Note: Sorry to make this long post, but I will refer back to it in other places rather than spend too long with too many replies everywhere etc.
My friend,
for westerners it certainly is.
I do not judge in some absolute way...I would simply have to grow up in China and be Chinese myself to get full perspective on how the system there genuinely is....both good and bad and all grey in between. But then catch 22 is then likely I would come at the western system from another perspective as well (When attempting to compare), and same issue applies in reverse.
We can only have one life going on at a moment, and in my case, I have interacted the most with western system. So how can I really know to judge from Chinese perspective? The psyche of different people and societies counts for so much in the end. But its also what people dont try to understand, but rather simplistically attack others on because its different. I see it the case when Chinese members here also fall for it, they dont take criticism well...and can go after say my home-country (India) on things like "caste", but they dont know one iota about it up and close at long enough timeframe to say such things....simply they have no experience of the reality.
If things are fed to others about China through faulty media system etc so we dont get good complete picture, does it not apply other way around too? Must simplistic take be countered by another counter-simplistic take....rather than just simply calling it out as simplistic?
If you are
truly strong and confident, do you need to say so repetitively when someone criticizes you? Does the Sun have to say its bright....or just simply be? Chinese members here need to know this I feel....they get too drawn into same old bait with same old characters here....and it somewhat runs counter to their message. It just adds noise and cringe.
Anyways, what I have more broadly understood is its important to always maximise the amount of
communication, context and credibility you have personally. BTW this applies to Chinese people (and anyone tbh) in the relevant directions too.
Communication; simply learning the other's language. From that so much insight is gleamed that is hidden before. People open up to you that otherwise would not have....you can listen and learn more, even from casual conversation. This is major reason why I am focusing in improving my Chinese in my spare time....simply I hit the barrier on how much I can learn based on English knowledge (and limited spoken cantonese) only...but my interest is much larger past it.
There is much hidden psyche/ego effect that is strongly entrenched with English being the official international language by far....and others having to learn it....but not much going in other directions (though that is starting to change slowly).
This is completely ignored by most people.
Context; What is the history of the people? Not just the last 10 or 20 years but last 100 or 200 years (since we do have generational context carryover for quite a while everywhere) and in fact as long back as you can care to study is best (And as much perspectives and viewpoints as possible). Many if not most people avoid this altogether...and they are much poorer for it. Yet they stand ready to debate they say.
Examples are how (e.g western liberal) people simply think/assume Communism makes USSR and China some kind of monolith in how society functions and thinks.....because they simply have no idea about the context of what China faced in pre-communist era for a century or two....because simply put they are too lazy to put in effort to learn...or simply they prefer living in bubbles and let others do the "thinking" for them....they prefer just to join in when it comes to forming a mob.
This has much contextual carryover to why the "flavour" is very different in China, and inevitably optimised to something deeper in China over time. 99% people outside China do not understand China (given civilisational heritage) is far greater inertia than simply "Communism". Most of Chinese greatness they come across is just tokenism and a few names and words. They for example do not read up the body and pursue to the fault lines and weaknesses (thats true of any civilisation history)...to add depth and actual meaningful understanding.
Credibility; Basic attitude from upbringing (when you were most mold-able and elastic). The more fake ego + hypocrisy you have, the worse your credibility is. Lot of people are perceptive to it (and generally these are ones I spend time on in the end, and make friends and acquaintance with), others simply have no idea (and likewise opposite for me, I avoid). This cannot be taught in later years (people are just hardened and set in their ways 99.9% of the time by then).
Things like its best to SET an example on something yourself first (and let others be drawn to you) rather than try MAKE an example out of others...especially on something you are not yourself. I see this latter disease taking and forming new grandiose shape in the West, it is getting quite unsettling and uncomfortable to me on some deep issues now that are surfacing...because politicians and elite were busy growing their ego and hypocrisy after cold war ended and with no grand enemy, blame-mobs start to form and grow....but I will see for myself how it all goes.
I have to make my stand here given I invested much pain and toil and there is much I love here...but I wont wish ill on China out of angst/desperation or over-judge (from limited viewpoint) like I maybe once did. Thats what a hypocrite coward does (blind to what has transpired in places they live from their own doing/inaction)....and that is simply the most repugnant thing to me alongside blind-hate.
@GeraltofRivia @rott @casual @Signalian @Oscar @Chak Bamu @VCheng @Indus Pakistan @OsmanAli98 @Joe Shearer @Genesis @serenity
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