I’ve been watching the sudden outpouring of support for people of Chinese and Asian descent flow from all corners of our mainstream media and political class.
My parents may be near the pinnacle of being Chinese weaponized immigrants in the US. They're believing everything they hear on the Radio Free Asia youtube channel and feeding it to my relatives that are willing to listen. They've also been trying to cook schemes to "spirit" away anticommunist relatives to the West from those in Mainland China and my idiot cousin who is being prosecuted for taking part in the CIA guarimba in Hong Kong.
They froth at relatives and family friends that refuse their idealisms of American supremacy, free market capitalism, Hong Kong/Southern China nativism, and their narrative of what China is.
They're somehow more extreme than my evangelical aunt and uncle whom organize underground Christian activities in mainland China (and I suspect, specifically anticommunist ones).
It's so sickening, and is like watching a slow motion trainwreak. It will be a very sad conversation when I will meet any them in the future, as I will tell them they've been sold a bill of goods.
Thank you for sharing this painful experience, and bless you for managing to keep your eyes open and your internal truth detector in functioning order. I am curious to know how you have managed to keep your own discernment so grounded in reality in the midst of so much faith in Goebbels style falsehoods among so many family members?
I started to question deeply into my family history, particularly their class background and seeing the patterns of capital flight. I also started doing research into China and really questioned "why was I born in this shithole of a country".
My father later revealed he grew up listening to RFA growing up and obsessed over free markets from smuggled Hong Kong magazines. Other relatives revealed a few of my relarives had been executed during the Mao era, mostly for being very wealthy. One was forced to walk on glass shards before being executed, perhaps a testament to the hatred the poor had for him.
This process helped weed out what had actually happened and what could be brushed aside as capitalist class filler nonsense.
For instance, my mother's complaints being a farmer growing up hid her change in fate when the Japanese invasion forced her grandfather leave his life as an accountant in a Western bank in Beijing; and her having to stay in the mainland while the rest of her relatives bailed to Hong Kong. My dad spoke about WWII in a bizarre way growing, as he later revealed that he thought the Japanese in China were not really as bad as people describe and actually contributed to the economy.
I also started reading accounts of Western expats in China that painted a far more accurate perspective of it than the doom and gloom narratives in the western press. Lastly, I also started critically analyzing the local Chinese TV station news broadcast, that was chock-full of neoconservative talking points and promotion of Hong Kong nativism beyond what Western media went into. I vaguely remember seeing a policy paper on Russia in a news segment claiming it was an expansionist power.
Yasha's substack also keeps me grounded in seeing the true horror and history of what the propaganda efforts targeted at future weaponized immigrants were.
I am impressed at the work you have done - if only a great many more people would do the same! I was fortunate at University in the UK to have the opportunity to study economic history with tutors who were willing to look at a wide range of ideas, and who tried to encourage us to read critically. One of the most fascinating courses was about 'the Chinese rural economy' between around 1900 and 1949, which included a study of the period immediately after the 1936 long march, and the policies which enabled the CCP not only to survive but to gain in strength. As I understand it, the anti-communist leaders assumed that the CCP was doomed at that point, because they ended up in a region which was then so impoverished it would not be able to support an army. The policies developed in response to that dire situation for the CCP are truly fascinating - written up in a book called 'Mao Zedong and the Political Economy of the Border Region', edited by Andrew Watson. This material does not appear in Mao's collected works because after he came into power at the national level in 1949 he wanted to move on to a different phase of policy, so wanted to suppress what he had written in the late 1930s. Mao of course made many huge mistakes after he came into power at national level, but having studied this earlier era gave me a permanently different perspective on modern China and the role the CCP played in China's development and liberation from western imperialism. Thank you again so much for sharing your experience, and for making so much effort to get past the propaganda lies.
PS: After a bit of digging, I found an article from a few weeks ago in the Washington Post that at least addressed the issue and even quoted one of the founders of Stop AAPI Hate. But it's all so tepid — and again puts the blame mostly on Republicans.
“When America China-bashes, then Chinese get bashed, and so do those who look Chinese. American foreign policy in Asia is American domestic policy for Asians,” said Russell Jeung, a history professor at San Francisco State University who last year helped found Stop AAPI Hate (AAPI stands for Asian American and Pacific Islanders). The advocacy group has tallied more than 3,000 incidents of bias and hate during the pandemic. “The U.S.-China cold war — and especially the Republican strategy of scapegoating and attacking China for the virus — incited racism and hatred toward Asian Americans,” Jeung said.
Wow --an invaluable article plus -- a list of past links which are a pure treasure. Right now the US is engaged in two new cold wars -- making the war industry ultra-happy. And there is a big elephant in the room...
Any accounting for the Russia-gate hoax would likely create a sea of change. The US military terrorism could began to be "defunded" and monopolies might be finally broken -- the coming climate change catastrophe might accelerate and take care of that also.
But - it is very unlikely that Biden administration will break-up HiTech monopolies -- instead censorship and surveillance will increase. About half of population already knows about DNC's and CIA/FBI security complex scam -- their scam of the century -- the Russia-gate hoax that was initiated by Obama/Biden administration.
The entire DNC lying team is back in power -- Pelosi, Schumer, Biden, Schiff, Nadler, Maxine Waters, Jamie Ruskin, etc. - with Obama and Hillary in background - promoting their proteges and co-conspirators a la Kamala Harris (Hillary's protégé), Neera Tanden, Melissa Hodgman (wife of the Comey’s infamous Peter Strzok), Pete Buttigieg, etc, etc.
The urgent question is perhaps: Who will be the first Democrat Congressman or Senator to publicly confirm the Russia-gate conspiracy - the huge now 5-year scam from the start? HiTech monopolies and MSM would have difficulty to silence the break in the dam plus -- the farce with Biden actually ruling and governing the country is rapidly coming to its end. In meantime the imperial actions and propaganda of hate will likely continue -- there is absolutely no "unity and healing" until the Russia-gate huge hoax is unmasked and the lying team knows that very well.
Trump was certainly a disaster on multiple dimensions -- not pardoning Julian Assange (probably his strongest ally on Russia-gate hoax) was not only one of his many crimes but also an illustration of his sheer stupidity. Trump also installed evangelical fundamentalist Robert Redfield to run critical organization CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) as its director in 2018 (he immediately increased his salary to almost $0.5M) who than decided to develop an American, hence "superior test kit" (despite that Chinese scientists in a record short time provided full virus genome and Germans and others developed a test kit adopted by WHO).
And -- "Chinese virus" and China hatred insane propaganda.
The new “superior and our” test kits failed and much delayed the ultra-important testing/tracing
– resulting that in the entire February only 256 people were tested?!? – the crime of a century. Redfield was on a board of the largest evangelical anti-gay organization while for a decade unsuccessfully developing AIDS vaccine (and fabricating results)….
Overall both parties are equally bad -- really two oligarch wings of same War party focused on controlling world's oil resources and aggressive non-compromising hostility to "godless" socialist countries who among other teach in schools evolution "hypothesis".. ;-))
Always remember Obama's statement: “Venezuela is fundamental threat to USA” -- declared Obama formally initiating regime change. What he meant is “Socialism is a threat to capitalism”… hence imperial War-party endless wars -- against Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, Libya, China…..
Same as it's ever been. The propaganda in this country is extremely pervasive and powerful. Most people don't even know it exists. Like the (marginally funny) joke, which I'd say is more of a parable in which a man witnesses two fish talking to one another in a bowl and asks them "How's the water?" So one fish asks the other "Water? What's water?" or something like that.
Some of the staunchest, if not the most staunch, anti-communists, anti-socialists, etc. are - as you've probably documented - mostly the descendants of well off immigrants from countries where a democratically elected (or otherwise popularly supported) government nationalized some industry or another and took away (likely) ill-gotten land or resources that were remnants of a colonial past. Venezuelan Americans, Cuban Americans and Vietnamese Americans in my own circles have nearly to a one been in that camp, but not all came from privileged families.
My parents may be near the pinnacle of being Chinese weaponized immigrants in the US. They're believing everything they hear on the Radio Free Asia youtube channel and feeding it to my relatives that are willing to listen. They've also been trying to cook schemes to "spirit" away anticommunist relatives to the West from those in Mainland China and my idiot cousin who is being prosecuted for taking part in the CIA guarimba in Hong Kong.
They froth at relatives and family friends that refuse their idealisms of American supremacy, free market capitalism, Hong Kong/Southern China nativism, and their narrative of what China is.
They're somehow more extreme than my evangelical aunt and uncle whom organize underground Christian activities in mainland China (and I suspect, specifically anticommunist ones).
It's so sickening, and is like watching a slow motion trainwreak. It will be a very sad conversation when I will meet any them in the future, as I will tell them they've been sold a bill of goods.
Thank you for sharing this painful experience, and bless you for managing to keep your eyes open and your internal truth detector in functioning order. I am curious to know how you have managed to keep your own discernment so grounded in reality in the midst of so much faith in Goebbels style falsehoods among so many family members?
I started to question deeply into my family history, particularly their class background and seeing the patterns of capital flight. I also started doing research into China and really questioned "why was I born in this shithole of a country".
My father later revealed he grew up listening to RFA growing up and obsessed over free markets from smuggled Hong Kong magazines. Other relatives revealed a few of my relarives had been executed during the Mao era, mostly for being very wealthy. One was forced to walk on glass shards before being executed, perhaps a testament to the hatred the poor had for him.
This process helped weed out what had actually happened and what could be brushed aside as capitalist class filler nonsense.
For instance, my mother's complaints being a farmer growing up hid her change in fate when the Japanese invasion forced her grandfather leave his life as an accountant in a Western bank in Beijing; and her having to stay in the mainland while the rest of her relatives bailed to Hong Kong. My dad spoke about WWII in a bizarre way growing, as he later revealed that he thought the Japanese in China were not really as bad as people describe and actually contributed to the economy.
I also started reading accounts of Western expats in China that painted a far more accurate perspective of it than the doom and gloom narratives in the western press. Lastly, I also started critically analyzing the local Chinese TV station news broadcast, that was chock-full of neoconservative talking points and promotion of Hong Kong nativism beyond what Western media went into. I vaguely remember seeing a policy paper on Russia in a news segment claiming it was an expansionist power.
Yasha's substack also keeps me grounded in seeing the true horror and history of what the propaganda efforts targeted at future weaponized immigrants were.
I am impressed at the work you have done - if only a great many more people would do the same! I was fortunate at University in the UK to have the opportunity to study economic history with tutors who were willing to look at a wide range of ideas, and who tried to encourage us to read critically. One of the most fascinating courses was about 'the Chinese rural economy' between around 1900 and 1949, which included a study of the period immediately after the 1936 long march, and the policies which enabled the CCP not only to survive but to gain in strength. As I understand it, the anti-communist leaders assumed that the CCP was doomed at that point, because they ended up in a region which was then so impoverished it would not be able to support an army. The policies developed in response to that dire situation for the CCP are truly fascinating - written up in a book called 'Mao Zedong and the Political Economy of the Border Region', edited by Andrew Watson. This material does not appear in Mao's collected works because after he came into power at the national level in 1949 he wanted to move on to a different phase of policy, so wanted to suppress what he had written in the late 1930s. Mao of course made many huge mistakes after he came into power at national level, but having studied this earlier era gave me a permanently different perspective on modern China and the role the CCP played in China's development and liberation from western imperialism. Thank you again so much for sharing your experience, and for making so much effort to get past the propaganda lies.
wow. i'm sorry about that. have they been in the united states for long?
since the late 80s.
PS: After a bit of digging, I found an article from a few weeks ago in the Washington Post that at least addressed the issue and even quoted one of the founders of Stop AAPI Hate. But it's all so tepid — and again puts the blame mostly on Republicans.
“When America China-bashes, then Chinese get bashed, and so do those who look Chinese. American foreign policy in Asia is American domestic policy for Asians,” said Russell Jeung, a history professor at San Francisco State University who last year helped found Stop AAPI Hate (AAPI stands for Asian American and Pacific Islanders). The advocacy group has tallied more than 3,000 incidents of bias and hate during the pandemic. “The U.S.-China cold war — and especially the Republican strategy of scapegoating and attacking China for the virus — incited racism and hatred toward Asian Americans,” Jeung said.
https://archive.is/Qs74B#selection-783.0-783.13
https://www.georgesoros.com/2022/01/31/george-soros-on-china-remarks-delivered-at-the-hoover-institution/
He is in good company. Condi Rice, Henry Kissinger, Niall Ferguson, Matt Pottinger, Francis Fukuyama, H. R. McMaster, James Mattis…lordy
Absolute psychosis! Chinese must stand behind Chinese exclusion act!
Wow --an invaluable article plus -- a list of past links which are a pure treasure. Right now the US is engaged in two new cold wars -- making the war industry ultra-happy. And there is a big elephant in the room...
Any accounting for the Russia-gate hoax would likely create a sea of change. The US military terrorism could began to be "defunded" and monopolies might be finally broken -- the coming climate change catastrophe might accelerate and take care of that also.
But - it is very unlikely that Biden administration will break-up HiTech monopolies -- instead censorship and surveillance will increase. About half of population already knows about DNC's and CIA/FBI security complex scam -- their scam of the century -- the Russia-gate hoax that was initiated by Obama/Biden administration.
The entire DNC lying team is back in power -- Pelosi, Schumer, Biden, Schiff, Nadler, Maxine Waters, Jamie Ruskin, etc. - with Obama and Hillary in background - promoting their proteges and co-conspirators a la Kamala Harris (Hillary's protégé), Neera Tanden, Melissa Hodgman (wife of the Comey’s infamous Peter Strzok), Pete Buttigieg, etc, etc.
The urgent question is perhaps: Who will be the first Democrat Congressman or Senator to publicly confirm the Russia-gate conspiracy - the huge now 5-year scam from the start? HiTech monopolies and MSM would have difficulty to silence the break in the dam plus -- the farce with Biden actually ruling and governing the country is rapidly coming to its end. In meantime the imperial actions and propaganda of hate will likely continue -- there is absolutely no "unity and healing" until the Russia-gate huge hoax is unmasked and the lying team knows that very well.
Trump was certainly a disaster on multiple dimensions -- not pardoning Julian Assange (probably his strongest ally on Russia-gate hoax) was not only one of his many crimes but also an illustration of his sheer stupidity. Trump also installed evangelical fundamentalist Robert Redfield to run critical organization CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) as its director in 2018 (he immediately increased his salary to almost $0.5M) who than decided to develop an American, hence "superior test kit" (despite that Chinese scientists in a record short time provided full virus genome and Germans and others developed a test kit adopted by WHO).
And -- "Chinese virus" and China hatred insane propaganda.
The new “superior and our” test kits failed and much delayed the ultra-important testing/tracing
– resulting that in the entire February only 256 people were tested?!? – the crime of a century. Redfield was on a board of the largest evangelical anti-gay organization while for a decade unsuccessfully developing AIDS vaccine (and fabricating results)….
Overall both parties are equally bad -- really two oligarch wings of same War party focused on controlling world's oil resources and aggressive non-compromising hostility to "godless" socialist countries who among other teach in schools evolution "hypothesis".. ;-))
Always remember Obama's statement: “Venezuela is fundamental threat to USA” -- declared Obama formally initiating regime change. What he meant is “Socialism is a threat to capitalism”… hence imperial War-party endless wars -- against Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, Libya, China…..
Thanks
Same as it's ever been. The propaganda in this country is extremely pervasive and powerful. Most people don't even know it exists. Like the (marginally funny) joke, which I'd say is more of a parable in which a man witnesses two fish talking to one another in a bowl and asks them "How's the water?" So one fish asks the other "Water? What's water?" or something like that.
Some of the staunchest, if not the most staunch, anti-communists, anti-socialists, etc. are - as you've probably documented - mostly the descendants of well off immigrants from countries where a democratically elected (or otherwise popularly supported) government nationalized some industry or another and took away (likely) ill-gotten land or resources that were remnants of a colonial past. Venezuelan Americans, Cuban Americans and Vietnamese Americans in my own circles have nearly to a one been in that camp, but not all came from privileged families.
Thank you again Yasha.