throwando208818
throwando208818 on Hacker News
In an authoritarian situation it literally doesn't matter if you believe what you're saying. You just say it to get through the day.
It's not like a scifi movie where every little thing is monitored, the game is you just don't cause yourself (or perhaps more importantly your pals or family) trouble and try to "get yours" and live something resembling a decent/self-actualized life.
For the regime, those kind of performative statements sets a good example & makes the problem go away
"Region in Northwest China relocated 461,000 poverty-ridden residents to work in other parts of the region during the first quarter of the year, in what a Chinese expert on Friday said was a bid to improve social stability and alleviate poverty."
Slighhhtly different spin on why it is being done, what's being done, etc
That's English-language content for a foreign audience
The United States stumbles dick-first sometimes into insane or really dumb policies & ideas but they can occasionally be reasoned with & there are people who aren't nakedly corrupt & awful in the gov't aparatus.
When/if China or any of the other usual suspects become the biggest dog on the block that goes out the window
If you talk to folks who have to live in say Russia/Putin-stan today when the government lies and everyone knows that the government knows that everyone knows they're lying it's actually a mechanism of intimidation and control.
It really boils down to "we can get away with saying or doing whatever we want-- what are YOU going to do about it?" or "Your facts don't matter, your information doesn't matter, your data doesn't matter, your truth doesn't matter-- all that matters is power and we have the power and we're in charge."
This strategy is a bit different from the casual/blatant general dishonesty of the current American president (it seems to be a bit of a personal tick rather than this kind of deliberate thinking) --- but it is absolutely a well-worn trick of nightmare authoritarian regimes.
If you're not already familiar, check out these journalists:
- julia ioffe
- masha gessen
If you want some provocative Chinese muck-raking, these sometimes be useful/interesting resources:
Don't even think about it.
There's definitely an uptick of Chinese gov't influence operations on Reddit, HN might be a bit under the radar but just in case...
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2018/62187...
If you're a connected young prince w/ a cushy party/govt job in China you're ballin' and life is goooood.
But if you're Joe-Shmoe you're kinda screwed, like with a most nightmare regimes it's the worker bees who get hit worst.