In general I do agree (except for the recent Canada stuff - I believe it's more of a bluff than anything else)

But I want to respond to this:

> And to top it all off, despite having a much smaller population AMERICA HAS MORE PRISONERS THAN CHINA. Its insane

1. The US publically acknowledges who is in prison, China doesn't. You can be disappeared in China without anyone knowing.

2. The Chinese operate several Black prisons both within and without their borders. These are Prisons without actual sentences, laws or rights. The public doesn't even know of their existence. This is where you land up as a political prisoner in China.

3. The Chinese have placed thousands of Uigur muslims in "re-education camps" (not prisons) - many of whom are only guilty by association (i.e. there's no direct crime the CCP arrested them for, other than being a blood relative of someone who did commit one of these "crimes")

4. Chinese police are already spread thin enough dealing with all the political prisoners meaning there are many dangerous criminals who are freely committing crimes in China. The CCP keeps this information under tight wraps so as not to cause a panic. As a result the Chinese are a lot less cautious than they should be so (unofficial) crime levels are much higher than they should be. It's not uncommon to hear of (or see) Children who were kidnapped and had their limbs chopped off so they could beg more effectively - there has never been a widespread crackdown on this behaviour and many perpetrators are still walking the streets forcing children to beg for them.

5. Not to even talk about the prison organ harvesting claims made by several groups who have been persecuted by the CCP. From Falun Gong practitioners to Uigur muslims.

Also don't be lazy and just call this propaganda - I could easily do the same with other messages in this thread ("CCP propaganda") meaning it's not a strong argument to anyone on the fence / on the other side. Yes, it is very anti-China, but that's because I'm trying to bring it in contrast to the very anti-US message. I don't think either country is perfect and in fact I prefer to not live in (or near) either.

The US is largely talk, vs. the substantial action China takes and has taken against territories it considers its own.

The US importantly has a robust and independent judiciary where a fair trial is infinitely more likely than in China. Even for foreigners, the US legal system is accessible, understandable, and weildable for protection. It’s far from perfect, but 100x what you’d get in China.

This is fair and I think reflects my personal opinions on keeping children out of politics.

My point is more to do with seeing little kids being dressed up in CCP uniforms, handed a bayonette, and told to charge at the Japanese. I also agree we see this around the world "including movies and video games, which are also accessible to children" but I draw the line where it's being encouraged by the government to do these actions in person. Combine this with the anti-japanese rhetoric taught in primary education and it's a nasty combination*. [1]

Another thing to consider is that children are generally not given access to games/movies/whatever that have such mature themes by their parents.

I'd make this same argument if I saw US children being dressed up as US soldiers and asked to charge at Nazi "soldiers". Even though we can both (hopefully) agree that Nazi ideologies are/were disgusting and deserve to be bayonetted.

> If anything, Chinese content guidelines usually prohibit graphical display of violence, so it's much more of a milquetoast thing than e.g. South Park.

Not when the Japanese or another of China's enemies are involved. Then it's gloves off.

* Also I do want to give some slack here too, the Japanese have never acknowledged or apologised for their attrocities in WW2.

[1] https://asiatimes.com/2024/07/china-scrambling-to-unplug-ant...

I'm not making the claim that the US is innocent because China did all this stuff. I'm making the claim that I would feel much safer living on the Mexican-American, Canadian-American border or even in Panama, than I would near any of China's current conflicts. And that China is just as aggressive (if not more so) with their neighbours.

At least if the Americans win I don't have to be worried about becoming a political prisoner, forced into re-education camps, or having my organs harvested.

Also there are many more conflicts currently where China is involved than the US.