Chinese governments like speech that is friendly to China. US governments like speech that is friendly to the US.
We call it censorship when a government censors self-criticism, but a big part of that calculation hinges on how much criticism a government is subjected to at any given moment.
If you’re seeing a lot of Chinese criticism - and a lot of second-order “China is censoring the criticism!” stories - that’s more often the result of a national media push to divorce the US public and economy from China. If you’re seeing a lot of US self-criticism and resulting domestic government backlash, that’s more often the result of a divided US populace that’s lost sight of it’s Overseas Enemy Cold War fixation.
The day Trump leaves office, you’re going to see a tidal wave of “China Bad!” articles slam into your news feed, like the Red Sea after Moses squeezes it shut again. Then we won’t see “US censorship!” hand-wringing until the political scene starts polarizing again.
Chinese governments like speech that is friendly to China. US governments like speech that is friendly to the US.
We call it censorship when a government censors self-criticism, but a big part of that calculation hinges on how much criticism a government is subjected to at any given moment.
If you’re seeing a lot of Chinese criticism - and a lot of second-order “China is censoring the criticism!” stories - that’s more often the result of a national media push to divorce the US public and economy from China. If you’re seeing a lot of US self-criticism and resulting domestic government backlash, that’s more often the result of a divided US populace that’s lost sight of it’s Overseas Enemy Cold War fixation.
The day Trump leaves office, you’re going to see a tidal wave of “China Bad!” articles slam into your news feed, like the Red Sea after Moses squeezes it shut again. Then we won’t see “US censorship!” hand-wringing until the political scene starts polarizing again.