"China is a freakish, backwards nation," say the media in a nation whose government has spent the 21st century slaughtering people by the millions in military operations overseas so that it can literally rule the world like a comic book supervillain.
Yes -- we all should just hate China (and Russia, and Iran, and Venezuela, and Syria and any other "disobedient" nation).....
BUT ---- London Financial Times -- July 8, 2021:
“China’s emergence over the past four decades ranks as the biggest and longest-run economic boom in history. Its annual gross domestic product rose from a mere $191 B, or $195 per capita, in 1980 to $14.3 T, or $10,261 per capita, in 2019.
It has raised more than 770m people from poverty and transformed the Chinese economy into a high-tech powerhouse that is on course to eclipse America’s in size. This transformation is the landmark achievement of the Chinese Communist party, which celebrates its 100th anniversary on Thursday.”
Even if every single bad thing that wss said about China were the unvarnished truth, even if the United States and its vassals had not studiously ignored all of it until China became a power competitor, remember this:
The last time Chinese forces actually went into combat was in 1979.
Compare the track record of the freedom-luvin' United States since that time.
A good illustration of the absurdity of our myopic national discourse on most any topic. You would think that in a land of some 340 million people our landscapes would be more vibrant and brighter, but instead the same dead horses are being repeatedly kicked.
"'China is a freakish, backwards nation" we say, because we're too brainwashed and befuddled to conceive of a world where governments don't compete and strive to dominate each other and we instead collaborate together toward the good of our entire species."
It's clinically interesting to see how incapable many are of even entertaining the idea of a world not ruled by empire. How could you possibly ever put an end to imperialism if despite your recognition of the injustice, when someone comes to argue for changing that system, or actually evolving, you actually literally argue against it at every turn, usually replying something along the lines that it doesn't matter, empires are the natural order of things, people are corrupt, and the classic of all classics "there's nothing you and I can do about it" (which is then usually followed by a justification of the idea of basically living to serve one's self-interest, closed off from all the greater realities or meaning that lie beyond your tiny local frame of reference).
They can't defeat empires not because empires cannot be defeated, ALL empires destroy themselves, but because they literally can't think outside of an imperial mindset. They are brainwashed. Their pride, their unwillingness to accept that they're actually a lot less smarter than they thought, and the story they live their lives by isn't actually that good or convincing, all of it terrifies them. They're terrified to admit they live their lives according to a very shitty and poor story. In many cases, they are so afraid that they would prefer to just live that lie, rather than experience the uncomfortable feeling of being deeply wrong about vital issues. Unfortunately, many people really are that small, but they are that small out of fear, and have no real reference points outside of their Boomer (they're often Boomers, not always) fantasy world. The best they can do is "yes, empires are bad, but better that our empire rules because the other ones are worse."
Total slave mentality.
In reality, the solution would just be to become humble and say "you know what, I don't know the answer." That would be infinitely better, wiser, and more truthful. And that's all it really takes. Being humble enough to admit we don't know, then all the crazy childish fear goes away, growth suddenly becomes fun and desirable, rather than scary and painful. So some say that humility is the greatest truth.
On one level, the real war is indeed an epistemological war. If people can't actually conceive of any other kind of organization on the planet, or don't even have the language to articulate it because they've been keying off of the Borg Cube talking points for so long; if they don't understand the basics of sovereign nations as opposed to empires, then an oligarchy doesn't have to control what they think. Rather, what's more important is influencing HOW they think. If you control how people think, by spreading a chosen set of ideologies and promoting a certain perception of human nature, then you can already determine how most will react in x, y, z situation, which will be a consequence of HOW they think. Thus, people fundamentally believe empires are the natural order of things, so they without even knowing really why, will naturally argue against any kind of alternative multi-polar reality. Not because they understand anything or have actual knowledge, but purely because it violates their own underlying axiomatic assumptions, which in many cases, people don't even know how to articulate. In such cases, one doesn't have to tell people what to think: as long as they don't realize they're operating within an axiomatic system that forbids them from conceptualizing or articulating the solution, which lies outside their series of assumptions about the world, then those in power could care less what broke ass ideas the serfs have.
I once read in a national paper the opinion of a "believer" that God made injustice, pain and inequality in order to elicit pity from the hearts of the better off - and save their souls. In a national paper in the 21 century! Such is an example of the gibberish our dark history makes us prone to believe, a dark history of gibberish propaganda that has robbed us of humane rationality and made us prone to rationalizations to cover our stupidity, ignorance, inhumanity. So that even the idea of a bloodbath of unprecedented proportions hardly captures the imagination so locked are we in our own mental prisons, here in the West
On February 11th 1990, Nelson Mandela was released. Indeed the world became a different place. The illegitimate and much condemned government of South Africa was forced to reverse its brutal course and it gained a modicum of respect throughout the world.
There can be no question the government of the United States of America played a part in creating the context of this event. Some of its intentions were morally conceived, most were not. However the people of the United States of America rejoiced with the rest of the world, as they understood the progress this represented. With the small bit of dignity gleaned on the world stage in this act by the South African government many seeds of justice were planted. Courage, respect, and legitimacy were derived from the release of a political prisoner.
Rubbing on our national conscience is an overtly political case of African proportions. The imprisonment of poor and working class people in the United States shames our history of struggling for justice against capitalist oppression. We can defeat this monster too. In this, the one hundred and fourth year after the birth of our great hero WEB Du Bois we demand today be a declared a National Day of Clemency! A day when those imprisoned by the system are released and, acknowledging the value we place on liberty be employed by that system to build a society where such sanction is unheard of. Honoring an international tradition symbolized by the release of Nelson Mandela 32 years ago today.
Without disputing the overall picture of the world presented here - including the cartoon illustration - of brain-washed millions overwhelmed and in ever-tightening thrall to an implacable and all-powerful capitalist power elite - I wonder how it offers anything positive except a sterile message of superiority and self-congratulation to we who are consuming it. If what we take away is simply that we are the smart ones, the tiny minority who "get it" and aren't being conned, aren't among the brainwashed masses described, how does that actually move us toward changing things, to understanding, in a non-condescending way, why our fellow humans seem caught and recognizing and applauding their many conflicts and efforts to escape the thrall. I do think the switch to using "we" in the later paragraphs is positive, but let's not fall into the trap of classifying so many of our fellow humans as, essentially, "deplorables" and (non-human) sheep or lemmings to whom we can feel superior. I think we have to fight that stance, so similar to the way our elites so condescendingly (and inhumanly) regard the rest of us. (See media coverage of the Canadian truckers convoy movement. https://taibbi.substack.com/p/justin-trudeaus-ceausescu-moment?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozOTEwOTAxLCJfIjoiT3lmOVQiLCJpYXQiOjE2NDQ1NDU0NTgsImV4cCI6MTY0NDU0OTA1OCwiaXNzIjoicHViLTEwNDIiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.EaUd_7GgfQZROwApbgzOY2O4114GZK44EaFq_7cvGZ8 )
I teach English to adults, and my students come from many different coutries in Europe, Asia and Central/South America. Mind you, many of them have university stuties and are able to engage in lively debates. Almost everybody has had an unfortunate clash with a friend/family member due to politics. They claim they love their friends and their family but they can't take them anymore. Someone even mentioned that they behave like addicts: they need to keep consuming "hate" via memes, videos , etc. and spread it.
I want to make sure I have this right. We should not support the truckers or a WOC journalist because Bari Weiss is a racist? That makes perfect sense, and great example of how the purity tests just make the complexity of humans impossible to navigate let along organize. Matt Taibbi posted this. It is really funny, like he said. https://babylonbee.com/news/socialists-condemn-workers-of-the-world-for-uniting
That is what I have heard, and yes, I was not to happy about it so I do not read her much these days. But she did not write that piece, and from the look of the writer and the content, maybe you are a racist too for not reading it.
That article was fine and the protesters remind me of the Occupy protests of a decade ago. During those, some Antifa punks set fire to things, which is what they do, and this is what usually ends up on the evening news while the overall message of income inequality and exploitation gets conveniently ignored.
The article is bylined by Rupa Subramanya and appears on Bari Weiss' substack. Bari Weiss is to me of Joe Rogan fame where she attempts to denigrate Tulsi Gabbert and she comes off completely clueless. It's a classic. I've no doubt her Zionism puts her in a similar category, which is what I believe Boris was referring to. She obviously supports the truckers for her own reasons which the rest of us may or may not share.
Another great piece by Taibbi. Unfortunately, this started out bad very early on, like the early anti mask anti vax anti lockdown protests in March 2020. Seems I was only one to track these events. I have zero opposition to this trucker business. Bari Weiss posted a good piece from journalist wo got to know some of the truckers at close range. But this Bauder guy is still acting like he is THE LEADER and ORGANIZER. Sigh. Ironically, the following he is attracting is contrary to his stated white supremacy wishes. Looks like a train wreck to happen.
I read it. The entire tone of this piece is skewed IMHO, as if the trucker's protest never had an ounce of legitimacy to begin with and was always just a screen for darker, right-wing forces, which I do not believe is the case. It reminds me of so many of the hit pieces "exposing" who was behind the Occupy movement, that we were told also had zero legitimate grievances.
Yes, I posted that to show the elements that are presenting a bad press opportunity. If this guy is for real, only looks like he will inevitably be pushed out and be replaced by a more authentic crowd. Still, McCarthyism tends contaminate the minds and not enough challenging the oligarchs continued stockpiling of wealth at the expense of the people. As for OWS, I participated. We had heavy Libertarain forces that ruined the camp, not to mention the tweakers taking over. Was a mess, saw it first hand, i did food management and night duty.
On OWS. It was surreal. This male nurse and his pro gun Ron Paul partners showed at night. They found a group of young tweakers big on spreading the word. They had nightly strategy meetings. This one outspoken POS made a mess out of our OWS. He got the entire group at the large meeting to ban me, and all the original founders of the OWS, but one that had become compliant and weak. Amazing what one bad apple can do.
OWS lacked a clear focus or set of concrete end goals, so it imploded. It was the first time I saw our local boys in blue dressed as storm troopers unloading on hapless college kids. Sadly, it wasn't to be the last.
If there'sany appearance of Western propaganda becoming even a tiny bit more blatant, un-ironic or hypocritical; that our dopplegangster kleptocrats simply can NOT even be bothered, to hide senile, zombie, dead-eyed thugs behind the curtain, twisting the levers & yanking the sticky knobs of unbelievably crude agitprop, distraction & war-mongering projection; just MAYBE, it's worth contemplating OUR part in what these sneering criminals accomplish, due to our complacency, cowardice and connivance...
If this system exists outside of the rants of Western media and anti-China Youtube channels, doesn't it seem rather strange that there are apparently no pictures anywhere of a corresponding cell phone app? Or perhaps even a website? The whole point of the kind of system being advertised by Western media is to intimidate people, so surely there must be a convenient way to track one's latest score, no? Or is it just a big secret known only to Western media or anti-China bloggers?
The keynote speaker at Davos/WEF this year was Xi Jinping. China is in a mess, their land is badly contaminated from coal smoke, the food there is dangerous to eat, contaminated with cadmium, arsenic, and mercury. And the working class there is having a bad time of it - while the oligarchs who run the place are making out like thieves. And the big cities look flashy, but the rural areas are sucking it, and only the elite have permission to live in the cities. Most of the people own nothing, and they aren't terribly happy about it.
So, you think they DO copy us, after all? I just figured, capitalism was starting to work, as folks bought PHEV/ EV, PV and all sorts of AI microprocessor controlled anti-AGW products that oilgarchs just had to crush; since NASDAQ regained 120% after COVID 101, based largely on Chinese products (or those using many Chinese sourced components?) Y'know, the free marketplace? I think the final straw was PRC's tech oligarchs being opposed by anti-trust/ monopoly laws and China's attempt at anti-corruption?
Yes -- we all should just hate China (and Russia, and Iran, and Venezuela, and Syria and any other "disobedient" nation).....
BUT ---- London Financial Times -- July 8, 2021:
“China’s emergence over the past four decades ranks as the biggest and longest-run economic boom in history. Its annual gross domestic product rose from a mere $191 B, or $195 per capita, in 1980 to $14.3 T, or $10,261 per capita, in 2019.
It has raised more than 770m people from poverty and transformed the Chinese economy into a high-tech powerhouse that is on course to eclipse America’s in size. This transformation is the landmark achievement of the Chinese Communist party, which celebrates its 100th anniversary on Thursday.”
PS: And an update on Cuba’s superb healthcare system:
https://rokfin.com/post/71758
Even if every single bad thing that wss said about China were the unvarnished truth, even if the United States and its vassals had not studiously ignored all of it until China became a power competitor, remember this:
The last time Chinese forces actually went into combat was in 1979.
Compare the track record of the freedom-luvin' United States since that time.
China is not my enemy. I have no enemies outside my own country.
A good illustration of the absurdity of our myopic national discourse on most any topic. You would think that in a land of some 340 million people our landscapes would be more vibrant and brighter, but instead the same dead horses are being repeatedly kicked.
McCarthyism and duopoly, the continued rechurning of the Cold War into more and more perverse narrative domestic or foreign.
Hahahaha. This is a great!
"'China is a freakish, backwards nation" we say, because we're too brainwashed and befuddled to conceive of a world where governments don't compete and strive to dominate each other and we instead collaborate together toward the good of our entire species."
It's clinically interesting to see how incapable many are of even entertaining the idea of a world not ruled by empire. How could you possibly ever put an end to imperialism if despite your recognition of the injustice, when someone comes to argue for changing that system, or actually evolving, you actually literally argue against it at every turn, usually replying something along the lines that it doesn't matter, empires are the natural order of things, people are corrupt, and the classic of all classics "there's nothing you and I can do about it" (which is then usually followed by a justification of the idea of basically living to serve one's self-interest, closed off from all the greater realities or meaning that lie beyond your tiny local frame of reference).
They can't defeat empires not because empires cannot be defeated, ALL empires destroy themselves, but because they literally can't think outside of an imperial mindset. They are brainwashed. Their pride, their unwillingness to accept that they're actually a lot less smarter than they thought, and the story they live their lives by isn't actually that good or convincing, all of it terrifies them. They're terrified to admit they live their lives according to a very shitty and poor story. In many cases, they are so afraid that they would prefer to just live that lie, rather than experience the uncomfortable feeling of being deeply wrong about vital issues. Unfortunately, many people really are that small, but they are that small out of fear, and have no real reference points outside of their Boomer (they're often Boomers, not always) fantasy world. The best they can do is "yes, empires are bad, but better that our empire rules because the other ones are worse."
Total slave mentality.
In reality, the solution would just be to become humble and say "you know what, I don't know the answer." That would be infinitely better, wiser, and more truthful. And that's all it really takes. Being humble enough to admit we don't know, then all the crazy childish fear goes away, growth suddenly becomes fun and desirable, rather than scary and painful. So some say that humility is the greatest truth.
On one level, the real war is indeed an epistemological war. If people can't actually conceive of any other kind of organization on the planet, or don't even have the language to articulate it because they've been keying off of the Borg Cube talking points for so long; if they don't understand the basics of sovereign nations as opposed to empires, then an oligarchy doesn't have to control what they think. Rather, what's more important is influencing HOW they think. If you control how people think, by spreading a chosen set of ideologies and promoting a certain perception of human nature, then you can already determine how most will react in x, y, z situation, which will be a consequence of HOW they think. Thus, people fundamentally believe empires are the natural order of things, so they without even knowing really why, will naturally argue against any kind of alternative multi-polar reality. Not because they understand anything or have actual knowledge, but purely because it violates their own underlying axiomatic assumptions, which in many cases, people don't even know how to articulate. In such cases, one doesn't have to tell people what to think: as long as they don't realize they're operating within an axiomatic system that forbids them from conceptualizing or articulating the solution, which lies outside their series of assumptions about the world, then those in power could care less what broke ass ideas the serfs have.
I once read in a national paper the opinion of a "believer" that God made injustice, pain and inequality in order to elicit pity from the hearts of the better off - and save their souls. In a national paper in the 21 century! Such is an example of the gibberish our dark history makes us prone to believe, a dark history of gibberish propaganda that has robbed us of humane rationality and made us prone to rationalizations to cover our stupidity, ignorance, inhumanity. So that even the idea of a bloodbath of unprecedented proportions hardly captures the imagination so locked are we in our own mental prisons, here in the West
Karma, baby.
the global cabal of colonialist parasites are bitter as China chewed them up and spit them out.
On February 11th 1990, Nelson Mandela was released. Indeed the world became a different place. The illegitimate and much condemned government of South Africa was forced to reverse its brutal course and it gained a modicum of respect throughout the world.
There can be no question the government of the United States of America played a part in creating the context of this event. Some of its intentions were morally conceived, most were not. However the people of the United States of America rejoiced with the rest of the world, as they understood the progress this represented. With the small bit of dignity gleaned on the world stage in this act by the South African government many seeds of justice were planted. Courage, respect, and legitimacy were derived from the release of a political prisoner.
Rubbing on our national conscience is an overtly political case of African proportions. The imprisonment of poor and working class people in the United States shames our history of struggling for justice against capitalist oppression. We can defeat this monster too. In this, the one hundred and fourth year after the birth of our great hero WEB Du Bois we demand today be a declared a National Day of Clemency! A day when those imprisoned by the system are released and, acknowledging the value we place on liberty be employed by that system to build a society where such sanction is unheard of. Honoring an international tradition symbolized by the release of Nelson Mandela 32 years ago today.
And here we are, years later, arming and supporting apartheid in Palestine. I guess it all comes down to who's got the right amount of money.
Without disputing the overall picture of the world presented here - including the cartoon illustration - of brain-washed millions overwhelmed and in ever-tightening thrall to an implacable and all-powerful capitalist power elite - I wonder how it offers anything positive except a sterile message of superiority and self-congratulation to we who are consuming it. If what we take away is simply that we are the smart ones, the tiny minority who "get it" and aren't being conned, aren't among the brainwashed masses described, how does that actually move us toward changing things, to understanding, in a non-condescending way, why our fellow humans seem caught and recognizing and applauding their many conflicts and efforts to escape the thrall. I do think the switch to using "we" in the later paragraphs is positive, but let's not fall into the trap of classifying so many of our fellow humans as, essentially, "deplorables" and (non-human) sheep or lemmings to whom we can feel superior. I think we have to fight that stance, so similar to the way our elites so condescendingly (and inhumanly) regard the rest of us. (See media coverage of the Canadian truckers convoy movement. https://taibbi.substack.com/p/justin-trudeaus-ceausescu-moment?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozOTEwOTAxLCJfIjoiT3lmOVQiLCJpYXQiOjE2NDQ1NDU0NTgsImV4cCI6MTY0NDU0OTA1OCwiaXNzIjoicHViLTEwNDIiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.EaUd_7GgfQZROwApbgzOY2O4114GZK44EaFq_7cvGZ8 )
They are no deplorables, they are victims.
I teach English to adults, and my students come from many different coutries in Europe, Asia and Central/South America. Mind you, many of them have university stuties and are able to engage in lively debates. Almost everybody has had an unfortunate clash with a friend/family member due to politics. They claim they love their friends and their family but they can't take them anymore. Someone even mentioned that they behave like addicts: they need to keep consuming "hate" via memes, videos , etc. and spread it.
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/what-the-truckers-want
Bari Weiss is a racist -- she fervently supports "Kill all Arabs" Likudnik Nathan Sharansky and apartheid.
So, now I will have cooties, right?
I want to make sure I have this right. We should not support the truckers or a WOC journalist because Bari Weiss is a racist? That makes perfect sense, and great example of how the purity tests just make the complexity of humans impossible to navigate let along organize. Matt Taibbi posted this. It is really funny, like he said. https://babylonbee.com/news/socialists-condemn-workers-of-the-world-for-uniting
Someone mentioned Truckers, I had just finished reading that piece and thought it had merit.
So, I guess you do not support this trucker revolt because there are apparently some rabid racists among them?
Your "logic" is very difficult to follow...
That is what I have heard, and yes, I was not to happy about it so I do not read her much these days. But she did not write that piece, and from the look of the writer and the content, maybe you are a racist too for not reading it.
I understand -- there are "good" and bad racisms...
That article was fine and the protesters remind me of the Occupy protests of a decade ago. During those, some Antifa punks set fire to things, which is what they do, and this is what usually ends up on the evening news while the overall message of income inequality and exploitation gets conveniently ignored.
The article is bylined by Rupa Subramanya and appears on Bari Weiss' substack. Bari Weiss is to me of Joe Rogan fame where she attempts to denigrate Tulsi Gabbert and she comes off completely clueless. It's a classic. I've no doubt her Zionism puts her in a similar category, which is what I believe Boris was referring to. She obviously supports the truckers for her own reasons which the rest of us may or may not share.
https://twitter.com/rupasubramanya
Another great piece by Taibbi. Unfortunately, this started out bad very early on, like the early anti mask anti vax anti lockdown protests in March 2020. Seems I was only one to track these events. I have zero opposition to this trucker business. Bari Weiss posted a good piece from journalist wo got to know some of the truckers at close range. But this Bauder guy is still acting like he is THE LEADER and ORGANIZER. Sigh. Ironically, the following he is attracting is contrary to his stated white supremacy wishes. Looks like a train wreck to happen.
https://pressprogress.ca/meet-the-extremists-and-social-media-influencers-at-the-centre-of-the-far-right-siege-of-ottawa/
I read it. The entire tone of this piece is skewed IMHO, as if the trucker's protest never had an ounce of legitimacy to begin with and was always just a screen for darker, right-wing forces, which I do not believe is the case. It reminds me of so many of the hit pieces "exposing" who was behind the Occupy movement, that we were told also had zero legitimate grievances.
Yes, I posted that to show the elements that are presenting a bad press opportunity. If this guy is for real, only looks like he will inevitably be pushed out and be replaced by a more authentic crowd. Still, McCarthyism tends contaminate the minds and not enough challenging the oligarchs continued stockpiling of wealth at the expense of the people. As for OWS, I participated. We had heavy Libertarain forces that ruined the camp, not to mention the tweakers taking over. Was a mess, saw it first hand, i did food management and night duty.
On OWS. It was surreal. This male nurse and his pro gun Ron Paul partners showed at night. They found a group of young tweakers big on spreading the word. They had nightly strategy meetings. This one outspoken POS made a mess out of our OWS. He got the entire group at the large meeting to ban me, and all the original founders of the OWS, but one that had become compliant and weak. Amazing what one bad apple can do.
OWS lacked a clear focus or set of concrete end goals, so it imploded. It was the first time I saw our local boys in blue dressed as storm troopers unloading on hapless college kids. Sadly, it wasn't to be the last.
If there'sany appearance of Western propaganda becoming even a tiny bit more blatant, un-ironic or hypocritical; that our dopplegangster kleptocrats simply can NOT even be bothered, to hide senile, zombie, dead-eyed thugs behind the curtain, twisting the levers & yanking the sticky knobs of unbelievably crude agitprop, distraction & war-mongering projection; just MAYBE, it's worth contemplating OUR part in what these sneering criminals accomplish, due to our complacency, cowardice and connivance...
Jeepers, was that all one sentence?
https://mobile.twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1491455857946939392
https://www.dailyposter.com/the-democrats-are-trying-to-lose/
https://www.dailyposter.com/the-democrats-are-trying-to-lose/
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/quelle-surprise-covid-burden-falling-hardest-on-low-income-workers-but-dont-expect-any-help.html#comment-3677048
The word 'projection' comes to mind. The so-called 'social credit system' promoted by Western media is a concrete example: https://austrianchina.substack.com/p/china-dystopia-psyop
If this system exists outside of the rants of Western media and anti-China Youtube channels, doesn't it seem rather strange that there are apparently no pictures anywhere of a corresponding cell phone app? Or perhaps even a website? The whole point of the kind of system being advertised by Western media is to intimidate people, so surely there must be a convenient way to track one's latest score, no? Or is it just a big secret known only to Western media or anti-China bloggers?
How about that Epoch Times that feeds the monster.
The Sleeping Giant, they used to call it.
https://www.thepropheticyears.com/enddepravity/china-the-sleeping-giant-becomes-a-devouring-giant.html#:~:text=Only%20a%20couple%20of%20decades%20ago%20China%20was,sleeping%20giant%20since%20the%20Korean%20and%20Vietnam%20war.
PS (~22 minutes, in) https://usefulidiots.substack.com/p/how-obama-failed-black-people
The keynote speaker at Davos/WEF this year was Xi Jinping. China is in a mess, their land is badly contaminated from coal smoke, the food there is dangerous to eat, contaminated with cadmium, arsenic, and mercury. And the working class there is having a bad time of it - while the oligarchs who run the place are making out like thieves. And the big cities look flashy, but the rural areas are sucking it, and only the elite have permission to live in the cities. Most of the people own nothing, and they aren't terribly happy about it.
As a cartoon, this might work.
So, you think they DO copy us, after all? I just figured, capitalism was starting to work, as folks bought PHEV/ EV, PV and all sorts of AI microprocessor controlled anti-AGW products that oilgarchs just had to crush; since NASDAQ regained 120% after COVID 101, based largely on Chinese products (or those using many Chinese sourced components?) Y'know, the free marketplace? I think the final straw was PRC's tech oligarchs being opposed by anti-trust/ monopoly laws and China's attempt at anti-corruption?