this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
145 points (80.6% liked)
World News
32083 readers
995 users here now
News from around the world!
Rules:
-
Please only post links to actual news sources, no tabloid sites, etc
-
No NSFW content
-
No hate speech, bigotry, propaganda, etc
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I visit China frequently for work and feel that the impression most older Americans have of China is incredibly out of touch. The traditional media portrayal of the country is definitely a part of this. Yes, it's certainly an authoritarian state, but this doesn't change whether the people are nice or what they want in life.
Hot take. What's the eli5 behind the idea?
I don't necessarily agree with "moral". In western democracies laws and use of force doesn't legitimize itself by a call to morality usually. Just using some kind of authority, doesn't make a government authoritarian by any common definition of the word.
Yes, but very indirectly. We don't have a "moral police", but one that enforces laws which are, as you say, legitimized by the people as a sovereign.
So you don't see police stopping people on "moral grounds" in some vague interpretation.
What about abortion? Tracking if women are pregnant and hunting them down if then stop being pregnant.
Usually codified by lawy not prosecuted as "immoral behaviour" as such. Although if you look at recent anti-abortion legislation in the US it is intentionally vague. That shifts some burden of interpretation to the executive branch and is a sign of authoritarianism I'd say.
No, it's about the legitimization of law, the legitimization of use of power, checks and balances and unconditional human rights.
Authoritarianism was a bullshit term invented by child-fucker libertarians to frame themselves as being the good guys.
And every functional family.
That makes no sense.
I've been once for work. Didn't have an issue with anyone there. I live in Australia now and a few of my friends are Chinese. In fact, I've had 2 Chinese really good friends / best friends
None of them agree with the government at all