I have been a lurker here on lemmy for a while and I have hesitantly made an account because I wanted to create a post on politics.
I want to preface this by saying, I lived a childhood being indoctrinated on politics. I was constantly being told that free markets are the pinnacle of human intellect and that free markets (in literally an absolutist way on every aspect of life) is the only way that leads to progress. It honestly took me a while to challenge these beliefs with I attribute to Shaun and Hbomberguy on youtube, and eventually embrace leftist ideas in my personality.
When the recent drama regarding the Uighur muslims occured recently I was a bit let down. I have looked around and saw posts that I understand to be supportive of the CCP in China and other communist states.
So here is my question. Why? Even if we forget about the Uighur, what about the Tianamen square massacre? Is that also false information? China’s tightening grip on hong kong despite being met with resistance from people of Hong Kong, is that also false information? The repercussions of Mao’s leadership? The complete absence of gay and trans rights in modern day China? China being a police state? Is that all false propaganda?
If your answer might be that western states have also failed to protect the interests of common people, I agree. I think western states do see a resurgence of far right movements exactly for this reason. But this is not a comparison of who is the worst.
Why exactly do people here (at least that is what I perceive) turn a blind eye to the brutalities of an authoritarian government such as the CCP?
The main reason is that the lead developers are Marxist-Leninists (aka tankies), and so they attract fellows tankies to join their platform.
Why people hold onto such believes varies from case to case, but I make the following observation:
Political positions are still widely understood as singular dichotomous (left/right), as extremes that oppose each other. If you don’t like what is presented on the one site, you tend to choose what is opposing it. And so does this political compass also present one authoritarian position as a solution for another authoritarian position.
Many grown up in the so called west, have been grown up within a propaganda machine that presents itself as the protectorate for human right. As soon as you begin to research into post-colonialism, their war-crimes, their exploitation through capitalism you’ll notice that it’s nothing but a lie. And then you gonna look for answers why that is, and what alternatives there are.
The so called west has made lot’s of campaigns against communism. While at this point you are well aware that “the west” spreads lies, you might start to study communism.
You’ve grown up in an nationalist reality. Nearly everything is divided among nations with top down command chains. Alternatives to organize society in large scale without such authoritarian tendencies are underrepresented. Even so there are many examples, you don’t learn about them in school and you barley read about them in history books.
Conspiracy theories are attractive, as they present simplified reality that is easier to understand, offer often a clear defined enemy and a solution. They usually also offer an answer if challenged, that will continue to uphold the conspiracy thinking. Once you’re in, it gonna be hard to break through. In terms of tankies, criticism of their ideology often result in answers like: “this is cia propaganda”, “you are a shit lib”.
Conspiracy theories exist because the government’s version is a shameless lie attempting to cover its involvement in risky affairs. People being confused as to what actually happened, stapling cliches and chanting extremist ideas is not unique to this phenomenon, but is the reality of what happens to many people.
If you’re giving an example of something that is one among several reasons why conspiracy theories exists, I agree with you. If not I strongly disagree with you.
Governments are justifying their existence with conspiracy theories. Governments use conspiracy theories to distract and create fear, or to justify an action. Common people create/follow conspiracy theories to find stability and feel superior. Common people create/follow conspiracy theories for personal gains. Common people create/follow conspiracy theories because they present an simple answer. …and many more reasons.
Makes sense, I think this sums it up for me.