I'm saying he's a prisoner, no matter where he goes in the world. As long as he has ties to communist China he is a prisoner.

And there's a good chance that he does not or cannot even allow himself the freedom of mind to acknowledge it.

I've noticed something with the Chinese people I've spoken to, as much as they acknowledge that "the government is bad", they agree with them in all regards.

They quite simply cannot come to terms with the notion that the reality presented to the in school and by the media, throughout their entire lives, is simply a façade.

Is Shen complicit? Quite possibly. But the Chinese government seeks for all it's citizenry to act not as individuals but as a unified whole. Outside of the higher levels of government it becomes very difficult to allocate individual shares of blame.

Just because the government in china tries to get its citizenry to act as a whole doesn't mean they still don't have individual levels of responsibility. Shen in particular because his silence on that podcast is a tacit admission that he knows these systems are going to allow the chinese government even more control over the speech of their citizens. "All it takes for evil to triumph..." and all that.

It's easy to talk big about what people should do when it's not your family on the line.

And it's easy to forgive cowards when you know you would be one. The point is neither. I don't know what I would do were I in Shen's shoes (I may be even less prone to action than him) but that has no bearing on what his inaction is. It's cowardice. It's not even like he's some chinese everyman, he's rich enough he could get asylum.

This guy is pretty high up: https://www.forbes.com/profile/neil-shen/

If you replace China with USA in your comment, it will make sense just as much.

I almost didn't want to type this, because not really sure if trolling or if typing this out doesn't count as pointing out the obvious -- but the implication is that Shen is a victim of the Chinese regime.

What nonsense is that? If you are helping to build an oppressive system, you are not the victim, you are complicit / oppressor.

It is possible to be both a victim and an oppressor, especially when the oppressors above have great leverage over the subject

[edited to be more civil]. Nope, not a victim when he's getting so rich doing it.

Neil Shen Founding Managing Partner, Sequoia Capital China Real Time Net Worth — as of 8/15/17 $1.06 B (!) https://www.forbes.com/profile/neil-shen/

This guy is actively building the instruments of oppression and making a ton of money doing it. Certainly doesn't match the kind of unilateral oppression connotated by the word "victim".