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>>did people suddenly come to this realization? Yes I think the American government was somewhat surprised by the fact that another country can run such an eff

>>did people suddenly come to this realization? Yes I think the American government was somewhat surprised by the fact that another country can run such an effective media machine within their own country and it took a really long time to react to this. It's as if they woke up one day to discover that most Americans watch Al Jazeera as their main news source instead of a domestic channel that can be controlled or influenced more easily.

kelseyfrog 4y ago
Hmm, I guess it's just that establishing China as a memetic threat is an admission that the marketplace of ideas was itself an illusion crafted to appease, contain, and diffuse critique and wouldn't that be a kicking out a sort of load-bearing idea for a lot of people? I suppose I'm having a hard time grasping at how letting the cat out of the bag could be contained to just China, but maybe I'm missing something. It feels like it's a perfectly logical conclusion to say, "The ability to control the narrative ideas stops at existential threats to the US government and it's economic hegemony." Doesn't that sort of seem like a totalitarian stance? Maybe that's more acceptable to people than I thought?