[ted_bunny]

You sure aggressive propaganda and espionage from the west aren't part of the reason for it? What sort of "cognitive capture" is necessary to maintain control of their population right now? The Chinese are often painted as brainwashed ideological drones in the west, and it says more about us that we tend to believe it than it does about them. You can download RedNote and talk to people in Xinjiang. You can travel there and talk to people in person. Mao is arguably deceased.

[conception]

Then why does the Chinese government have a blacklist of topics not allowed to be talked about/recorded?

[ted_bunny]

Yeah, I guess you're right. I play devil's advocate frequently enough that I forget I'm doing it. I just hate to see a dogpile, because the criticisms tend to go to extremes. People talk about a lot of asian cultures like they're brainwashed bugmen and those narratives serve dangerous interests.

The West is losing its edge on free speech and thought anyway. Criticize Israel in Germany, misgender someone in Canada, say a mean word to someone invading your house in the UK, and see what happens. And it's not going to get better anytime soon.