> Getting the actual opinion of anyone in China ... is very difficult.
Is it really that different in America (or the "west" in general)? Most of us have become very guarded in what opinions we share in the past few years.
Is it really that different in America (or the "west" in general)? Most of us have become very guarded in what opinions we share in the past few years.
The difference is that expressing an opinion to another American abroad just means you cant sleep with them. It doesn't cause the federal or municipal police to track down your family for intimidation, or the private sector to galvanize excision of them either. For the individual that voiced there is just a small risk of being disassociated with the person you said something to, and if it was digital there is a small risk of getting fired or disassociated from institutions you were a part of. Very small risk. Maybe greater over the following decade, for something you said now.
Of course us western, middle-class white people think we're free, we think what we have is normal. Nothing's prodding us to question the status quo.
I think you extrapolated waaaaay more than either of us were talking about beforehand. We're talking about the comparisons to what happened in the article.
Its a tricky discussion since many of us want to make these comparisons between the countries, its very tempting to, but without narrowly tailoring the conversation it just derails everything.