It’s Impossible to Discuss China Without Being Political

We have to wade through a pile of BS just to reach a point of humanity

There are essentially two types of people when it comes to Western opinion on China: those who outright hate China and Chinese people, and those who say “Chinese people are not their government”. While the first is blatantly toxic, the second might potentially be even more harmful to productive discourse in the long run. The reason for this is that the Chinese government and its people being two separate entities is a false dichotomy.

We can easily compartmentalize our views of China into: 1) a society of good-hearted people doing the best they can under an 2) evil authoritarian government out to oppress and control said people for personal gain, and then empathize with the first group. But then how do we explain the fact that the Chinese government enjoys vast popular support, much more so than the US or any Western democracy for that matter? 🤔

There seems to be a missing piece of the puzzle here…

Ah yes, that missing piece is the fact that we, despite being good-hearted people with empathy for others, are still being flooded with extremely biased media on a daily basis, created by people who are neither good-hearted nor have empathy for others. This biased media has created an impression in our minds of the Chinese government which is a skewed monstrosity compared to what it really is.

So when I suggest talking about China without getting political, it’s not because I want to ignore oppressive or abusive aspects of their system; it’s because I believe by looking at the human aspects of Chinese society, and potentially interacting with Chinese people and seeing them as humans, we might be able to wake up to the fact that many of our preconceptions are wrong.

But I’m finding that this is too idealistic an approach.

I never wanted to be a “debunker” of misinformation, but after explicitly calling out the phenomenon of rampant media bias and the widespread exploitation in our popular narratives to force us to buy into a political agenda (one might call this… propaganda), I still have people responding to me citing those alleged abuses (which are products of said propaganda media and not real-world events) as reasons for which they have a hard time NOT seeing China politically. So there are several intertwined layers here, all of which together make it very difficult to avoid the political aspects completely. In turn, I have been prompted to respond to these politics-related comments one by one, addressing the misinformation and engaging in that debunking that I had originally hoped to avoid by urging people to see China apolitically and in doing so hopefully arrive at the truth on their own. Therefore, I have ultimately decided that debunking is an inextricable prerequisite to any attempt at rationally discussing China (even the nonpolitical aspects).

So rather than having to address all the political accusations or arguments on a case-by-case basis, I have decided to compile a comprehensive resource of information where I can refer people if they bring up any of the alleged things going on in China, all of which have been grossly misrepresented if not wildly blown out of proportion by the time it reaches our eyes and ears, whether deliberately or due to human error (but mostly, nay, almost entirely, deliberately). My goal in doing this is not to push a pro-Chinese political agenda. I couldn’t care less whether you support China’s government or not. My goal in doing this is to 1) call attention to the existence of the vast and deep misconceptions we in the West have of many countries in this world and the subsequent need for a revised worldview based on some infallible principles of human nature and understanding of the way the universe works, and to 2) make my own life easier, so that I don’t have to address each issue individually each time it is brought up, allowing me to get to the stuff I am actually interested in: the adventures, the stories, my own personal experiences traveling and living in China — the rich history, culture, language… all the amazing sights to be seen, foods to be eaten, and people to meet there.

Basically, I am carving out a tunnel through this mountain of sinophobia and fabrication so that we can override the BS and get to the real substantial stuff: HUMAN EXPERIENCES. At the end of the day, I don’t give a rat’s @$$ about politics. I’m interested in the adrenaline rush of seeing and experiencing new things, and I would love nothing more than to enable others to experience that feeling for themselves. Put another way, my goal is to make people aware of the opportunities to fulfill themselves and awaken parts of their soul they never knew existed.

Let’s drop the politics. Join me on the other side of this mountain of 💩 so we can embrace the wonder of the world, together.