>Pretty sure 1.4 billion people believe or have to pretend what I said was incredibly offensive.

I don't give a fuck what someone in China thinks about my speech unless they wanna cyber because I didn't find a date for Halloween.

(At once during COVID I looked across a room and thought "Wait, weren't you at Defcon? It's exactly what it looks like -- call whatever agency you wish, it won't change my behavior one bit."

>Plus many powerful entities outside of the PRC who depend on it for some, a lot or all of their wealth, production, whatever.

Power is relative. I remember having a horrible time one semester -- the professor sometimes would answer questions back and forth in just Mandarin. That, paired with the fact I was being given a bunch of coursework that basically covered concepts I already knew, which cut into research time (the whole point of a PhD) made me want to drop out.

Then again, at least that guy could actually hack -- I'd meet a ton of professors who published something decent ten plus years ago, sucked at teaching too, and were just kind of... coasting along... alongside the ones who actually gave a damn about both the research and teaching.

(And then people went and used their precious vote I fought so hard for... and voted in the fascist I'd been fearing since 9/11. I was one of those kids they were scared would "pull a Columbine". Then it became "you should join the military or something". And lately it's been "misunderstand your posts on the internet because everyone who would have been a cop is now a therapist or a psych nurse who knows what a 'business decision' is from NPR.)