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Come on. That's patently not true. Seriously. I'm born Chinese and my family is Chinese. We were never "trained". I'm highly critical of the Chinese government
by hangonhn 7y ago
Come on. That's patently not true. Seriously. I'm born Chinese and my family is Chinese. We were never "trained". I'm highly critical of the Chinese government (though I left fairly young) as are some members of my family. Some of them were born and raised there. Come on. Stop it with the stereotypes. People are complicated and have multitudes.
"People are tauhgt to think of themselves as completely the same as their government."
No seriously no. We aren't robots nor idiots.
"This of course allows the PRC to do whatever it wants without any complaints from the people because any thoughts against the PRC is tantamount to being anti-chinese. "
Even at the height of the Mao era there were still dissent even when it could cost you your life.
"Thus when chinese people see anything that goes against the PRC they take it as a personal insult to themselves."
It depends though, doesn't it? Are the charges being leveled fair within the context they're being viewed? Not everything in Western media is completely fair, reliable, etc. I mean, just read the articles written by the media when it comes to technology. They miss a lot of the nuances.
Is it really surprising that nationalism has an effect on people? You don't think Americans do that? Remember that fervent anti-French sentiment in some parts of the US when they criticized our invasion of Iraq? You don't think the fetishization of the military in US media is a form of propaganda? What about singing of the national anthem at NFL games? China does very similar things but perhaps more frequently. These pro-nationalist sentiments are fanned much more subtly than you've described it.
- frank_nitti 7y agoYou don't really have to look much further than the US public opinion and media messaging on Israel to verify that there is a double standard in place here. Is criticizing a government's actions tantamount to racism against the people under that government's rule, or is it not? Phrase the question around China or Israel, and you will get two different responses from many people.
- tossAfterUsing 7y ago> (though I left fairly young) how is it reasonable to take your anecdote as a decent reference point for somebody who has grown up in china, speaking mandarin, and learning about the world through CCP-funded public schooling?
- bgee 7y agoIt's very reasonable to take that anecdote as a decent reference. I grew up in China, speak Mandarin and mostly learned about the world through CCP schools. Most of the kids and their family (and even teachers) are critical of CCP.
- hangonhn 7y agoIs it any less reasonable than someone claiming the totality of Chinese culture consists of blind obedience to a political party? He's claiming this kind of indoctrination starts at a young age. If that's the case I would have seen some of that. Also, as I've stated, a good chunk of my family are born and raised in China and some still live there. They're not all of one opinion when it comes to the government. Is it reasonable to believe 1.3 billion people are as one dimensional and robotic as the GP makes it sound?
- pertymcpert 7y agoIt’s an extremely common viewpoint though, from personal experience.
- thorwasdfasdf 7y agoI've always noticed: Even if a chinese person is critical of the chinese gov they will never say that when speaking to a non-chinese (unless it's your husband/close friend), nor speak of it out loud.
- Apocryphon 7y agoYeah, why don't you ask people from Hong Kong- not to mention Tibet or Xinjiang.