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Why the Chinese Don't Have Opinions
PJ Media ^ | 09/03/2020 | Spengler (David Goldman)

Posted on 09/03/2020 6:39:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

An old Cold War joke reports an international poll that asks the same question in every country: “Excuse me, what’s your opinion of the meat shortage?”

The Poles say, “What’s meat?”

The Chinese say, “What’s opinion?”

The Americans say, “What’s shortage?”

The Israelis say, “What’s excuse me?”

No Chinese has ever run a community school board, a Little League association, or a volunteer fire brigade. For the past 2,500 years, and probably the past 5,000, orders in China have flowed downward from the top, through a vertical hierarchy. Everyone in the U.S. has an opinion about politics–we have to choose our leaders and spend a lot of time thinkingi about it. Our opinion matters. Political opinions don’t have an practical value in China, so the practical Chinese don’t bother having them.

China is run by a self-selecting committee of bureaucrats cherrypicked from the top 1/10th of 1% of university entrance exam scores. I won’t live in such a system. If someone tried to replace our Constitution with that sort of elitist arrangement, I would take up arms against it. But it is a catastrophic error to underestimate the Chinese, and it is merely petulant to complain about how nasty the ChiComs are. China’s economy will grow this year while ours will shrink. China crushed the COVID-19 pandemic (no, it’s not fake news) while we’re still trying to figure out what to do about it.

China well may dominate Artificial Intelligence, the driver of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Its government will spend $1.2 trillion on tech investments during the next five years, dwarfing what we spend. We aren’t dealing with a bunch of Marxist ideologues, but with a 5,000-year-old civilization that now wants to turn outward and assimilate most of the world.

(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: chinese; opinion; opinions
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1 posted on 09/03/2020 6:39:05 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

This has nothing to do with Marxism. There are fewer Marxists in China than in Cambridge, Massachusetts. China has been governed by a Mandarin caste selected by standardized exams for more than 2,000 years, and the Communist Party is merely today’s name for the new Mandarin bureaucracy. William F. Buckley said that he would rather be governed by the first 100 names in the Boston telephone directory than by the faculty of Harvard. China’s ruling caste is more like a government of National Merit Scholars. The Chinese look with contempt on a democracy that allows us to elect stupid leaders if we so desire.

Chinese civilization is 5,000 years old. Why has it lasted so long? You haven’t run into any Hittites, Sumerians, or Romans of late. Every time China collapsed it reconstituted itself on the same model. Foreign invaders became emperors and found there was only one way to run the place. So they assimilated and Chinese civilization prevailed.


2 posted on 09/03/2020 6:40:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

What is being outlined here is called “peasant mentality”. “I wake up, I go to work; the sun goes down, I go to bed. What difference does it make who’s in charge in the city?”


3 posted on 09/03/2020 6:43:07 AM PDT by Migraine ( Liberalism is great (until it happens to YOU).)
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To: SeekAndFind

Napoleon was right...............


4 posted on 09/03/2020 6:46:19 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very)
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To: SeekAndFind

Meritocracy based civilizations are often very stable, but shot full with corruption


5 posted on 09/03/2020 6:49:16 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: SeekAndFind

This article has a lot of good points but also a lot of errors.

First of all, the Chinese civilization is not 5000 years old, that’s Chinese propaganda. it’s somewhere around 3,500 year olds.

2ndly, this is reason for concern but not for alarm. It doesn’t matter how much they spend on R&D, their return on investment is always tiny compared to the west. Because in a society where any independent thought is immediately punished, it’s very difficult to accomplish goals that require ingenuity and creativity. That’s why China spend so much of their effort on stealing western research, they can’t do it themselves.


6 posted on 09/03/2020 6:49:33 AM PDT by Truthsearcher
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To: SeekAndFind

Chinese people have opinions and feelings in about the same degree as Americans.


7 posted on 09/03/2020 6:49:35 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: SeekAndFind

China is very ... Chinese.


8 posted on 09/03/2020 6:52:56 AM PDT by cdcdawg (Biden has dementia.)
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To: Truthsearcher

Many Chinese are US patent holders.

Chinese researchers unraveled Covid’s molecular structure last year.


9 posted on 09/03/2020 6:53:24 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Truthsearcher

RE: First of all, the Chinese civilization is not 5000 years old, that’s Chinese propaganda. it’s somewhere around 3,500 year olds.

What happened 1,500 years before the 3,500 Chinese civilization?


10 posted on 09/03/2020 6:54:19 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: Red Badger

RE: Napoleon was right...............

Exactly about what?


11 posted on 09/03/2020 6:54:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

China is reopen for business.

US politicians merely hop around like rabbits.


12 posted on 09/03/2020 6:56:32 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: SeekAndFind

Seek and Find. I never thought you were an ignorant buffoon before.


13 posted on 09/03/2020 6:56:35 AM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Migraine
-- What is being outlined here is called "peasant mentality". --

That's a good way to view it.

Another aspect is that in "the East," the society is superior to the individual, so being a peasant, drone, whatever, is the way things are supposed to be. Independent action is viewed as dangerous, to be avoided.

Globalists must have the world on the eastern model. It is essential that western civilization be demolished, by hook or by crook. That demolition is well underway, and other than a few speed bumps, like Trump's ascendancy to the presidency, will be accomplished.

The "fundamental transformation" is embraced by a majority of the young, and it is taught as fait acompli in the schools, think tanks, and so on.

14 posted on 09/03/2020 6:57:54 AM PDT by Cboldt
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To: SeekAndFind
“China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte
15 posted on 09/03/2020 6:59:08 AM PDT by Red Badger (Sine Q-Anon.....................very)
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To: SeekAndFind

Chinese parents believe their children should excel.

Chinese children try hard not to disappoint.


16 posted on 09/03/2020 6:59:14 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Cboldt

Globalists believe the federal government can’t effectively tax their wealth.

They are wrong.


17 posted on 09/03/2020 7:01:24 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: SeekAndFind

Chinese people certainly do have opinions and they will readily express them to and among people they trust. Opinions are often critical of the state. Probably few if any Chinese have ever run a Little League team, but many do run private organizations (which are fine as long as they do not challenge state authority). No question that China is an authoritarian state, but I think it’s good to stay real about these things and avoid exaggerated claims.


18 posted on 09/03/2020 7:01:59 AM PDT by Chengdu54
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To: SeekAndFind

https://www.quora.com/Suggesting-China-often-notes-it-has-5-000-years-of-history-On-what-basis-Is-this-an-internationally-agreed-claim-and-could-the-same-be-said-of-other-places-on-Earth/answer/Jason-Szeftel

This link has a quick explanation.


19 posted on 09/03/2020 7:04:12 AM PDT by Truthsearcher
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To: Cboldt

Globalists believe in kicking down the white middle class and white poor, who are the main domestic competitors to their own children.


20 posted on 09/03/2020 7:04:57 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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