And yet 900 million people fail to overthrow their supposedly oppressive government? They're in on it.
My favorite artist of my entire lifetime (I consider him to be the greatest artist of the past 100 years, hands down) is Ai Weiwei. I flew to Prague (from the US) with the express intent of making his exhibit the centerpiece of a vacation there in 2017. The man is a living treasure to all of humanity. (I'm sure others will view my opinion of him to be absurdly inflated, but that's my subjective opinion.)
For the crime of speaking out on CCP corruption and being somewhat famous, he was put under house-arrest and also directly detained for long periods of time. He's just an artist, not a soldier or revolutionary.
What are they going to use to overthrow their government? What weapons do they have access to? How can they communicate when all internet traffic is directly controlled by CCP via infrastructure?
They are not "in on it", even if many play the role of "useful idiots" the same way jingoistic Americans do when our government fans the flames of war, like Iraq in 2003.
Our Chinese brothers and sisters deserve compassion and bravery, not the typical hand-waving and continuance of a relationship of convenience where the West gets cheap goods/labor while the Chinese citizens are crushed under the boot of a government that allows them no say in their destiny.
I'm not foolish or naive enough to think that the US is remotely a true democracy/republic, but at least here we don't jail our dissenters without any form of due process. And when those forms of due process fail, we have the ability to speak out about them without getting jailed or having family members threatened. The same goes for the EU.
I had a rather naive and complacent attitude towards the CCP until I travelled there, and more recently when a close friend of mine had her father in Beijing die early in the COVID pandemic. The authorities there claimed he didn't die of COVID, but it was blatantly obvious to all involved that his symptoms matched it. But at that point in time, the CCP's official talking point was that they had successfully contained COVID in Wuhan, and therefore the realities weren't allowed to be discussed. She had to speak in code with her family members over the phone. It's very hard for westerners who have never been there to understand the oppressive atmosphere that is present there. It's a very, very odd mix, because this oppressive atmosphere is overlaid on the unyielding optimism of the booming economy and the utterly wonderful and brilliant Chinese citizenry. They deserve far, far better than their current government, in my opinion as a foreigner.
Why can’t the Chinese?
Nothing worse than has happened to dissenters in every single country on the planet that overthrew absolute monarchy with farming implements throughout history.
Short of military intervention, now impossible due to nuclear war, it is the duty of every nation's citizens to democratize their government, or else they are complacent and enabling. And hey, I get it, rebellion is scary. Compliance is comforting, relatively speaking. But don't demand pity points if you choose to accept subjugation.
How willing are you, you personally, to forfeit your possessions and livelihood? Are you willing to die for the cause? Would you accept a death that doesn't result in a victory or martyrdom? Calling on other people to start a rebellion/revolution is easy, especially when you live in a comfortable state and have nothing on the line.
>"And hey, I get it, rebellion is scary."
This is particularly arrogant and condescending. How in the world would know anything about the fears people living under an authoritarian regime have about their own government's treatment of dissenters? Yes, it is very scary to rebel against a government accused of running concentration camps and one that makes high profile people (even billionaires) disappear. But I suppose these potential dissenters just need to be reminded that they need to be more brave, like you!
>"But don't demand pity points if you choose to accept subjugation."
Subjugation isn't a choice. Well, maybe it isn't if you consider suicide an alternative to subjugation. I suppose all those child slaves in the Congo chose to accept it and therefore deserve no pity points. I mean, they could rebel against their subjugation at any time, right?
...after successfully overthrowing two competing monarchies, winning a civil war and defending against invasion? Heck yea I'm comfortable and my people bloody earned it.
To say there's nothing on the line is an absolute disregard to world politics. Have you read the news lately? Basically nothing would bring about world peace faster than a chinese democratic revolution, hopefully accompanied by a russian one.
> How in the world would know anything about the fears people
Why would you assume that I don't? Fear is a very universal human emotion. You appear to be assigning some sort of special consideration to these people, as if their particular blight is somehow exceptionally elevated beyond the understanding of mere mortals.
> But I suppose these potential dissenters just need to be reminded that they need to be more brave, like you!
Considering how littered history is with people rallying behind individuals who simply encouraged them, yes, that's incredibly actionable advice.
> child slaves in the Congo
You realize you are comparing an entire industrialized nation of people to children?
> Subjugation isn't a choice. Well, maybe it isn't if you consider suicide an alternative to subjugation.
And yet here we are, freely and openly discussing this after our ancestors succeeded in rejecting their subjugations ultimately without perishing.
You really should look up Gandhi. He freed all of India from British slavery literally by just saying "no" and taking one for the team. He was assassinated, sure, but India is now a democracy.
I'm saying there is nothing on the line for you. You, you personally, have nothing to loose. So it's exceedingly easy for you to expect other people to make the sacrifices you will never face.
>"somehow exceptionally elevated beyond the understanding of mere mortals"
Again, it's beyond understanding for you, someone living with a cushy job in a nice democratic country who has nothing to fear from their own government.
>"rallying behind individuals who simply encouraged them"
There is some cognitive dissonance here, do you really think they need encouragement while also claiming they are at fault if they don't start a revolution? It also seems like an oxymoron that a situation would be intolerable, but people would also need encouragement to do something about it.
>"after our ancestors succeeded in rejecting their subjugations ultimately without perishing."
This is survivorship bias, more rebellions and revolutions failed than succeeded. And still, plenty of people who participated died, regardless of outcome. You're taking credit for your ancestor's success and claiming it would be just as easy for modern folks to do the same, despite the situations being VASTLY different.