I absolutely agree that China has a variety of ethnic groups, but I'm referring more to race as a social construct -- in reference to a population that shares physical or social qualities viewed as distinct by society.Originally Posted by ~Rocktar~
Again: "Race" refers to a variety of social categories and characteristics, it's racist because it erodes those distinctions in the interest of negative stereotyping rather than supporting them in the interest of cultural nuance. The framework used there is propaganda intended to bolster and support that mentality, foist accountability, and vilify another group of people.
You can have a different opinion, if you want -- I stand by my statement.
Fine, but your credibility for requesting such is wearing thin.
There would still be slight racist overtones (in the sense of a doctrine or political program based upon racism and designed to propagate its principles), in the manner I explained before, but I don't think they would be quite as pronounced in this case were it not for current events.
The US and China have been in economic conflict for some time now; I'm speaking of the ongoing trade war as political motive to encourage antagonistic agendas that stoke geopolitical (and subsequently, racial) divides. The specific phrasing used continues certain attributions and assertions, such as referring to the "same communist govt" (there's no specific reason to mention communism in this context unless doing so plays to your audience's extant fears about said government) and "unleashing a plague on the world" (which implies an aggressive and/or deliberately malicious act rather than something that is a product of the natural world), which serves little purpose other than to foster an "us versus them" mentality. While a lot of that is obviously conjecture and demonstrates little on its own, the principle behind the latter is the same racist bullshit that motivates the continued insistence on referring to COVID-19 as the "Wuhan" virus in order to continue directing subtle blame at China, even though geographical proximity no longer has anything to do with what is assuredly a global pandemic... and we have little room to throw shade given our current position in the worldwide standings.
The fact that the meme was shared from Facebook, an American-owned company with a multitude of comparable privacy issues, is an example of how there might be political motive to undermine anything presenting as "Chinese" or China-adjacent; that instance may or may not have any direct connection and is certainly arguable, so take that however you want, but there's a vast precedence of this sort of purposeful and widespread undermining as political propaganda. To Rocktar's credit, such absolutely does not preclude aspects of this being a matter of national security (which was his prior stated concern), nor disprove that "stealing our data" in this case doesn't point exclusively to IP theft on the part of China; the takeaway isn't that China (as a governmental entity) is in any way blameless in any of this, but rather, that the position the meme asserts is not without external context.
The racism in support of its agenda is consequential, not direct.
That has little direct correlation to what I said, regardless of whether or not the accusations of covering it up are true -- which, given China's governmental propensity for censorship and propaganda, may be the case.
Again: Not an argument I made, and only related insomuch as I stated above.
The assertion made that anyone "cheered" states banning church services, gatherings, and businesses not reopening is another ridiculous attribution, and it's been significantly demonstrated that mandating face coverings was the right thing to do in the circumstances. In short, the meme is trying to shove these dissimilar facets into one singular (and dishonest) portrait of hypocrisy by doing little other than putting words in their opposition's mouth and making racist jabs.
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