this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
621 points (86.7% liked)
Showerthoughts
29325 readers
4 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Posts must be original/unique
- Be good to others - no bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I didn't fully express how I feel about this. Pre 2016, China was viewed as an economic rival. Post 2016, China is viewed as an adversary.
Being anti-China is something both the Left and the Right can agree on, but for different reasons. The left are anti-China based on China's human-rights violation and "anti-democratic" behavior during the 2018 Hong Kong protests, and in the Xinjiang region. The Left has also traditionally been anti-China based on how China has treated Tibet, popularized by Brad Pitt, Richard Gere, and Hollywood in general.
The Right is anti-China because tHeY tOoK oUR jOBs.
It benefits both the Left and the Right to be anti-China right now.
Speaking of Hollywood and how they viewed China pre-2016... Matt Damon was in a Chinese movie called The Great Wall. Movies like Her and Looper envisioned a far future where China represented wealth and success. We make memes about John Cena and bing chillin, but he was learning Chinese at the peak of his career because even he could see the market value of China's growing middle class. In my city, Chinese Mandarin was being taught as an elective in high school alongside Spanish and French. Culturally, we were preparing for "The Pacific Century," but now all of a sudden we've switched gears and are in full blown cold war mode... and people are willing to accept that.