If so many people are saying the same thing you should open to the possibility that the idea has merit. The CCP clearly fears mass media and while you might find that absurd, it's a fear based in history. History is full of examples of powerful people manipulating the masses with simple messages to a devastating result. This happens not only against communism (which had been under attack by powerful people for decades before the creation of the CCP btw) but against whatever person, race, or idea that diminishes their power or capital. In North America today you can see that people are divided and often extremely emotional when it comes to politics, sometimes displaying insane levels of hatred. These emotions are often instigated and continued by the consumption of media which tells them exactly who to hate. This is not limited to only foreign powers but any power with an agenda. Given this, the Chinese government has made a decision to hold a monopoly on mass media rather than let private forces do what they'd like to influence people. With the government in charge they can allow media that unifies the country and reject anything that could be divisive. You can consider this brainwashing if you want but I personally do not.

I'm not sure why it's so hard to accept I don't have one prefered source of media, I mostly read whatever I see on Reddit and then google anything I'm curious or doubtful about. Some things that turn me off of or make me distrustful of a particular media source are lying by omission, emotionally charged headlines, and untruthful insinuations. I see this lots in the many western and Russian media sources, including the greyzone. I don't subscribe to, consistently read, or trust any one media source and I try to be critical of whatever I'm reading. Even if I did have a tendency to one or another source of media, I'm not sure how that would invalidate what I'm saying, given the evidence supported me as well.

I don't think your distrust of independent journalists is warranted. There are thousands upon thousands of people reporting on the positive and negative aspects of everyday life in China. Just go on YouTube and search around for videos of life in China, it's clear that there is no cohesive narrative being driven. Dismissing every independent journalists as "paid by the government" disallows the most honest and direct source of evidence you could hope for, which is the place and the people themselves.

I'd agree that they have pretty strict media control, and in a sense yes it is to control the people. I think they fear foreign propaganda being used on their citizens to start a revolution and divide the country, and given the history of antagonism against communist countries it's not a far fetched idea. Whether this is right or wrong will ultimately be decided by the Chinese people, I just don't think it makes the government automatically evil.

On the matter of the Xinjiang, you say that there is evidence of MILLIONS of Uyghurs in camps, I've looked for a long time and never found such evidence. Exactly how did you arrive at these numbers? I've found the so called "evidence" to be extremely lacking, like a sattalite picture of some fenced facility? Or a prison transfer with zero context? How do these things prove an ongoing genocide? If you have more evidence I'd love to see it. Yes there were/are mandatory camps for the Uyghur people to be de radicalized after years of horrible terrorist attacks and separatism in the region, but these were by no means concentration camps. I saw some testimonies of mistreatment in these camps which I believe, but overall it seemed to be a legitimate deradicalization effort. Since the start of this program the amount of terrorist activity in Xinjiang is reduced to almost zero. Nobody was genocided in these camps and the Uyghur language and culture are going strong this very day in Xinjiang, simply look at some YouTube videos of people exploring Xinjiang and this is evident.

I'll refrain from commenting more on the South China Sea until I'm better informed.

From what I've read on taiwan the CPP consider reunification to be very important to the party's legitimacy and a high priority. They've also stated that they are strictly against the independence of Taiwan. But these statements are almost always accompanied by them saying they want to continue developing peaceful relations and ultimately desire a peaceful resolution. In my opinion any military demonstration around the island is really a message to the United States basically saying "we have the military power to take this island, fuck off", it's a display of power, not a warning of invasion. Based on the sentiments I've gotten from Chinese citizens there is no popular support for the invasion of Taiwan. I'd say it's fair to consider to possibility of invasion at some point, but not to assume that it's the intention of China.

I read whatever media I can get my hands on and try to evaluate it critically. It seems every report will have elements of truth and some straight up lies, no matter which side it comes from. The most honest journalism I've found is in small time independent journalists who are free to report whatever they'd like, regardless of political or capital interest. Anyway my mind is not made up on any of these issues, I'm open to hear your opinions.

I appreciate your perspective on the situation, I think it touches on a factor that we often forget when discussing China: they are still a developing country. You're certainly right that there are millions of Chinese people living in poor conditions similar to other Asian, African, and Latin American countries.

One thing that differentiates China in my mind is that rate of development and poverty alleviation. A low tier chinese city that barely had an economy 10 years ago could be a booming technologic hub today. It seems to me that their government is giving a productive and legitimate effort to raise the quality of life for Chinese people.

China is no utopia to be sure, there are many real problems with the country, but it rubs me the wrong way the way it is presented in the media. I feel that there is a huge amount of hypocrisy, false information, and double standards applied when reporting on China, which makes me question the agenda of those doing the reporting.

The first point is false, if millions were actually in concentration camps the evidence would make it obvious, there would be no controversy. There are also many other Muslims in China apart from the Uyghurs that enjoy freedom to worship. How much do you actually know about Xinjiang's history and it's relationship to Afghanistan/global terrorism? History and nuance are extremely important in these conversations and seem to be completely missed by the majority of westerners.

I'm not well researched on the South China Sea issue but they definitely do not claim the entire thing for themselves. The lines are indeed blurry regarding this area due to its history of colonialism and war. As far as I know it's perfectly legal to build islands if they want to, at least their military bases are defensive and close to their homeland unlike some countries.

The Taiwan issue is incredibly complex and historical but as far as I know the Chinese government pushes for peaceful reunification, not invasion. To the Chinese, Taiwan is a part of China and so are it's people, they are brethren, they do not want to kill and invade them.

I don't have an opinion on whether or not it's legal to execute criminals in China. I'll just say that many in the west support capital punishment and many other countries besides China continue to practice it today. It doesn't make them an evil regime.

As for the war, due to geography China is inextricably tied to Russia and hurting that relationship would hurt the Chinese citizens. I think the government is trying to approach the situation with caution and doing whatever works out best for their own economy without "taking sides". Ultimately it's not their war and they don't want anything to do with it, it's a net loss for them whether they support Ukraine (lose Russian economic activity), support Russia (get shut out by the west economically), or stay neutral (people like you see that as supporting Russia anyway)

There are hundreds of other interviews just like this by independent journalist from all sorts of Chinese cities. The interviews show people have varied and nuanced opinions about their government and the outside world... You're telling me they're all hand picked for propaganda?

Of course their education system is based on China, just like every other country's is based on their own history. I've found in general they answer questions with a realistic understanding of other countries, but of course there are ignorant people in China just like there are also ignorant people in the west.

It seems that you're trying really hard to hate a system that is genuinely helping and listening to it's people.

This video shows some interviews with Chinese people. These people feel that they have freedoms equal to western countries and they feel represented by their government. What exactly about their experience is false or makes them "brainwashed"?

You really think they're that ignorant? If you were to ask a Chinese person they'd probably tell you that they already have a democracy, as the government works for the people above all. Your idea that they're all oppressed but just too stupid to realize is false.

A quick google search showed me that China is ranked 42nd in terms of wages, that's far from the lowest and near many European countries. How much do you actually know about the life of ordinary Chinese people? If you take the time to find some videos of regular Chinese living their regular lives I think you'd be surprised.

I didn't say everything on YouTube was true, but there are hundreds of unrelated videos from different regions in China showing that Chinese people are living ordinary, modern lives. That is a lot of evidence against the picture that many westerners have of China

I'm not asking you to believe anything I'm saying, but if you're really critical and value the truth you should take a look through some YouTube videos of daily life in China, I think you'd be surprised what you see.

On a side note, finding any little thing about someone like an "unverified email" and using that to completely disregard their opinion is not productive to the conversation. Do you honestly believe that I'm a robot or secret agent from China??

You have a warped view of China in your head that has no relation to reality. Stop focusing only on the headlines about China and look through some sources on the ground. Daily life in China is not so different from the life you and I live.