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Originally Posted by JohnnyB
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These are among the reasons I called CaliPanthersFan's comparison with communist soviet union ridiculous, which it is. People living under the centrally planned economy of the Soviet Union dealt with bare shelves, lineups to get necessities, food shortages, poor infrastructure etc. Those that could get to the West would be amazed at the choice and abundance when walking into a store. This is totally unlike the experience of China's middle class. People from Chinese cities traveling to the West now often have the opposite experience, of feeling the consumer culture here is less developed, with less choice, less convenience and lower quality goods. On top of that, they look around at the issues with drug abuse that are so visible, alcohol abuse that is so visible, gun violence, racial tensions etc. and don't see it as desirable. The handling of COVID doesn't make governments like the US or UK look any better either. Most people care more about these things than they care about whether or not they have the right to vote, and even those who aspire to really get rich are often heading back to China now because they feel they can make plenty of money in China while living in a place that's more comfortable for them.
These are among the reasons I think democracy in the US is so at risk now. Democracy has been so poorly cared for that the middle class is beaten down and insecure. There's such a strong sense that the government is not looking out for the average person's interests that a lot of people would actually be fine with an authoritarian government as long it sorted out their basic pains of day to day life. That's what China already has. Most people feel their lives getting better and the middle class has confidence that the government does a good job taking care of them, so they don't care about democracy.
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If this is true, what does that say about the actual people? A nation full of citizens who are contented with their choice of junk that they will ignore egregious human rights violations against millions of their own?
Like, imagine how easy it would be to get rid of those pesky drug abusers and racial tensions in our lives if we were all okay with just rounding up the addicts and indigenous and detaining them in the NWT.
I’m sure it’s more complex than a few paragraphs on a forum. But I’m not willing to excuse a society that will turn its head away from things like the “the repression and systematic abuses of 13 million” minorities on a routine basis because they can buy things.