this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2023
2 points (100.0% liked)

askchapo

22756 readers
466 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try [email protected] if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Okay, so background: I'm your average pro-gun fuck-the-police, fuck-trump zoomer honed by years of unsupervised internet access and I've just discovered this community and started lurking for a while. But I still hold extremely negative views on China, which I still think are justified.

"Which views?" I'll throw them out real quick: child labor! internet censorship! media censorship! anti-LGBTQ! uygher genocide? positive and pro war relations with russia! (because fuck putin)

So I get really confused anytime I see people expressing pro-China sentiments. Have I been spoonfed by the media or are some of these points actually justified?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Adding to the point about censorship:

The reason the topic of "censorship" is seen as such a taboo in Western countries is because of the belief in the "free marketplace of ideas", a fundamental pillar of liberal democracy and liberalism in general. The idea that, if you just let everyone give their opinions and arguments, the free marketplace of ideas will ensure that only the best ideas prevail and society will improve as a result. From the liberal's point of view, bad ideas would be filtered out anyway so censorship is unnecessary and only serves to suppress free thought.

Of course, this is nonsense. The "free marketplace of ideas" only exists in a fantasy world where everyone is arguing in good faith and is expressing their differing ideas with the genuine intent of making life better for everyone. Right-wing rhetoric, however, consists exclusively of bad faith arguments and outright lies. They have no intentions of improving society, they want to enforce their imaginary hierarchies where they are at the top and you do as they say. Their ideas are worthless and harmful through and through, but they appeal to the selfish, fearful parts in many of us that kinda like the idea of naturally being more "deserving", simply "better" than others.

It's like if I offered you heroin and a nutrient bar and told you "You get to choose your future diet, but you have to try both to give each a fair chance." One is clearly better, but many would still choose the other after being exposed to it.

Right-wing ideas are harmful and worthless. They are not presented in good faith and should, in fact, be censored.