edit: muting this thread, goodbye.

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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    3 days ago

    Your point was that China just imprisons people willy-nilly and thus isn’t democratic, but that’s just not true if we look at the numbers. As for the Uyghur question, no idea, the re-education program seems to be over or nearing completion so I don’t imagine its very high.

    • lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com
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      3 days ago

      You forgot some quotes around “re-education”.

      Uigur question sounds like “Jew question”, which the Nazis named that way and tried to “solve” at the Wannseekonferenz…

      Is there even one entity that classifies or ranks democracies that sees China as an actual democracy? If yes, please give me a link. We all know that China is a one party country. If you disagree with the government, you can be open about it and go to “re-education” 🙃. Alternative: You shut up about it, which is probably what most people do.

        • lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com
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          2 days ago

          You asked a literal question, that’s incredibly dishonest.

          What exactly?


          That’s a survey (quite subjective), but the results is of course interesting. I expected “democracy” to be seen as “bad stuff form the west”…

          It also has a disclaimer in the text:

          A note accompanying the poll results offers a disclaimer, stating that “in authoritarian countries, positive perceptions might result from different conceptions of democracy, high levels of government satisfaction, or fear of speaking out against the government.”

          Would be interesting to see such a survey in Russia or North Korea.

          With “entity that classifies or ranks democracies”, I meant something like this (a more object classification of democracies based on some criteria):

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            2 days ago

            When you asked a question about the Uyghurs, and then connected it to the “Jewish Question” based on how I worded my response. That’s dishonest.

            Why would democracy be seen as “bad stuff from the west?” Do you think Chinese people oppose democracy, or don’t know what it is?

            Finally, “economic democracy” is a measure of how free Capitalists are to do as they please, not the common person. Socialist countries like China and Cuba that place firm restrictions on Capital, or Nationalist countries like Russia that restrict foreign influence over their economies, will always rank lower on a “freedom for Capitalists” index.

            • lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com
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              2 days ago

              When you asked a question about the Uyghurs, and then connected it to the “Jewish Question” based on how I worded my response. That’s dishonest.

              Oh, you meant it like that. I actually interpreted it as “The Uyghurs question”, like some narrative like “The Taiwan question”.

              Do you think Chinese people oppose democracy

              I think, Chinese people are blasted with lots of propaganda, so I would not even wonder me. But if you can make the people think that they live in a democracy, it’s of course not necessary to make it look bad…


              Great… You have successfully criticised one of the rankings I posted. Do you have a different one that is better according to you? I’d even accept a pro Chinese one, I’d like to see it and also to see the criteria used by yours…

              Economist at least makes them transparent:

                  electoral process and pluralism (12 indicators)
                  functioning of government (14 indicators)
                  political participation (9 indicators)
                  political culture (8 indicators)
                  civil liberties (17 indicators)
              
              • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                2 days ago

                It seems to me you were deliberately trying to discredit me, but if you want to deny that, fine.

                I think you are being deeply chauvanistic towards Chinese people. Your argument is that 1.4 billion people are too stupid or uneducated to know what democracy is, despite making up the world’s largest economy (adjusted for purchasing power parity) and is regularly breaking new ground in science and technology. The “brainwashing” narrative is a holdout myth from the Cold War to attempt to explain why the people in Socialist countries supported their systems, but in all reality it holds no water. The people in China support their system because it works.

                If you want to learn about how Chinese Democracy works, here is a good article on it. Or, you can go directly to Chinese state media explaining it themselves.

                • lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com
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                  2 days ago

                  Your argument is that 1.4 billion people are too stupid or uneducated to …

                  No.

                  despite making up the world’s largest economy

                  Not an indicator for “democratic”.

                  The people in China support their system because it works.

                  Well, my view is: They can’t change the system, even if they want to. Their “democracy” (if you want to call it like that) does not offer changing anything that CCP want to have. The people on Tiananmen Square for example did not support the system and… You know… Let’s connect that with the point above: I don’t think, people in China are well educated about that event for some reason…

                  Or, you can go directly to Chinese state media explaining it themselves.

                  I have never in my life seen a Tiktok style CCP propaganda video before, so it was quite… (I don’t know which word to put here)… But yeah, if you tell it to your population like that, they might actually think, that they live in a democracy, although even the video makes clear that ONE party in actually the one in power.

                  I think, the main reasons why people don’t try to lean up against the government is: Because it is very risky and because of some great economic progress during the last decades that moved many people out of poverty, but that does not make the country democratic.

                  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                    2 days ago

                    No, your argument does rely on thinking the people of China are simply too stupid or uneducated about what democracy is. You have no evidence that they don’t know what a democracy is, yet you assume they are all brainwashed and propagandized into not knowing. When all you have are assumptions, this is chauvanism.

                    Please, I don’t think you are intentionally being chauvanistic, but you should re-examine your biases. Even your comment on there being one major party does not mean the system isn’t democratic, the people have a more direct influence on politics than simply choosing parties, like in the US.