Infected Mushroom wrote:Duhon wrote:In which ways is it "fine"? Be specific.
people are not disappearing off the streets in large numbers
there are no concentration camps
people can go to work and come home, there is a bright economic future for the place, its a center of commerce
there is relative security in the streets
no one living there organically would go... "Oh wow this place is a totalitarian hellhole" unless they intentionally went about trying to cross lines; in other words, nothing like a random Stalinist purge would occur (but if you went looking for one by stirring up trouble, then that's something else)
In other words, as long as you do as you are told, believe what you are told, do nothing else, eat bread, enjoy circuses, incessantly praise public figures, question nothing, toady yourself heart and soul, and generally take Xi up the ass, life in Shanghai (as well as in other prosperous Chinese cities and an almost-certainly broken post-2047 Hong Kong) is tolerable.
That might work for some seriously unreflective people, as well as understandably fearful individuals.
But what happens if you have a complaint? What happens if you touch on a taboo topic? What happens if you show signs of being less than totally receptive to Xi's thousand and one thoughts?
Then you're fucked.
If you say anything, the authorities won't be there to help you because to them your complaint marks you as a misanthrope, not as a... you know... someone seeking help. Your activities are monitored 24/7, your communications scrutinized for the slightest bit of uneasiness, discomfort, deviation, rebellion, criminality, liquidation.
What then? You clam up -- but your complaint remains, and so is any problem you see.
What then? Nowhere to turn, nowhere to confide, till the kettle explodes and you're consumed.
And you say that's "fine"? How seriously unreflective must you be to want that shit for yourself?