What makes anti China propaganda so effective is that people want to believe it.
Believing that western system is fundamentally better allows justifying all the horrors we see day to day by saying that the alternatives are even worse, and so we shouldn't even try to change anything.
Accepting that China managed to find a better path that the west is actively fighting against means having to accept that the west is on the wrong side of history. That's a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people.
Yeah, US empire is definitely entering uncharted waters now. It seems the realization of this is starting to set in now, as you point out with Sullivan’s speech, but they have no idea what to do. Honestly, it’s not really clear that there is anything that could be done even if US had a competent government in charge. China is simply bigger and has a more stable political political system that’s capable of long term planning. The fundamentals in China are much better than in US.
And very much agree that collapsing standard of living in the west makes it harder for people to swallow the propaganda that’s being pushed by the ruling class. People can see that what they’re being told doesn’t match their lived experience, and that translates into faith in the system collapsing. I think that’s actually one of the big driving factors behind stuff like qanon. Once people lose faith in central authority then they can just find a comfortable narrative that fits their preconceptions, and if they meet enough people who shares their beliefs that becomes their tribe.
Yeah, US empire is definitely entering uncharted waters now. It seems the realization of this is starting to set in now, as you point out with Sullivan’s speech, but they have no idea what to do. Honestly, it’s not really clear that there is anything that could be done even if US had a competent government in charge. China is simply bigger and has a more stable political political system that’s capable of long term planning. The fundamentals in China are much better than in US.
And very much agree that collapsing standard of living in the west makes it harder for people to swallow the propaganda that’s being pushed by the ruling class. People can see that what they’re being told doesn’t match their lived experience, and that translates into faith in the system collapsing. I think that’s actually one of the big driving factors behind stuff like qanon. Once people lose faith in central authority then they can just find a comfortable narrative that fits their preconceptions, and if they meet enough people who shares their beliefs that becomes their tribe.