this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2025
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It raises hackles any time someone unironically uses the term "authoritarian", because its always used to demonize the non-white countries, and especially those that were successful in opposing the US imperialist project, which has killed more innocent people than any other empire in world history.
The PRC has not been in a war since its minor skirmish with Vietnam back in the 70s. It's also lifted more people out of poverty in the last few decades than any other country in history. By contrast the US has killed hundreds of millions of people, attacked our coup'd nearly every country, and its people are increasingly living in poverty and homelessness.
Secondly yes, the PRC is socialist, read this or any of the other texts ppl below have made.
If you restrict free speech I consider that authoritarian. I'm not ignoring that Western countries don't do this, because they do and are also authoritarian.
Are you a free speech absolutist? Can I post your address with a rough outline of your schedule and say that you deserve to be murdered? Not telling anyone to do it, mind you, merely that you "have it coming."
I don't think that I (or anyone) should be able to do that, though I also believe that the process for "restricting" speech in this manner should be arrived at democratically, i.e. society itself should decide what is and isn't permissible to say. Am I authoritarian on that basis?