After seeing a megathread praising Mao Zedong, an actual mass killer, and a post about a guy saying “99% of westerners are 100000000000% sure they know what happened in ‘Tiny Man Square’ […] the reasons for this are complex and involve propaganda […],” I am genuinely curious what leads people to this belief system. Even if propaganda is involved when it comes to Tiananmen Square, it doesn’t change the atrocities that were/are committed everywhere else in China.

I am all for letting people believe what they want but I am lost on why one would deliberately praise any authoritarian system this hard.

Can someone please help me understand why this is such a large and prominent community? How have these ideals garnered such a following outside of China?

EDIT: Thank you to everyone who has responded! This thread has been very insightful :)

  • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.todayEnglish
    1·
    21 days ago

    Thanks for an honest answer.

    Can I ask you about your feelings on the classic picture of the dude standing in front of a line of tanks with his hand up in the “stop” gesture?

    • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      31·
      21 days ago

      I think the full video shows that the driver of the tank displayed a lot of patience and the whole situation could’ve been a lot uglier if the tank had done anything about the guy climbing on it.

      • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.todayEnglish
        11·
        21 days ago

        Homie, I’m going to be real with you. That looks like he jumped on the tank and then back down.

        I was asking you about the whole him being run over moment.

          • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.todayEnglish
            21·
            21 days ago

            Homie, there is still a line of tanks in that video you just linked.

            I’m old AF and saw shit sir happen in real time.

            No hate(and America is likely worse given our history) by you gotta be objective!

            Unarmed police vs. violent students?

            I am asking you honestly, does that sound probable?

            • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
              131·
              21 days ago

              There’s pictures of the police and their vehicles burning, and there’s video of the tanks stopping until the road is clear. If there was evidence that the tanks ran over some people and evidence that there was violence from the government side before June 4 then I’d change my tune for sure. I don’t have a problem with admitting when a socialist country does something wrong[1], and as I said I’m already critical of the fact that the CPC had allowed things to reach this point in the first place. But I’m not going to denounce them for things that I have no evidence for.

              Unarmed police vs. violent students?

              I am asking you honestly, does that sound probable?

              Not to an American, I guess. But if the evidence showed something different I would let you know.

              Here’s a simple trick: check the density of citations in a summary of the “Tiananmen Square Massacre” from a source that claims that a massacre actually did take place and more than a thousand people were killed. Then check the density of hard evidence (first hand accounts, pictures and video) referenced by the comment I linked originally. When the narrative is that the CPC massacred a thousand+ innocent people, you’ll likely get 3 pictures and a few quotes. When the narrative is that there were skirmishes between students and the government that led to a few hundred people killed on both sides, there’s a mountain of evidence.

              1. For example, China invaded Vietnam to punish them for stepping into Cambodia to fight the Khmer Rouge. This was a completely unnecessary invasion and China should have absolutely never supported the Khmer Rouge. They also supported the Western aligned side in several conflicts in Africa and Latin America purely because they wanted to impede the Soviets. There are some legitimate reasons why they opposed the Soviets which is getting a bit into the deep lore of 20th century Communist history, but none of them justify using the Global South as their pawns and aligning with capitalist empire. IMO, even if the Tiananmen Square Massacre had happened, this would still be the worst thing the PRC ever did ↩︎

            • Diva (she/her)@lemmy.ml
              111·
              21 days ago

              I was asking you about the whole him being run over moment.

              I’m old AF and saw shit sir happen in real time.

              You saw him get run over?

              I don’t think I’ve ever seen that footage