porkchopnet t1_j2l167l wrote on January 2, 2023 at 2:48 AM

Reply to comment by Intrepid-Astronaut41 in An analysis of data from 30 survey projects spanning 137 countries found that 75% of people in liberal democracies hold a negative view of China, and 87% hold a negative view of Russia. However, for the rest of the world, 70% feel positively towards China, and 66% feel positively towards Russia. by glawgii

These things have happened in the US but are they as common or egregious in the US as they are in (for example) Russia or China in the past few decades?

Can you honestly say (or find quality research that says) that the media in those countries are more free from government control than their US counterparts? That the people are less oppressed? That they use their influence to destabilize rivals less?

While I would think not I welcome quality research to challenge my assumption.

SplitPerspective t1_j2l7v5x wrote on January 2, 2023 at 3:41 AM

Vietnam war, Mai Lai massacre, Kent state shootings, operation rolling thunder, Iraq war, Afghanistan, patriot act, indefinite opening of Guantanamo…on and on.

The fact is, the average person isn’t affected by those things that have passed, or are not affected by policies and institutions currently, despite persistent human rights abuses to others.

Same thing in China, if the average person has the standard freedoms, the average person either shows apathy or ignorance to bigger issues.

People like to parrot lack of freedom this lack of freedom that in China, but it’s not as simplistic as it seems. For certain things, there are more freedoms in China, but you probably dismissed that idea and think no where is more free than your own country right? Again, apathy and ignorance is a sickness.

porkchopnet t1_j2lqojo wrote on January 2, 2023 at 6:40 AM

You are citing anecdotes not data. This is /r/science. How about defendable research?

Fortunately, there are actual quantafiable metrics that clearly show human freedoms on an index: https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores?sort=desc&order=Total%20Score%20and%20Status

USA scores 83/100.
China is 9/100.
Russia is 19.

Its not even close.

SplitPerspective t1_j2m2060 wrote on January 2, 2023 at 9:04 AM

Human freedom on an index, created by a liberal democracy. If you can’t even understand that when it comes to geopolitics, everything is biased, then you’re already stuck within the bounds of the system with a biased lens.

Case in point, millions of Chinese travel outside of China every year. If it’s so bad, you’d expect a mass exodus and/or asylum seekers. Then there are “expats” from liberal democracies retiring in China.