Not gonna lie, being in good faith, the Chinese government having a 90% approval rate looks sus, at least to a Westerner. The West looks at this and shouts “That means they are brainwashed!” which I don’t buy into. Yet that idea that all these anti-imperialist people are just brainwashed really, well, brainwashes a lot of people. How can this be countered?
Americans know they’re being lied to, they’re just not completely sure by whom. If you realize that the liberal media is lying to you you might look for more reactionary stuff as it seems like the only better option. Also, anti-communism is considered by many to be general knowledge similar to say “if you drop a penny from the Empire State Building it can kill someone.” Everyone thinks they know it but they don’t think about it too hard and (many) can be persuaded to the contrary with a certain amount of debunking.
This is a great way to put it. Americans political beliefs really boil down to who they believe is lying to them.
This