Comment by nailer | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nailer | Hacker News Reader

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I have a very close friend from mainland China and we talk frankly about politics.

There's a video that went viral on Weibo a couple of months ago.

- A mainland Chinese girl is destroying HK independence posters at a HK university.

- A Honkinese girl admonishes her for destroying the posters, as they are free speech.

- The mainland Chinese girl says that free speech means that since the Honkinese girl can put up posters the mainland Chinese girl can destroy them

- The HK girl says that the mainland Chinese girl can put up her own posters if she wishes.

In mainland China, the view is: that the Chinese girl speaks better English than the HK girl and makes an excellent point about how she's allowed to tear down the posters if the other girl can put them up because that's what free speech means.

This isn't ironic, it's what people think and that's why the video was popular: because the mainland girl spoke great English, made what seems like a good point, and defended Chinese integrity.

Close friend mentions that re: democracy, the people don't have any will at all: they don't really engage with politics. It's someone else's job to lead. You'd want to engage with running the country as much as being a firefighter or running the sewers.

Well, yes, I agree that Chinese people are somewhat lacking in critical thinking since so much policies are straight from the government and people just follow. It is very different from HK and US. In fact I think that's the main reason why the government's policies are so successful.

If more and more people are travelling abroad and absorbing this idea of free speech, the society would eventually transform and embrace the idea. However, critical thinking has to be there first, with majority of the people capable of making informed decisions, not like the reaction to the video you mentioned.

I would be wary of deriving social conclusion from trends in social networks.

>It's someone else's job to lead.

i suppose it's my western point of view that makes me view this sentiment as blisteringly immature, if that is indeed what most chinese actually think.

the stewardship of your country is always your job as a human being... even if you deny the responsibility, your country will act on your behalf, which means that you must control your leadership.

if nobody else is fit to lead, it's your job.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13203027

This summaries my points on the relationship between people and the government.

Quite frankly, seems like are chugging the kool-aid.

If the government is so trustworthy and so eager to please why do they need to take political prisoners at all?

This strikes me as extremely confused. Chinese society is thousands of years old and has survived dynasty after dynasty, revolution after revolution. Perhaps their personal exit from politics is more earnest accumulated wisdom than blisteringly immature sentiment.

Contrast with your statement on stewardship, duty, and responsibility. What is behind this besides sentiment?

The society has survived with some level of cultural continuity. A lot of people died in those revolutions and the falling of those dynasties, though. The "wisdom" that China learned from that is "do everything possible to prevent a revolution or a change in dynasty". A better wisdom might be "make the transitions easier so that they don't have to be violent". Peaceful transitions via election are an example of this.

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