The progressive liberals look at China relative to America and see China doing everything they wish America would do but can't: tackle climate change, build infrastructure, invest in public research, lift people out of poverty etc
Less than a decade ago, Kaiser Kuo was shitting on China on the same Sinica podcast crapping on about social credit scores. Less than 5 years ago, he was pushing NED propaganda on Xinjiang on his podcast interviewing supposed relatives of disappeared Uyghurs (CIA assets).
Failed analysis from the past doesn't bode well for his current analysis pieces.
Now it's this weak sauce : "Let's learn from Chinese government" and "Authoritarian capitalism is working for some reason".
Similar to that Paul Krugman article, Kaiser Kuo wants to take a politically liberal starting point and get to a socialist destination. America can't imitate China in any fundamental way because the political and economic history/situation are massively different.
The only lesson for Kaiser Kuo to learn is don't be such a piece of shit.
8
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ - 2mon
I think him being a lib is precisely what makes the piece interesting. He's actually acknowledging China’s unprecedented scale of modernization, the fact that China lifting 800 million from poverty, how China is leading in renewable energy, and how it's building infrastructure on a scale not seen in human history. He basically admits that China poses a direct challenge to the whole Western-centric narrative of progress.
And he correctly notes that the west is freaking out because China completely demolishes the thesis that liberal democracy is what drives prosperity and innovation. China poses a direct ideological challenge to the western model and their system demonstrably works better in every tangible way.
Meanwhile, the west now faces an identity crisis where western assumptions of greatness are now directly clashing with reality. Political elites are slowly starting to grudgingly acknowledge China's strengths, while younger people are actually starting to view China as a model for the future. And there's a shift in China as well where people no longer see China as catching up, but as becoming a global leader.
He's correct on all these points, and I think that Liberals should be doing precisely this sort of introspection and asking themselves why Chinese model outcompeted theirs. Most liberals are still not able to even ask these questions or to have the humility necessary to honestly acknowledge China's achievements.
10
GreatSquare - 2mon
I think him being a lib is precisely what makes the piece interesting.
It's nice to see but ...
I still find Kuo's introspection insincere though. He wasn't just an innocent lib commentator previously. He was actively pushing US propaganda before probably because of funding from NED / US State Department. SupChina disappeared once that funding dried up and China succeeded despite his propaganda efforts.
He could have travelled to Xinjiang at any time after COVID and done the bare minimum investigation. Plenty of everyday YouTubers have done it, proving he was lying about genocide the entire time.
He's just following the zeitgeist now as if he wasn't inaccurately reporting on China previously. He's no different from The Economist. China was always on the verge of collapse and they weren't actually growing.
The US government narrative has changed. The talking points are : "let's industrialize", "free trade bad" and "government interference is good".
China is still "evil" and an "Authoritarian Dictatorship" but the US has to "catch up" now.
US won't catch up. These are just excuses for the government to do shitty things both abroad and domestically. "Have to do it to modernize faster guys! Sorry I'm not Sorry!"
US economic success is detrimental to the rest of the world because it funds the world's most destructive foreign policy. Until THAT changes it's actually better that the US learns nothing from China's economic growth.
3
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ - 2mon
I'm not saying he's having some redemption arc. I'm merely pointing out that we're at a point that even people like Kuo can no longer say with a straight face that their model of development is the one true way forward. That of itself is notable. We've crossed a threshold where nobody with even a shred of intellectual integrity can pretend that the west is doing better than China or that western model is superior.
7
GreatSquare - 2mon
I agree we have crossed a threshold. The Rednote moment ended the lecturing. IMO though Western media will come up with other ways of digging in their heels because they are actually part of the problem and not just observers.
3
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ - 2mon
Looks like even western media is now grudgingly changing their tone on China https://archive.ph/KieV0
5
lil_tank [any, he/him] - 2mon
Liberal democracy is indeed undergoing a profound crisis, but that crisis need not be terminal
Very telling that even diehard libs admit China is doing better than the west economically, very funny to us indeed
yogthos in china
The Great Reckoning
https://www.theideasletter.org/essay/the-great-reckoning/Cringe lib think piece.
The progressive liberals look at China relative to America and see China doing everything they wish America would do but can't: tackle climate change, build infrastructure, invest in public research, lift people out of poverty etc
Less than a decade ago, Kaiser Kuo was shitting on China on the same Sinica podcast crapping on about social credit scores. Less than 5 years ago, he was pushing NED propaganda on Xinjiang on his podcast interviewing supposed relatives of disappeared Uyghurs (CIA assets).
Failed analysis from the past doesn't bode well for his current analysis pieces. Now it's this weak sauce : "Let's learn from Chinese government" and "Authoritarian capitalism is working for some reason".
Similar to that Paul Krugman article, Kaiser Kuo wants to take a politically liberal starting point and get to a socialist destination. America can't imitate China in any fundamental way because the political and economic history/situation are massively different.
The only lesson for Kaiser Kuo to learn is don't be such a piece of shit.
I think him being a lib is precisely what makes the piece interesting. He's actually acknowledging China’s unprecedented scale of modernization, the fact that China lifting 800 million from poverty, how China is leading in renewable energy, and how it's building infrastructure on a scale not seen in human history. He basically admits that China poses a direct challenge to the whole Western-centric narrative of progress.
And he correctly notes that the west is freaking out because China completely demolishes the thesis that liberal democracy is what drives prosperity and innovation. China poses a direct ideological challenge to the western model and their system demonstrably works better in every tangible way.
Meanwhile, the west now faces an identity crisis where western assumptions of greatness are now directly clashing with reality. Political elites are slowly starting to grudgingly acknowledge China's strengths, while younger people are actually starting to view China as a model for the future. And there's a shift in China as well where people no longer see China as catching up, but as becoming a global leader.
He's correct on all these points, and I think that Liberals should be doing precisely this sort of introspection and asking themselves why Chinese model outcompeted theirs. Most liberals are still not able to even ask these questions or to have the humility necessary to honestly acknowledge China's achievements.
It's nice to see but ...
I still find Kuo's introspection insincere though. He wasn't just an innocent lib commentator previously. He was actively pushing US propaganda before probably because of funding from NED / US State Department. SupChina disappeared once that funding dried up and China succeeded despite his propaganda efforts.
He could have travelled to Xinjiang at any time after COVID and done the bare minimum investigation. Plenty of everyday YouTubers have done it, proving he was lying about genocide the entire time.
He's just following the zeitgeist now as if he wasn't inaccurately reporting on China previously. He's no different from The Economist. China was always on the verge of collapse and they weren't actually growing.
The US government narrative has changed. The talking points are : "let's industrialize", "free trade bad" and "government interference is good".
China is still "evil" and an "Authoritarian Dictatorship" but the US has to "catch up" now.
US won't catch up. These are just excuses for the government to do shitty things both abroad and domestically. "Have to do it to modernize faster guys! Sorry I'm not Sorry!"
US economic success is detrimental to the rest of the world because it funds the world's most destructive foreign policy. Until THAT changes it's actually better that the US learns nothing from China's economic growth.
I'm not saying he's having some redemption arc. I'm merely pointing out that we're at a point that even people like Kuo can no longer say with a straight face that their model of development is the one true way forward. That of itself is notable. We've crossed a threshold where nobody with even a shred of intellectual integrity can pretend that the west is doing better than China or that western model is superior.
I agree we have crossed a threshold. The Rednote moment ended the lecturing. IMO though Western media will come up with other ways of digging in their heels because they are actually part of the problem and not just observers.
Looks like even western media is now grudgingly changing their tone on China https://archive.ph/KieV0
Very telling that even diehard libs admit China is doing better than the west economically, very funny to us indeed