Everyone thought China was going to turn out all right circa 2008 - 2010 (period under Hu Jintao’s rule).The party was stepping into a period of relative complacency and the citizens enjoyed some degree of personal freedom and healthy pride in their identity as a nation. Many works of fiction, TV shows and movies shown during that period were some of the most thoughtful and progressive since the 1989 crackdown. There was plenty of foreign investment, large expatriate populations in major cities, export volume was stable and so called “cultural contraband” were easy to acquire. For a brief while, it seemed to the idealists that the party was going to make an effort to forge a peaceful transition toward democracy - first on an inner party level and then hopefully national.
And then Winnie the Pooh happened. In the beginning there was plenty of hope placed on him when he ascended to power in 2012, since he was viewed as a “careful” and “rigorous” bureaucrat, someone who was supposed to start reforming the major flaws in the system to improve the potential political and economic timebombs planted during Jiang Zemin’s period of unbridled economic development. For example extreme income inequality, lack of oversight of local officials, corruption, poor food / medicine safety regulations etc.
Instead, all Winnie really managed to accomplish was to surround himself with yes men who would submit to his regressive policies and paranoia. He fashioned himself as some sort of Mao reincarnate when he really had no real foundational claim to his rule (unlike Mao who established the people’s Republic, or Deng Xiaoping who came up with the economic reforms that allowed China to move forward). Yet, to forge this impression of a legitimate ruler, he ended up using some absolutely stupid iron fisted policies that destroyed all the good things China had fostered throughout 30 years of relative prosperity. Instead of trying to make the citizens’ lives better, he installed mass surveillance, total blackout of the arts akin to the cultural revolution and internet policing to silence any dissidence. Instead of trying to improve China’s international standing, he began to establish labor camps for Muslims and fucked up Hong Kong, while hiring a bunch of war hawk idiots to start quarrels with national leaders on Twitter. Instead of truly curbing corruption, he merely fucked over his main political rivals (Bo Xilai, Meng Jianzhu to name a few), and let police brutality run amok (look up death of Lei Yang) and his own yes men to benefit. Instead of improving the Chinese economy, he screwed up HK’s status as the gate between China and the world, created a failed One Belt One Road scheme (really just a big money laundering operation), tries to force an illusion of prosperity through forced redistribution of wealth, while pushing 996 working hours (9am-9pm 6 days a week) on the citizenry to save the economy from his own shitty policies. Instead of moving toward more openness and democratic rule, he said to hell with the constitution and declared himself leader for life in 2018, shelving any morsel of hope for a democratic transition amongst the moderates.
There is so much to rant about regarding this absolute shit for brains of a cunt. But one thing is clear - the guy is a paranoid megalomaniac who is not fit to govern a party, much less a nation. That is the danger of a “benevolent” dictatorship - if you as the governing body even so much as pick ONE bad leader, you could very well be FUBAR.
Edit: This blew up unexpectedly. I don’t understand how anyone would, after reading my brief opinions on the ruling style of a national leader, arrive at the simplistic conclusion that I am an “anti-China racist” or a product of “Pro US propaganda” when I never even performed any comparisons or mentioned the US once in the entire comment.
I also don’t perceive Chinese people negatively. Every nation and culture has its drawbacks that spring from its systemic limitations. These flaws in no way denote that culture to be incorrigible or that its people should experience calamities just because of some cultural traits. The key here is have the balls to identify and acknowledge problems in leadership and policy. If you don’t admit to your flaws how do you expect to improve in a way that is sustainable instead of blooming into unbridled totalitarianism that provides the illusion of power but is actually a paper tiger?
This has nothing to do with the perception of a race or an ethnicity. It has to do with wanting China to become a more “comfortable” society where people can breathe and live with some privacy and individual rights, don’t need to feel a constant state of insecurity about their future, and are not perceived negatively internationally (I want this for the US too). Wealth is actually not everything - the integrity of a citizenry is what brings about national clout. I agree with Lao Tze’s and the Confucian views of government here, that a truly successful governmental body does not need to announce its existence at every turn to keep the peace (no extensive surveillance and private disruption), but rule through reinforcing the sense of social contract and personal responsibility of its citizens. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
tie_dye_guy on December 5th, 2020 at 19:24 UTC »
Semi-relevant question, but anyone know if that's what sickles look like in China?
That handle seems very... Unorthodox...
solderpirate on December 5th, 2020 at 19:51 UTC »
Everyone thought China was going to turn out all right circa 2008 - 2010 (period under Hu Jintao’s rule).The party was stepping into a period of relative complacency and the citizens enjoyed some degree of personal freedom and healthy pride in their identity as a nation. Many works of fiction, TV shows and movies shown during that period were some of the most thoughtful and progressive since the 1989 crackdown. There was plenty of foreign investment, large expatriate populations in major cities, export volume was stable and so called “cultural contraband” were easy to acquire. For a brief while, it seemed to the idealists that the party was going to make an effort to forge a peaceful transition toward democracy - first on an inner party level and then hopefully national.
And then Winnie the Pooh happened. In the beginning there was plenty of hope placed on him when he ascended to power in 2012, since he was viewed as a “careful” and “rigorous” bureaucrat, someone who was supposed to start reforming the major flaws in the system to improve the potential political and economic timebombs planted during Jiang Zemin’s period of unbridled economic development. For example extreme income inequality, lack of oversight of local officials, corruption, poor food / medicine safety regulations etc.
Instead, all Winnie really managed to accomplish was to surround himself with yes men who would submit to his regressive policies and paranoia. He fashioned himself as some sort of Mao reincarnate when he really had no real foundational claim to his rule (unlike Mao who established the people’s Republic, or Deng Xiaoping who came up with the economic reforms that allowed China to move forward). Yet, to forge this impression of a legitimate ruler, he ended up using some absolutely stupid iron fisted policies that destroyed all the good things China had fostered throughout 30 years of relative prosperity. Instead of trying to make the citizens’ lives better, he installed mass surveillance, total blackout of the arts akin to the cultural revolution and internet policing to silence any dissidence. Instead of trying to improve China’s international standing, he began to establish labor camps for Muslims and fucked up Hong Kong, while hiring a bunch of war hawk idiots to start quarrels with national leaders on Twitter. Instead of truly curbing corruption, he merely fucked over his main political rivals (Bo Xilai, Meng Jianzhu to name a few), and let police brutality run amok (look up death of Lei Yang) and his own yes men to benefit. Instead of improving the Chinese economy, he screwed up HK’s status as the gate between China and the world, created a failed One Belt One Road scheme (really just a big money laundering operation), tries to force an illusion of prosperity through forced redistribution of wealth, while pushing 996 working hours (9am-9pm 6 days a week) on the citizenry to save the economy from his own shitty policies. Instead of moving toward more openness and democratic rule, he said to hell with the constitution and declared himself leader for life in 2018, shelving any morsel of hope for a democratic transition amongst the moderates.
There is so much to rant about regarding this absolute shit for brains of a cunt. But one thing is clear - the guy is a paranoid megalomaniac who is not fit to govern a party, much less a nation. That is the danger of a “benevolent” dictatorship - if you as the governing body even so much as pick ONE bad leader, you could very well be FUBAR.
Edit: This blew up unexpectedly. I don’t understand how anyone would, after reading my brief opinions on the ruling style of a national leader, arrive at the simplistic conclusion that I am an “anti-China racist” or a product of “Pro US propaganda” when I never even performed any comparisons or mentioned the US once in the entire comment.
I also don’t perceive Chinese people negatively. Every nation and culture has its drawbacks that spring from its systemic limitations. These flaws in no way denote that culture to be incorrigible or that its people should experience calamities just because of some cultural traits. The key here is have the balls to identify and acknowledge problems in leadership and policy. If you don’t admit to your flaws how do you expect to improve in a way that is sustainable instead of blooming into unbridled totalitarianism that provides the illusion of power but is actually a paper tiger?
This has nothing to do with the perception of a race or an ethnicity. It has to do with wanting China to become a more “comfortable” society where people can breathe and live with some privacy and individual rights, don’t need to feel a constant state of insecurity about their future, and are not perceived negatively internationally (I want this for the US too). Wealth is actually not everything - the integrity of a citizenry is what brings about national clout. I agree with Lao Tze’s and the Confucian views of government here, that a truly successful governmental body does not need to announce its existence at every turn to keep the peace (no extensive surveillance and private disruption), but rule through reinforcing the sense of social contract and personal responsibility of its citizens. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
Princescyther on December 5th, 2020 at 19:57 UTC »
Their name tags make it look like they're all giving the thumbs up until you zoom in a bit.