In the U.S. this is called 'American exceptionalism'.
I swear people don't understand how good we have it in the West and how differently people think in China when they are subject to fervent brainwashing from birth. It is extremely difficult to even think to question the government when you have been explicitly and implicitly conditioned from birth to tow the line. Ask a Chinese national coworker about Coronavirus right now and how things are going there and watch them not even flinch when they tell you that everything's fine and under control - just know that if you do so you are putting them on the spot. They are so used to having their digital and in person communications monitored that they wouldn't risk even telling you the truth in person.
In my WeChat feed, I've seen a lot of panic about not being able to buy face masks or Shuanghuanglian and other kinds of traditional medicine, as well as outrage about the city of Dali intercepting shipments of face masks destined for other regions. "Everything's fine and under control" looks more like a minority opinion. Of course that could be biased by me attracting a certain kind of people, but ironically the harshest critics of the government in this case have been people I think of as "strong China" patriots/nationalists. Turns out they react especially negatively to government failures.
Nobody believes everything's fine. Views of the government are at rock bottom. Trust in the government is zero or negative.
Here are some things that have been said to me (though this is private messages, not public feed posts):
> the government is shit! [2020-01-24, followed by much unsolicited venting about the state of things in Wuhan as reported through unofficial channels]
> 我觉得这次的疫情好像已经时空了 [I think it looks like we've already lost control of this epidemic] [2020-02-05]
> 封闭了小区，外面的人不允许进来。每天还消毒（Me: 内面的人可以出来吗?）可以的，但是要有“出入证” [Our apartment complex has sealed itself, outsiders cannot enter. We disinfect every day. (Me: Can insiders leave?) Yes, but you need an exit/entry document] [2020-02-10]
> 如果说，现在社会忽然流传某种说法，然后政府辟谣，然后大家就知道，这个说法是真的 [If a rumor suddenly spread through society, and then the government denied it, everyone would know it was the truth.] [2020-02-10]
Social trust is down too; I also hear rumors of escapees from Wuhan concealing their sickness (this one's easy to believe) and of sick people striking back at the society that failed them by spreading their saliva on elevator buttons and doorknobs.
But she specifically mentioned one guy from her workplace who fell into the "relentlessly negative" camp, always criticizing America if he got the opportunity. She said even he admitted the US did one good thing that deserved the thanks of the Chinese people.
That thing was publishing air pollution numbers based on measurements in American consulates in China.
I usually think about this in terms of the apparently huge diplomatic win it presented for very minor effort, but it also says something about the level of trust in the Chinese government pre-crisis.
The Chinese government is probably keenly aware of the growing discontent and is unlikely to overplay their hand and crack down hard on communications, at least at the moment. For example, they could've decided to block all mentions of Li Wenliang from the Chinese internet (as has happened with many other things in the past), but they haven't, at least not obviously. If they did, I suspect discontent would explode.
Censorship on the topic is apparently being felt. https://www.unz.com/jderbyshire/still-90-chance-coronavirus-...
> Dr Li died on Wednesday or Thursday from exposure to the coronavirus. He leaves behind a pregnant wife and a young child. He is being dramatically mourned on social media sites, faster than the censors can scrub them. [Widespread Outcry in China Over Death of Coronavirus Doctor, by Li Yuan, NYT, February 7, 2020]( https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/business/china-coronaviru... ) There have even been demands he be given a state funeral.
> That bagpipe band playing “Amazing Grace” that I heard while crossing my living-room was a popular nonverbal way to mourn. The censors rely on keywords in text; it takes them longer to figure out nonverbal protests.
1.https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.06.20020974v...
No real idea sorry. I mean things look more transparent than what happened with SARS (which I can get into detail about if you want) and there's way more discussion in various different online venues this time around (more people also have access to the internet), but I don't really think I have a more trustworthy opinion beyond that weak assertion.
And on the ground, well there's a lot of conflicting reports as happens in any major event.
This is the problem, everything is hush hush or online. No one has the _____ to stand up and say this is not right. I'm only contrasting this with democratic govts. (However flawed the system is) have a voice to stand against a govt. This is non existent in China.
What do you even mean by this? Online is how you reach the largest audience, so of course people are speaking out online if they want others to hear what they have to say.
So? Is this going to cause any change in the government's behavior: No.
This is the literal definition of a paper tiger.
Colin Kaepernick was blackballed from the NFL for kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance. Look at what happened to the Dixie Chicks:
> On March 10, 2003, during a London concert, nine days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, lead vocalist Maines told the audience: "We don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States (George W. Bush) is from Texas," which garnered a positive reaction from the British audience but led to a contrasting negative reaction, and ensuing boycotts, in the United States, where talk shows denounced the band, their albums were discarded in public protest and corporate broadcasting networks blacklisted them for the remainder of the Bush years.
It’s not often I feel “pride” for where I was randomly born, but your comment brought a bit of it out through this shift in perspective, thank you.
Corruption exists in the U.S. but thankfully authoritarianism does not (yet).
How do you make this guarantee? The average Chinese citizen I know expects critical comments to be deleted, but getting a visit by the police is rare. I know one person to whom that happened, in the early 2010s. He didn't suffer any major repercussions beyond being told to stop posting like he did.
Equating arbitrary detention, re-education camps and political executions to being boycotted by some TV stations is a shameful farce.
Yes in the west things can go badly wrong, innocent people can get chewed up and hurt much more than a trivial example like the Dixie Chicks. Good grief, that's the best you could come up with? But the Chinese system is based on knowingly trashing people's lives systematically on a massive scale.
Life in other countries can be very different from what you've experienced in the U.S.
Edit, to paraphrase: Why is it any different that control comes top down from a government or from a board of directors of a company?
It's much much harder to move countries, if they even let you.
This supposed option of choice only applies if there is non-monopoly and there is an equal power dynamic between consumers/workers and heads of company. Neither is true of the NFL.
When you're an entertainer, you risk your livelihood by upsetting your fans. That's not government censorship; it's a bad business decision.
A sense of national pride should not trump objectivity.
"See, in America, I am free to do whatever I want. If I wanted to, I could walk right into the White House, slam my fist on the President's desk, and say 'Mr. President, I don't like the way you are running our country.'"
The Russian then said, "I can do the same thing."
"Really? You can?" asks the American.
"Yes," continues the Russian, "If I wanted to, I could walk right into the Kremlin, slam my fist on the General Secretary's office, and say 'Mr. General Secretary, I don't like the way President Reagan is running his country.'"
Sourced from https://upjoke.com/ronald-reagan-jokes
The exceptionalism might be the degree of freedom it allows in thoughts about their own Americanism, and the seeming ability to believe both ends of the spectrum at the same time.
Just like when one sees a big pickup truck festooned with american flags and the pledge of allegiance plastered across the rear window, it's not to express their sheer joy in being American, but to admonish their non-like-minded compatriots for being insufficiently 'American'.