one thing most any leftist will say about china despite supporting the country is that they're a very traditionalist culture, and so LGBTQ issues in particular are a blight on leftist westerner's otherwise positive view of china.
upon scrolling thru rednote, i think that's bullshit now. i really don't think you're worse off being LGBTQ in china than you are in america. yeah, you can't get married, but that right is under constant threat of being taken away in the US anyway and let's be real- it probably will be taken away. meanwhile, china is making progress on that front, the US wants to regress.
i saw multiple LGBTQ people on rednote. i saw a lesbian couple, one of the girls even said "LGBT is completely normal in china now, especially in the cities. even the older generations who might not accept it mind their own business". can that be said about america? how many queer people here have been accosted by some boomer who couldn't mind their own business? i saw the gayest fucking dude i've ever seen in my life (that's a compliment). he was also wearing makeup and sassily singing along with destiny's child. completely comfortable in his skin and with his identity, and while all of the comments and his speaking were in mandarin that i couldn't understand, you can tell by the vibe it was all positive. meanwhile in progressive america, if you're a guy who wants to put on makeup and go live on tiktok you're gonna face all sorts of homophobia and bigotry.
one of the few things western liberals could really say about china, that even those of us who are left wing and pro china thought to be at least somewhat true, appears to just straight up not be true.
Probably not as much as you think, XHS is one app that represents a microcosm of Chinese society and a specific demographic. You can't judge a country by what you see on a single social media app. For a reverse scenario, imagine judging all of the USA by what you see on US Facebook for instance. You'd think the entire country was full of conspiracy theorists who don't understand modern society.
Then there's also the halo effect that's going on with Chinese users trying to be nice and welcoming to the foreigners, and Americans being on their best behaviour so they don't screw this up. So I wouldn't take everything at face value at this point in time. Something like that won't last forever, eventually the halo will wear off, on both sides.
That sounds like an accurate description of US society to be honest, especially the conspiracy theorists. Just look at how so many people thought Covid was a Chinese bioweapon. There's a reason why so many weird cults like Scientology has origins in the US. What people trip up is understanding why your average USian is so prone to conspiracy, and it boils down to living in a surveillance state with a completely untrustworthy government. When you read about shit like MKULTRA or Operation Northwoods or Operation Sea-spray, it's very easy to suck into a conspiracy rabbit hole of "what else are they lying about." I knew Black people who thought the Covid vaccine was some massive human experimentation and they cited Tuskegee as an example.
shh everyone wants this wholesome star trek esque cultural exchange (the U.S. is not the Federation in this one) to never end
i know i do! enjoying it while i can
The US is the Ferengi, but the Americans on XHS are supporters of Grand Nagus Rom.
If the community somehow pulls this exchange off, is it a China W?
It's already a massive China W, and the longer it stays up the better it is for them I think. Best case for China is having the US pull the plug in a few months, that way they get all the wins, and get to look like the good guys ("if the Chinese are so censored, why doesn't our government let us talk to them?"). It also significantly damages US propaganda, all the Americans having good experiences with Chinese people and learning about China are less likely to believe the next China Bad push. The secondary effect of this is Americans who have positive contact with Chinese people will spread pro-Chinese thought to other Americans, I think that this is the main benefit.