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PaperclipPerfector  10d ago (text post)   25769 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026

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We're arguing in circles about different things.

If you have power, real power, you don't care about the public narrative. What zeitgeist transformation? What the peasants think has zero ability to threaten the actual position of those in power.

Soros-as-a-giant-cartoon-villain meme has existed for basically as long as I've been alive. What has it done to stop him?

If you have power, real power, you don't care about the public narrative.

Would you argue that Xi Jinping, and by extension the CCP, does not hold "real" power? Why would they care so much about controlling the public narrative in China if it were completely irrelevant to those in power?

And that's in a dictatorship. Isn't the need to manufacture consent even more dire in a democracy?

Yes, I would definitely argue that. The CCP's actions and behaviors are not those of a secure government comfortable with its power. They are actively trying to improve their lot and automate the control because of it.

Huh. Would you argue that to be the case for all authoritarian governments then?

I am not familiar with all authoritarian governments.

I am relatively familiar with the CCP. People consider the CCP near all-powerful, but it is a relative eyeblip in China's long history of internecine conflicts and bloody wars. They are facing real problems they can't bulldoze over, and their rulership is bought with economic prosperity. They have bought a lot of economic prosperity, to be fair, and their achievements are undeniable, but the Party is 100 million members strong and has internal politics that are viciously cutthroat. The things Xi had to do in order to consolidate power even just within the Party were significant, and trust within the Party cannot be considered high.

That's surprising to me and good to know. I guess the external facade of a strongly unified country is just that, a propagandist facade.

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