• Faalangst_26@feddit.nl
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    2 hours ago

    This is a Dutch investigative piece (English subtitles available) made by the Dutch government funded TV program ‘Nieuwsuur’. Before you start bashing on it for it being biased because the TV program is government funded, a lot of Dutch politicians at the time strongly wanted to increase our trade agreements with China, this item was actively hindering that.

    https://youtu.be/ixdGGZ4Nof0

    I get disliking a lot of the ‘American exceptionalism’ you see on some corners of the internet, but one must also be cautious of not accidentally creating your own ‘Chinese exceptionalism’. There is actual concrete proof that this is happening in China. This is of course not the fault of the Chinese people, this is government policy, not the fault of the whole Chinese people. But if we become to cautious to speak up about issues like these, they will keep occurring in all parts of the world.

    I don’t think I’ll be able to convince anyone in here, but due to me more and more frequently spotting posts about these on my Lemmy feed, I was itching to speak up about it.

      • Faalangst_26@feddit.nl
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        2 hours ago

        Politicians were being questioned by other media based on this report. They had to defend improving relations and creating stronger economic bonds with a country that did not have a great human rights record.

        • huf [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 hour ago

          this seems strange to me. dutch politicians have no problems doing business with countries with awful human rights records. the absolute worst countries by this metric.

          i think there has to be another reason here.

          • Faalangst_26@feddit.nl
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            1 hour ago

            I’m not saying that this completely stopped them in their tracks. But it would obviously be in the governments best interests to not bring to light an item like this. It would be easier for them they don’t have to worm their way out of difficult interviews

            • huf [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              1 hour ago

              but again, it doesnt seem to bother either the politicians or the press when the netherlands trades with the worst offenders on the planet. and yet, in the case of china, it matters?

              either the dutch are terribly inconsistent for no reason, or there’s something else in play.

              or is it just me and this seems like a perfecly good explanation of their actions to you?

              • Faalangst_26@feddit.nl
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                1 hour ago

                You are somehow completely missing the point. Why would there be something else at play? What possible reason could the Dutch government have to want a report like this to exist? The opposition often gives the coalition a lot of heat for things like this, actually affecting legislation. Again, 0 reasons to think that this TV program is biased in their reporting. They even have some more recent items you would actually like, about how Dutch innovation is starting to fall behind compared to China.

                The point is this:

                It is perfectly understandable to dislike ‘the west’ or anything you want to fit into that term, but don’t use that as an excuse to defend other parties. No matter who they are.

                I wish it was different, I wish China could focus their internal and external policies on items that actually benefited them.

                • huf [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  50 minutes ago

                  i’m not talking about the report, i’m talking about the dutch govt’s actions. you say they’re based on this report. i cant see how.

                  edit:
                  to try to explain what i’m getting at, i’m puzzled by this sentencve of yours:

                  Before you start bashing on it for it being biased because the TV program is government funded, a lot of Dutch politicians at the time strongly wanted to increase our trade agreements with China, this item was actively hindering that.

                  you’re going to have to explain how this item was hindering that and why only this item and why much worse violations of human rights committed by the netherland’s other trade partners do not hinder trade with those countries.

  • Man i have to say turning from an “enlightened centrist (calling himself leftist all the while” into a person disenfranchised with western propaganda opens a new treasure trove of memes. Nice. No regrets, totally worth the sleepless nights thinking of horrors committed by us. I even mean that unironically.

  • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    it’s missing the words “authoritarian” and “dictator” lol

      • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        part of me wishes i hadn’t read through this because the way you’re taught to read-between-the-lines in any literature in the west combined with the american narrative of chinese authoritarianism that all of us have been swallowing since birth makes some of the wording read like copy-pastes from some propaganda that you would expect to encounter from a dystopian novel like 1984.

        these in particular are cringe worthy::

        Nearly 60,000 participants attended the sessions, including … susceptible individuals aged 16-45 …

        Director Abduwaiiti actively guided them to bear in mind the General Secretary’s instructions, focusing on the overarching goal of social stability and lasting peace. He emphasized taking the lead in four areas: loving the country and its people, enhancing religious knowledge, abiding by laws and regulations, and resisting extremism.

        Subsequently, two inmates took the stage to share their personal stories of repentance, recounting their journey of remorse.

        the entire basis of 60,000 people willing taking in a lecture from government officials also sounds suspicious AF to westerners. we popular regard anyone willingly doing so as subversively intellectual or socially bizarre in some way because it’s assumed that any “normal person” would naturally rather pursue something more entertaining if they’re not coerced to do so otherwise.

        this is a bit of cultural double standard because all western cultures universally regard these sorts of lectures as fundamental and important; but at the same time we popularly only expect people with an agenda or “odd balls” to engage with it willingly.

        it’s pretty clear to me that there’s a cultural disconnect between westerners and the chinese; with the latter exhibiting cultural norms so lofty that westerners regard it as unrealistic or unachievable and that makes the entire episode seem suspicious to us and now i think i can now understand how the “Uyghur genocide” propaganda took root.

      • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party… and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat.

        — Gore Vidal

  • Manmoth@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    “Small-brained American” YT channel went to the uygher part of China. It’s definitely a police state. He was tailed the entire time. They are tearing down the older uygher ruins and building Disneyland equivalents for tourism. The whole history and culture is being commodified in the same way America is like “Mexicans wear sombreros LOL”. The only difference is it’s 2025. It’s definitely presented as “We are Chinese and people that weren’t Chinese lived here at some point but we’re all Chinese now”. No one answers any political questions either.

        • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
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          4 hours ago

          This guy is a complete moron, the comments are full of people accurately translating the signs indicating historical structure under renovation, it’s an active fucking construction site of course it’s not open to tourists

          • Manmoth@lemmy.ml
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            3 hours ago

            The other guy speaks fluent Mandarin. There’s more of what I mentioned in the rest of his Uyghur videos. Plus he was detained by police and told not to film anything or talk to anyone lol. That’s totally normal I guess.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              2 hours ago

              You’re linking a propagandist that doesn’t speak mandarin nor Uyghur, and is walking around trying deliberately to manufacture propaganda. The entire channel seems dedicated to propogating western exceptionalism and demonization of non-white nations.