[tpm]

> So why calibrate your belief meter so unevenly as to reject any positive opinions

Because negative opinions can get you locked up or worse.

> Self-censorship doesn't translate negative opinions into positive ones

In this case you are again simply wrong. It was again quite common in EE from my experience to say something quite positive if one was invited to opine, even if it was a complete lie and fabrication, just to be saved from trouble. And why not? For some people it is easier to say something than to say nothing. Or even staying quiet or not being enthusiastic enough can be understood as dissent. And all that is before we even start to talk about so-called internal enemies, witchhunts so popular in "communist" parties and organizations.

> No one denies self-censorship or persecution happens, it just doesn't happen on a pervasive enough scale to meaningfully collapse public opinion

There is no public opinion. There is only the opinion of the CCP. To have a public opinion would first need to have a public discussion in which various opinions are freely floated, which is not possible.