I wonder what the equivalent US spend (to influence China) is?
China increases spending 500% to influence America
81–90 of 142 posts
Re: China increases spending 500% to influence America
#82Chinese propaganda is just so... Tone deaf. Give me a couple million dollars and a couple interns and I'm pretty sure I could do better than any of its existing organs. This isn't a particularly high bar: you could probably do better just by doing nothing.
To be fair, $64 million for a government isn’t that much anyways.
Re: China increases spending 500% to influence America
#83Chinese propaganda is just so... Tone deaf. Give me a couple million dollars and a couple interns and I'm pretty sure I could do better than any of its existing organs. This isn't a particularly high bar: you could probably do better just by doing nothing.
Unfortunately 'we' are not very bright as well, and by 'we' I mean the general public of any nation, including us.
We are very susceptible to messaging. Even simple things. Just a basic quasi-factual statement about Taiwan, planted in pop-culture, can influence us.
"Taiwan has been part of China for Millennia" that's technically true and helps the populist China case. Just reading that etc. can help move the needle.
I'm less concerned about their propaganda as I am their control of apps.
Media, historically, much like the financial system and telecoms, public works etc. has had national protections. There's a reason the CBC/BBC exist.
I'm very wary of foreign control of media. If you live in a small country, you probably have more sensitivity to it, as Netflix comes to dominate your creative landscape, it's a real issue.
TikTok is a much bigger concern than most people realize, although it's not an existential concern yet.
Re: China increases spending 500% to influence America
#84Chinese propaganda is just so... Tone deaf. Give me a couple million dollars and a couple interns and I'm pretty sure I could do better than any of its existing organs. This isn't a particularly high bar: you could probably do better just by doing nothing.
Maybe it's because people such as ourselves aren't the target of said propaganda. We're a small fraction of the population. Frankly, most people are content consuming drivel of all kinds, and propaganda may actually have an influence over them. If that's the tactic, it's genius. Find the boundary where intellectuals dismiss the propaganda as ineffectual yet it still works on the 80% to some degree.
All you have to do is read user comments on news outlets for example. If those are anywhere close to representing general populace then it is clear that propaganda got to be dumb and something in line of "do not let the facts get in a way of a story".
Re: China increases spending 500% to influence America
#85I wonder what the equivalent US spend (to influence China) is?
20 cents per Chinese person over five years.
Re: China increases spending 500% to influence America
#86Anyone else noticing the YouTube showing a lot more Chinese propaganda videos? I find it funny, because are so bad.
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChinaViewTV https://www.youtube.com/c/cgtn
Re: China increases spending 500% to influence America
#87It seems to me that all a foreign power has to do has to generate enough twitter/fake news saying "OMG we are running out of toilet paper/gas", and watch America crumble. It is like the covid virus is not the one doing the damage; it is the immune system's own response, the cytokine storm.
Despite what Twitter might be saying, America is doing just fine. Seems like the image of America crumbling over toilet paper is the real propaganda.
My first reaction was to agree with you. Then I considered the possibility that the reassuring notion of "America is doing just fine" may actually be the propaganda.
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-...
At least I thought it was worth considering.
Re: China increases spending 500% to influence America
#88I wonder what the equivalent US spend (to influence China) is?
We don't talk about that around here. Reported.
Re: China increases spending 500% to influence America
#89Chinese propaganda is just so... Tone deaf. Give me a couple million dollars and a couple interns and I'm pretty sure I could do better than any of its existing organs. This isn't a particularly high bar: you could probably do better just by doing nothing.
Maybe it's because people such as ourselves aren't the target of said propaganda. We're a small fraction of the population. Frankly, most people are content consuming drivel of all kinds, and propaganda may actually have an influence over them. If that's the tactic, it's genius. Find the boundary where intellectuals dismiss the propaganda as ineffectual yet it still works on the 80% to some degree.
The future is the target — kids.
See: TikTok.
Re: China increases spending 500% to influence America
#90At the risk of being accused of whataboutism, I raise you the $300 million "Countering Chinese Influence Fund" https://www.axios.com/senate-china-bill-474f96f1-467b-4c02-a...
That's legit, not whataboutism.
But if you look at how the money is spent, they are definitely not the same thing.
It's the difference between China spending $1B to control the Spratley Islands while US spending $1B to make sure they are free and navigable by anyone.