In light of another desperate wave of US reporting to drum up fear of China, here's a story so sad it's kinda funny.

When I showed this pic I took during my Shenzhen trip to some people here (I thought it was sweet) they actually said it felt "intimidating" and "authoritarian".

It gets better. When I mentioned buying groceries at a Walmart there, one of them asked "There are Walmarts in China!?" [who doesn't know this?]
I said "yes..."
They responded completely sincerely with, I kid you not, "Was it a real one?"

fyi these weren't conservatives (otherwise I wouldn't bother to bring this up). They were relatively educated, seemingly well-meaning, and identify as allies to POC, yet parrot neoliberal headlines intended to bring people harm. That's what's so disturbing.