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PaperclipPerfector  13d ago (text post)   25936 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026

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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.

It's not super helpful to think of "strongly unified" in the terms of "supporting the government". The best way to think of it is that the country is indeed strongly unified, as everyone even within China thinks of and wants to preserve the monolith. However, everyone realizes that if they are not on the top of the monolith, their footing is precarious and the punishment for not getting to the top can be extreme.

So of course the fighting over who gets to rule the top is vicious. China has to be governed pragmatically because if it isn't it won't last. As mentioned, the stability of government is bought with economic prosperity. If they can't keep delivering this, then they have to rely on other tricks to stay popular.

This also means that there's generally no hope for any kind of great revolution or Hollywood-style overthrow of the CCP ever because China (the country, inc. the older public) is extremely aware of the costs of revolution. Revolutions are not romantic in China, if the revolution is successful the new leaders might enact a new hell on earth, and if the revolution is unsuccessful the original leaders have to put everyone to death to secure their own seat. Very few people have any real hope that a new government would do a better job than the current one, and even if it did, they are aware that a shakeup would make their country weaker, not stronger, on the global stage.

I see. So are you arguing that the monolith itself is secure in its power (everyone wants to see it hold), but Xi himself is not (everyone wants his spot), and therefore Xi must use the monolith to control the popular narrative?

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