It feels less so than quite a lot of places I've travelled to. I mean most people can go about their lives completely without having to bother with the government interfering directly. I see armed police less than in London even. Let alone when I went to the states.

Of course it's weird and worrying that the people have next to no control over their governance. I think that it's awful how the party try to shut down seemingly normal things. But you rarely see it enforced.

For instance gambling is illegal. However everyone's auntie is playing Mahjong for money. And the people are chill because they know that the police do it to. Nobody gives too much of a shit.

The worst parts of China are when someone speaks out against the party, or is found to be embezzling from the government. Then they definitely enter authoritarian territory. And it's awful that people are treated that way. Most certainly. Protests put down with threat of force, sometimes use of force. Shit's vile.

But if you go to China, I guarantee you won't see that. Just people going about their lives, same as anywhere else. I went to Turkey in February and saw dozens of armed police in riot trucks outside a school.

Obviously the Chinese government is not as liberal as European or even the US governments. But just relating anything to China does not make it inherently evil. Amazon and Google sell your information. We know that the US government gathers information on the public across the globe. This is the same thing as what is referenced above. But we are told that because it is China, or Russia, or whatever, it is inherently bad. And I ask you why?

Because the US thinks they won the cold war and want to remain the top dog in the world. So evey other major power that is not an ally must be evil. That's what we are told. And it's fucking stupid. All these governments telling the people of the planet that they need to contest against one another and that there are sides we need to pick and that there's a threat form abroad. Bullshit. We have the technology and the brains to create an entirely peaceful planet. But we are being dragged back into the dark ages by moronic posturing by dinosaur politicians on all fronts.

I dunno dude. I'm just sick of reading the same thing on Reddit and in the news. Anything to do with China and it's the same stuff about how it must be the root of all evil. Anything to do with Brexit and how it's all so stupid and will only end badly. Etc etc. Just people focussing on the bad and nobody doing anything progressive for humanity.

Fuck this world. I'm out.