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this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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It's nothing new, trust me. Lee Kuan Yew is mythologized in High Liberal spaces as the dictator that did everything right - though they often don't mention all the ways in which he had to guard his country against American corruption. He's now being mythologized in Alternative Internet Spaces as one of the Elder Statesmen of the new age, who foresaw and influenced the rise of China and the kind which just 'no longer exists in The West'.
Brainworms may apply depending on the viewer. A liberal might see a sober steward of capitalism, while ignoring all the state driven or anti market things that conditioned Singapore's successes. A reactionary might just succumb to Great Man Theory and worship the guy like a fetish symbol for no reason other than the ways Singapore was/is repressive, while ignoring the whole 'forced multiculturalism angle' that defines its relationship with the public. I'd say that if leftists were to take anything from Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew it would have to be in contrast with how China does things today. Singapore is a city state. That's by definition not a normal country.
The only other time I've seen him was years ago when Mr. House from New Vegas was compared to him.
It's down to how you curate your algo, really. One day you're watching a Yanis Varoufakis video about China, then its a Kishore Mahbubani video about The East, then its western Expats living in China and, finally, you'll get deep enough to get Lectures from LKY. From then on its only going to get worse.
You might innocently watch a video of John Mearsheimer talking about the Ukraine War again. Then you'll see a crop of John Mearsheimer's head floating around war footage. The final step of the weaponification of John Mearsheimer is an AI Mearsheimer talking about how the dollar is worthless and how everyone, including yourself, should buy gold. Now. Use the link below.
The more time passes the closer we get to the abolition of the British Royal Family and the enthronement of an eternal LLM of Elizabeth II but that's neither here nor there.
Yeah I understand that. That's why I noticed this. My tiktok and instagram algos aren't politically charged, and I don't seek out any sort of analysis on those platforms. Getting phonk edits and memes of a dead politician from a far-off country isn't anywhere close to the norm for my algorithms. I don't engage with or really see anything adjacent or adjacent to something adjacent with that.
I think there's something more serious to be said about how uniquely catastrophizing american culture has been for the past 100 years. No empire before the American Empire has so busied itself with its own inevitable end. Movies, books and entire academic careers have crowed about the eventual demise of the United States. This has been ongoing ever since the 'untamed frontier up for grabs' reached the pacific and there was no native or mexican land to redistribute. Often that energy is harnessed in a cynical way too, to spur politics within one talks about the prowess of the Soviets in the high cold war, one envisions a future dominated by Japan in the 1980s and, now, China is at the forefront whenever Israeli demands do not require that the War on Terror be kicked into gear yet again.
So I think there's a strong and even organic demand for videos that confirm certain myths that are baked into internet culture. Goldbugs love videos about the rise of China and dedollarization. Europeans and Americans who are less hostile towards and moreso baffled at the incompetence of local government too add to that demand. And, of course, right wing brainworms will cultivate anything that veers towards 'liberal multicultural pro gay west is dying, the triumph belongs to Russia'. And it's not just westerners either, Asia is very big and has its own contituencies that consume the same things. Hence people like Kishore Mahbubani and Lee Kuan Yew.
I'm probably a year ahead of you because I do watch a handful of interesting commentators often enough and avoiding the chaff doesn't mean my algo will get any better. But I think having a LKY video recommended is only less inevitable than the outright liberal to fascist pipeline that YouTube actively cultivates.