this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
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Just because they put a number to it doesn't mean you can treat that as some kind of objective measurement.
Nowhere have I done so.
No, there isn't. I'd love to see evidence to the contrary, unfortunately, every time I ask for it, I'm told that I'm a bad person and a fascist for trying to do due diligence in investigating such claims. What evidence I have seen is traced back to either hearsay, or sources directly affiliated with the CIA or US State Department.
As I said, they do some saber-rattling in their part of the world, which in no way compares to all the wars of aggression and slaughter of countless innocents conducted by the US.
When the communists came to power, the people of China were living in an unimaginable state of abject poverty. The fact that China can even be expected to have conditions on par to that of Western countries is a testament to their success. If you went back 20, 40, 60 years, the average Chinese person would be thrilled to see what the country has developed into today.
In the 80's, China enacted reforms and trade agreements that led to Western manufacturing being outsourced to China. This allowed China to industrialize and grow to the economic powerhouse that it is today. Of course, the whole appeal of the deal from the corporate side was that they could pay lower wages than they'd have to pay in the West, but it was still better that what the Chinese workers had had before.
These criticisms make no sense to me at all. Before the economic reforms under Deng, they had no billionaires. So, if that's your problem with China, then do you think they had the right idea under Mao? I doubt it. I don't think it matters at all what China does or doesn't do, anti-China people will always find a way to spin it into something negative. Even when they put aside ideological hangups and just look at what they can do to improve the conditions of the country, and succeed at it, they're still bad, just because there are are billionaires now. Of course, the party has taken measures to ensure that they are still accountable to the law and unable to control the government, but when they do that, it's "undemocratic." Literally impossible to win.
Why bother with sources if you're gonna dismiss it as "that's US propaganda" or "just a number". Can't convince someone that doesn't wanna be convinced. 🤷♂️
EDIT: china sounds so awesome and democratic! I'm gonna leave my western country so I can be truly free in china!
You can't quantify democracy and measure it objectively, sorry. The Economist is not the ultimate authority on political philosophy.
You probably shouldn't. While the standards of living have increased substantially under the communists, it's still behind that of most Western countries. It is by no means some kind of workers' paradise.
I just don't want to bomb them.