then developed diseases and toxins to drop on them.

Then they brought one of his former concubines, who had escaped and since remarried. She denounced him as a rapist who assaulted her to satisfy his own cruel urges and talked about how she was glad to finally have a real family who loves her.

They made him confront what he had done in detail. In his case, I guess he had a conscience, so he was able to be moved by this. But notably, again, not being nice about it. Not sugarcoating, not downplaying or sympathizing on what he did.

Puyi, who had previously deflected all blame for everything, finally came to realize the gravity of what he had done as “Emperor”. In his despair, he became suicidal, but Jin Yuan comforted him, telling him he should write his memoirs/confession. Puyi gradually came to accept communism.

When he showed remorse, he received some comforting and redirection toward rehabilitation.

After 10 years, Puyi accepted the blame for what he had done, and revealed some hidden Imperial jewelry to be returned to the Chinese government. Pleased with his remolding, Mao Zedong provided a general amnesty for all reformed prisoners, and returned a sentimental item, his gold watch.

When he accepted responsibility for his actions and worked to make amends, he received a gesture of goodwill in return.

At no point in this story is there an implication of the CPC bending over backwards to be “nice” to a former emperor. In fact, part of the point was (as the story goes) proving the capability of the CPC/communism:

When the People’s Republic won the Chinese Civil War, the Chinese communists negotiated Puyi’s expatriation back to China. There was some expectation he’d be tried and shot, but Mao and Zhou Enlai had a better idea. They wanted to reform him to prove communism won fair and square.

But they still did it. And it worked. The strategy of it was successful. Consider another example. Iran could make official statements saying that the entirety of the US is shit, that its people are all trash, and should all go to hell. As could many other targets of imperialism. And many here would probably agree they are fully justified in saying such things.

However, strategically, it’s more helpful to their own defense and sovereignty if the regular people of empire don’t buy the lies about them and instead see them as regular, decent people who are trying to defend themselves. If it didn’t matter at all, the empire would not try so hard to create narratives justifying its wars.

This is not the same as Iran sympathizing with the regular living in the imperial core. It’s definitely not the same as Iran sympathizing with members of the US military who are attacking them.

The subject of “enforcers of the empire” can be a very loaded one for very understandable reasons. Just please try to distinguish between strategic talk and sympathy. Between tactics on being persuasive and validating poor behavior. Between delving into the science of how things got to be the way they are and wanting to excuse. We have to be able to keep the two distinct if we are to navigate the contradictions.