In light of another desperate wave of US reporting to drum up fear of China, here& #39;s a story so sad it& #39;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& #39;t know this?]
I said "yes..."
They responded completely sincerely with, I kid you not, "Was it a real one?" https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😂" title="Face with tears of joy" aria-label="Emoji: Face with tears of joy">

fyi these weren& #39;t conservatives (otherwise I wouldn& #39;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& #39;s what& #39;s so disturbing.