Slums were not uncommon in Chinese cities a few decades ago, from the precarious working class districts of 1930s Shanghai to the shanty towns of British-occupied Hong Kong in the 1950s onwards. How did China manage to develop in a way that decreased mass housing precarity? What are the structural reasons behind it?
I do wonder how much longer that will last though, eventually, it will be impossible to pull the wool over the people’s eyes. I feel like when that happens, the narrative will shift from “They are worse than us” to “They are the reason things are bad.”
I think we’re already starting to see the narrative starting to fail. Most young people are completely disillusioned about capitalism at this point, and it’s only a matter of time before most people start questioning the narrative about China. Once you realize that everything else you’re told is a lie, then it’s not a big leap to realize that maybe what you’re told about China is also false.
Indeed, though I don’t know if I could be considered a “young” person, watching the Hong Kong protests was a big moment of self awareness for me, as everything the west was saying about them were outright lies. It made me question everything else they say too.
I don’t know how common this will be in the future though, a lot of people would rather be on the simple, easy to understand “good guy team” rather than spending time and energy examining more complex geopolitical propaganda. A lot of young people who do become socialists tend to fall into Ultra territory, parroting the same lib ideas about China, just replacing the “They are bad because they are communist” with “They are bad because they are capitalist.” It’s quick, easy and dirty, and gets people that rush of feeling like they are “right” and “superior” which is desperately needed in a society that constantly picks away at people’s self-esteem.
Hopefully I’m wrong though, I have met many “I don’t talk about politics” sort of liberals having surprisingly positive views of China, even with some of the most rabid anti-China propaganda in the world being pushed onto our country.
I think the key factor will be the loss of faith in the system. At that point people start having the whole “are we the baddies” moment of self awareness. There will be a lot of turbulence politically, but that’s where communists have to step up and do the work to educate people and steer them in the right direction. Things could absolutely go in into a dark place in the west, but ultimately all we can do is try our best to make sure they don’t and we have to keep at least some optimism that better things are possible.
I do wonder how much longer that will last though, eventually, it will be impossible to pull the wool over the people’s eyes. I feel like when that happens, the narrative will shift from “They are worse than us” to “They are the reason things are bad.”
I think we’re already starting to see the narrative starting to fail. Most young people are completely disillusioned about capitalism at this point, and it’s only a matter of time before most people start questioning the narrative about China. Once you realize that everything else you’re told is a lie, then it’s not a big leap to realize that maybe what you’re told about China is also false.
Indeed, though I don’t know if I could be considered a “young” person, watching the Hong Kong protests was a big moment of self awareness for me, as everything the west was saying about them were outright lies. It made me question everything else they say too.
I don’t know how common this will be in the future though, a lot of people would rather be on the simple, easy to understand “good guy team” rather than spending time and energy examining more complex geopolitical propaganda. A lot of young people who do become socialists tend to fall into Ultra territory, parroting the same lib ideas about China, just replacing the “They are bad because they are communist” with “They are bad because they are capitalist.” It’s quick, easy and dirty, and gets people that rush of feeling like they are “right” and “superior” which is desperately needed in a society that constantly picks away at people’s self-esteem.
Hopefully I’m wrong though, I have met many “I don’t talk about politics” sort of liberals having surprisingly positive views of China, even with some of the most rabid anti-China propaganda in the world being pushed onto our country.
I think the key factor will be the loss of faith in the system. At that point people start having the whole “are we the baddies” moment of self awareness. There will be a lot of turbulence politically, but that’s where communists have to step up and do the work to educate people and steer them in the right direction. Things could absolutely go in into a dark place in the west, but ultimately all we can do is try our best to make sure they don’t and we have to keep at least some optimism that better things are possible.