...your "valid criticism" will never escape the constraints of orientalism. racism is not a phenomenon of the individual, it's a class phenomenon owing its modern form to imperialism. racism is the crystallization of chauvinism among those classes who benefit from imperialist policy. words like "authoritarian" are taken for granted even though they have a priori definitions and they absolutely come out of the hegemony of these racist classes. sober study of the real is counterproductive or even impossible for these classes. instead, the labor aristocracy (to which all the users of this site belong) speaks from the soul: "the chinese way of life is incompatible with our democracy." nothing new here. the imperialist class proper happens to agree (https://twitter.com/chinfo/status/1182610604353376257)