The Fake Xinjiang Allegations Caused me to Lose my Job & Friends

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Weyland@lemmygrad.ml⁩ to ⁨china@lemmygrad.ml⁩

As some of you in the West might know; the newspapers are filled to the brim with the "newly" released stories from Xinjiang. Well, I had an old friend reach out to me and tell me that they are against everything I stand for (supporting China) and that they wish that if/when I go to China I'll be oppressed like the Uyghurs. Before I had a chance to reply I had already been blocked. So I thought to go and check others and whether others had blocked me as well. I now have at least 2 people who deleted me because of anti-China propaganda. And while some of you might say; don't cry over spilt milk ... I do feel like more of a pariah with every day I stay in the West and openly support China.

These issues started during COVID. The sheer sinophobia I had to deal with on a daily basis during that time was absolutely sickening, but I mostly just grinned and bare it. Most of my time these last few years (while I wait for borders to reopen) is volunteering my time at a care centre for elderly people. Seeing as most of them have onset dementia I don't really get into arguments with them on China issues, as it's a fool's effort, but the anti-Chinese diatribes in the news have already caused the residents to not want me to come during the first waves of COVID and to not want me to cook Chinese food for them. These people read newspapers religiously and with these latest lies placating multiple pages I got told both today and yesterday that I don't have to care for these specific residents anymore. I'm lucky in that this job isn't a real job in that I don't need it to stay afloat financially, but I still feel really conflicted. I should probably continue volunteering and just help other elders in this complex or other complexes, but I have decided that I won't. Back during COVID, I was able to understand it somewhat that their xenophobia came from the fear of me transmitting COVID to them (because I interact with Chinese people and in their eyes would be more likely to be a carrier). Only this Monday I was literally showing and telling one of these residents, who used to be a farmer, about Chinese seawater rice and talking to them about the olden times and seeing their eyes light up to only be told today that they don't want me to come anymore because I support that very same China. I should feel very bad about leaving the remaining residents I helped, but I'm planning on quitting in a week or 2/3 and from then on I won't put another iota of my time and effort into improving Western society unless it also directly helps the people in the global South.

I'm just so tired.

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SaddamHussein24@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
Sorry to be blunt, but if they blocked you just because of your political opinions, then they were never your friends. A real friend doesnt care about your political opinions, he may disagree but he will always be your friend no matter what. Heck here in Spain when we had the Civil War in 1936 you would have literal fascists helping their communist friends flee the country and escape execution at the hands of the fascists. Thats what real friendship looks like mate. Dont even bother with those losers.

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- Weyland@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
  One of them literally spent a few months with me in China. The other, while not a good friend, I did enjoy a few dinners and hours commuting with. Knowing that a person is disgusted by you to a point where they'd rather just forget the many many hours you've spent together all because of a propaganda campaign launched by a doomsday cult in collaboration with the US government really puts things in perspective.
  
  I have the feeling that if I lived through the worst of McCarthyism these same people would have me handed over to the central authorities, or worse if I lived in Indonesia during their genocide campaigns they'd personally take me to the beach, plant me face first in the sand and put a bullet through my head. What propaganda can do to people never fails to surprise me.
  
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  - SaddamHussein24@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
    Damn, thats fucked. Maybe anglos are especially deranged i dont know. Here in Spain ive never seen anything like this. Like my parents, who are very left wing, almost communist (i guess you could call it "communist with liberal characteristics") have an old friend who is very right wing, possibly even fascist (he served as an officer in the spanish military during the fascist dictatorship). While they ofc rarely talk politics because the discussion can get very heated, they nevertheless are friends, and its not like they dont know each others political ideas. I dont know maybe anglos are more brainwashed than us.
    
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- ledward@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
  Yeah I feel like it's a blessing in disguise more than anything.
  
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ledward@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
There's no need to feel bad. You didn't do anything wrong. Sorry for what you've dealt with.

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- Weyland@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
  That's the thing though: I'm very privileged. I'm complaining about getting some dirt on my clothing all the while my "Chinese-looking" friends get planted face first in the mud. I want to work towards building a human community with a shared future, but I'm living in a society where just the mere thought of such a project is seen as utopian. Getting tired of having to hold my tongue whenever someone is being overtly racist just to maintain the jovial atmosphere and not ruin the mood.
  
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  - ledward@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
    Well, their suffering is worse sure, but I think you have a right to complain about how you've been treated too. It all matters to an extent.
    
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DankZedong@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
Sounds rough mate. Do I understand it correctly that you are of Chinese origin?

I can understand what you mean. I support China too and I'm more and more vocal about it as well. What works for me when engaging in discussion is that I try to remain as calm as possible while also stating the facts I have at my disposal. A lot of people can't argue their way around actual facts as they can most of the time hear themselves rambling. If it doesn't work I just agree to disagree on it and leave it. I never get angry.

On the one hand you don't want to become a pariah, on the other hand you also don't want to just accept the lies people tell you all the time. It's a difficult balance to find. Especially when you're not the one being hostile. Remaining calm and collected and convinced of your point of view is important here. I know it's hard, but don't let these people beat you down. Stay strong, but vent if you need to.

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- Weyland@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
  I'm as white as they come, that's part of why it is so infuriating. I too try to remain calm, it has been months since I lost my temper and that was when someone (not an elderly person) laughed in my face while telling me that Iraq deserved the invasion and that it didn't matter that a million people died in the desert because these people were and will always be savages.
  
  Often asking people what they know about a topic and what they've read. Asking who after Xi Jinping is the most powerful man in China when discussing the CPC and asking some geographical questions or even bringing up Adrian Zenz/Falun Gong when discussing Xinjiang gives me enough of a window into their lack of understanding and often that they're often proud of not knowing more when compared to myself who in their eyes is completely brainwashed. In their eyes, their ignorance wins over my brainwashing.
  
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  - DankZedong@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
    Some people are just wilfully ignorant or simply don't care. I don't want to give them too much attention.
    
    But some people are just misinformed. Think about it. If all you hear about a country is that they oppress minorities or even genocide them, you'd be mad as well. It took me hours of digging through sources to figure out what was really going on. These people often don't do that. That's why I try to remain calm and let them get used to the idea of it not being all bad.
    
    Unfortunately this takes a lot of time and patience, something I don't always have. I can't judge them because they are misinformed. I can judge them for not wanting to listen though.
    
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holdengreen@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
I had a kind of sh*try experience when I volunteered to help homeless people.

A couple of old folks I worked with were libs u know upset about Russia and trying to boycott and that...

Anyways I suggested maybe a lot of homelessness brings down wages... (trying to apply/misappropriate Marx). They were mean to me but there was a homeless guy there I forgot about who said most of them don't even want to work anyways.

Then you know talking to those libs about China too is a lost cause to a large degree.

I talked to other volutunteers about what I'm reading and learning about China and I think they were OK with it.

There was a volunteer with a blue lives matter flag but I didn't talk to him much.

To a large degree petty politics shouldn't interfere with most of your volunteer work if it just entails making sure people are housed and/or fed and entertained.

I'm sorry people are being used to be clowns like this.

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- Weyland@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
  It shouldn't interfere with it. But seeing as in my case I need to actively interact with these people and do some talking: the topic of China sometimes comes up whenever I need to grasp for straws on what to talk about. That and my phone is in Chinese and me now and then sending a voice message to my friends back in China makes it so that the topic of China is unavoidable... I'm not willing to just turn off my phone for the hours I'm there, especially when some of these elders are not 100% there mentally.
  
  Luckily, I don't live in the United States (anymore, used to be a citizen). But being from the Netherlands there is this culture of becoming a pariah just by merely a square peg in a round hole.
  
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  - holdengreen@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
    I can't even get my family to ditch the anti-russia anti-china hysteria.
    
    I can spread things I've learned and read but MSM and some conditioning still has a big hold on many people's minds which is tough to break.
    
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Rafael_Luisi@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago
Get out of the shithole that is the west if you can, people on the global south are mostly a lot less worse.

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