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I'm happy to see more headlines about this, because this doesn't seem to be getting the attention it deserves. Here is one account from a camp: > “Xi Jinping
by 07d046 8y ago
I'm happy to see more headlines about this, because this doesn't seem to be getting the attention it deserves.
Here is one account from a camp:
> “Xi Jinping is great! The Communist Party is great! I deserve punishment for not understanding that only President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party can help me,” was one of the refrains that a Uyghur woman who was in a centre last fall, was forced to regularly repeat.
> The woman, whose name is not being used by The Globe and Mail for her protection, was put through regular self-criticism sessions. Part of the content was cultural. “My soul is infected with serious diseases,” she would repeat. “There is no God. I don’t believe in God. I believe in the Communist Party.”
> Other content was more explicitly political. Day after day she would say out loud that she was a traitor, a separatist and a terrorist.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-former-detainees-recount-abuse-in-chinese-re-education-centres/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-former-detaine...
This story was published yesterday:
> She was one of the most revered academics from the Uighur ethnic minority in far western China. She had written extensively and lectured across China and the world to explain and celebrate Uighurs’ varied traditions. Her research was funded by Chinese government ministries and praised by other scholars.
> Then she disappeared.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/world/asia/china-xinjiang-rahile-dawut.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/10/world/asia/china-xinjiang...
- Inconel 8y agoGenuine question for someone with a better understanding of psychology, or the kind of propaganda employed by authoritarian regimes, but what purpose does this serve? I can't imagine you can actually convince someone to suddenly like the CCP or Xi Jinping through something like this. Is it simply a tool to show who's in charge?
- throwando208818 8y agoBingo. In an authoritarian situation it literally doesn't matter if you believe what you're saying. You just say it to get through the day. It's not like a scifi movie where every little thing is monitored, the game is you just don't cause yourself (or perhaps more importantly your pals or family) trouble and try to "get yours" and live something resembling a decent/self-actualized life. For the regime, those kind of performative statements sets a good example & makes the problem go away
- petre 8y agoBrainwashing. They do it starting with preschool. Kids get to sing songs about how great the country, the party and its leader are. It's all quite militarized. In camps like these it's surely worse, their purpose is to break these people. It's psychological torture, not re-education.
- spacehunt 8y agoThey drown you with extremist views so that when you encounter softer but still pro-China views, you'll be more accepting of them because they seem more "reasonable".
- striking 8y agoSome people call this "moving the Overton window": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
- Spooky23 8y agoGaslighting is effective. This is a different more extreme version.