This is a bad piece, and the dumbest kind of whataboutism. https://www.theverge.com/21355465/tiktok-us-china-information-nationalism-online-propaganda?fbclid=IwAR35wunrhendHFI3fyAxN_oOYr6VTnZXA4_w1mdxacYxQl5oQYAOhjSSKLo

it's notable that even in the paragraph where she's like 'it's hard to know if the U.S is better, worse, or the same as China' the examples she cites *are infinitely worse on the Chinese side.*

U.S federal forces held people without charge for like twelve hours in Portland. That's bad! It's a genuine slippery slope! It doesn't compare to the scale of Chinese repression in the slightest.

When you talk about the Trump administration's authoritarian moves - which should be a subject of deep worry and action by Americans - as though they compared to *what already exists* in China, you don't only do a disservice to the suffering there, you strengthen Trumpism.

The ability to *resist* authoritarianism remains extremely strong in the United States, despite being thinner than it was four years ago. It is non-existent in China.

also, pet peeve, but *asking people if they approve of the government's direction' in a country where people are sent to jail for criticism is not a meaningful comparable poll to asking that question in a democracy!

at best you can compare it to the previous years in that country, and even then it may be telling you more about people's increased fear of answering wrong than actual feelings.