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The China Cultural Clash

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Re: The China Cultural Clash

#141

Post by shalmanese »

Loughla wrote: post #125
shalmanese wrote: post #101

One thing you learn from spending time studying China is that the Chinese state has an asymmetric advantage in much better understanding the US than the US understands China and being very good at deliberately structuring their systems and policies in a way that consistently exploits the weaknesses in how Western liberal democracies are organized. I think the much bigger story here is how China's state capitalism is…

>they realize China needs the NBA more than the NBA needs China. I was with you right up until this point. How is that?

The NBA is enormously popular in China and an NBA blackout would be catastrophically unpopular. Furthermore, it would be unpopular with precisely the most damaging kind of people, the ones who are largely apolitical but just want politics to not interfere with their daily enjoyments.

There's a common misconception in the West that because China is an authoritarian state, it doesn't need to care about happiness of its citizens which couldn't be further from the truth. The CCP's legitimacy derives from the consent of the governed and the Chinese people know that.

Re: The China Cultural Clash

#142

Post by bigpumpkin »

nostrademons wrote: post #126
zarro wrote: post #41

I see lots of Anti-China sentiment. I would be very careful here into not falling into their deliberate trap of making "The West" China's "Enemy". China in its current totalitarian form needs an "Enemy" to survive, without it, it has to deal with difficult internal questions which will force it to adapt and change - and this what scares them. Totalitarian governments rely on distraction and misdirection of the popula…

I upvoted you for a thought-provoking perspective, but I think you're wrong historically. Most totalitarian governments fail on the battlefield, or they fail when the charismatic leader dies and his heirs are not so charismatic. Think of Genghis Khan, Napoleon, the empires that fell during WW1, the Axis powers in WW2, Libya post-Gaddafi, or Saddam Hussein. Totalitarianism seems to be an effective way to rapidly moder…

Genghis Khan was neither a totalitarian leader nor did he fail on battlefields.

Re: The China Cultural Clash

#143

Post by nefitty »

jimclegg wrote: post #133
CharlesColeman wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Thus the best way "oppose a government that is the sworn enemy of values you regard as precious" is to allow it to face its internal discord without giving it the "enemy" it so desperately needs as ammunition to use against you. If the CCP wants to make the US out as China's enemy, they'll make us out to be their enemy, even if they have to lie and distort to do so. The CCP has near-total control of the PRC's domes…

Lot of truth to the funding sources for HK protests originating in the west even if the protestors believe in what they are fighting for.

Can you share some sources on this please?

Re: The China Cultural Clash

#144

Post by simlevesque »

zarro wrote: post #41

I see lots of Anti-China sentiment. I would be very careful here into not falling into their deliberate trap of making "The West" China's "Enemy". China in its current totalitarian form needs an "Enemy" to survive, without it, it has to deal with difficult internal questions which will force it to adapt and change - and this what scares them. Totalitarian governments rely on distraction and misdirection of the popula…

"If you ignore your bully he'll stop bullying you"

Re: The China Cultural Clash

#145

Post by ummwhat »

dmix wrote: post #35
tpmx wrote: post #4

This article frames this as the US vs China, but it's really been the "Western world" vs China. And the western world has been incredibly naive and uncoordinated when it comes to dealing with China. We've all accepted the incredibly one-sided deal, in some kind of idealistic hope that the Chinese would latch on to "western" values of democracy etc just by trading with us. Edit: World -> Western world.

The US is still special in this context where free speech is really taken to heart and extends to not only dissent against the government but even vile extremely unpopular political opinions are protected ...which is something you don't always find in every western country. For example, in Charlottesville 2017 [1] the local government tried to prevent Neo-nazis from using a park for a protest but ACLU sued the gov an…

I say succinctly "you cannot silence the Americans. They don't know how to shut up".

If the foreigner doesn't feel it, they'll at least find it funny.

Re: The China Cultural Clash

#146

Post by landryraccoon »

zarro wrote: post #41

I see lots of Anti-China sentiment. I would be very careful here into not falling into their deliberate trap of making "The West" China's "Enemy". China in its current totalitarian form needs an "Enemy" to survive, without it, it has to deal with difficult internal questions which will force it to adapt and change - and this what scares them. Totalitarian governments rely on distraction and misdirection of the popula…

> China in its current totalitarian form needs an "Enemy" to survive, without it,

This isn't historically accurate. China mostly been under a centralized authoritarian government since antiquity. In fact, there is a strong argument that China (literally "Center Kingdom" or "Middle Kingdom" in Chinese) became authoritarian because it had no rivals for thousands of years.

By contrast, European nations always were in a community of relatively equal rivals - a society of nations if you will. This rivalry forced nations to be somewhat competitive in terms of meeting the needs of their population, and adapting to new methods or technologies developed by their neighbors since they were always in danger of being overtaken by a rival.

If anything, the existence of strong rival nations weakens the cultural Chinese claim of being the center of the world.

Re: The China Cultural Clash

#147

Post by jolotriage »

VHRanger wrote: post #102
mytailorisrich wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> China in its current totalitarian form needs an "Enemy" to survive Not at all. The whole premise of Chinese policy and the key to the Party's survival is not about fighting enemies. It's simply about developing the country and putting it on an equal footing with the other superpower(s). Even if you watch or read the heavily controlled Chinese media, it's never about fighting anyone or pointing the finger at anyone.…

Ironically the biggest inflection point in China's increase in standard of living was Deng Xiaoping's market based reforms in the early 1970s. This backsliding to authoritarianism under Xi is sure to lower GDP per Capita growth over the medium and long run -- you need inclusive economic institutions for economic innovation and creativity to be fostered.

Mao dealt with most of the large drug distributing organizations pretty effectively. This rehab process played a key role in the future expansion.

Re: The China Cultural Clash

#148

Post by fspeech »

monkbent wrote: post #89
yorwba wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even worse, the search term in the image is "火影" (Naruto, EDIT: the series, not the character; the Chinese name of the series refers to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Naruto_characters#Hoka... ). No wonder they're getting results completely unrelated to basketball.

This was a mistake, since fixed, but even then there are no basketball references

Try火箭队. I got plenty of news results on Baidu.

Re: The China Cultural Clash

#149

Post by emanreus »

Pot, meet the kettle. You're both niggers :)

An amusing tirade but politics and economy tend to go hand in hand, especially when it comes to superpowers. And there are far more brutal examples of it going on as we speak. Blocking access to essential medicine and food comes to mind. Outside the virtue signaling bubble and PR facades the world is a very Machiavellian place.

Re: The China Cultural Clash

#150

Post by Shivetya »

chromaton wrote: post #119

How can we get Tim Cook to make a statement regarding democracy in Hong Kong? Either he refuses, which would be supporting the brutal crackdowns, or he forces China to act as they did like in the NBA case.

Tim only stands up to leaders and governments who cannot cause him physical of financial harm. Pretty much par for the course for many American CEOs but he stands out because how much he touts Apple's stance for rights.
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