So since someone asked let me explain. Why have I spent 9 years teaching in China and 2 in Vietnam? Couple reasons. First, man the world is awesome and this is like my version of being semi-responsible and getting to see the world. I always had wanderlust always will 1/n

Someday I am going to move back to the US and my primary regret will be only the countries that I have not been to or spent as much time as I would like. I still haven't been to Sri Lanka yet. I love South East Asia. Vietnam is awesome and totally different from China 2/n

So why have I spent 9 years in China and 2 now in Vietnam? I wanted to see the world. It's awesome. Second, I am a firm believer in American values of freedom. I believe America is arguably the best force for good in the world over the past 100-200 years and is best when it 3/n

is engaged and promoting those values. I make zero apologies for holding those views. I believe America is strongest and those values are best conveyed through soft means. That means people like me teaching in China, Vietnam, interacting with people. As someone I know said 4/n

Let your actions do the talking. Use words only when necessary. One thing I love being apart of in Vietnam is these are two countries (US/VN) that are putting reconciliation into action. Let's not make any bones about it that it is a communist authoritarian government 5/n

Let's also say people talk openly about the day when Vietnam will transition to democracy. Very little is censored. Hopefully when that happens in my lifetime, I will have played some small part in helping to raise those leaders. I got fired for organizing to stop censorship 6/n

So let me assure you I understand those risks more than any suburban tenured professor in the US. Third, I want my kids to grow up with the experience of seeing the world. My three very white kids are fully age fluent in Chinese and two of them know both traditional and 7/n

simplified characters. Two of them last year were the only white kids in the entire school. One of them was a minority. They talk to their friends all over the world. As "eggs" (white on the outside yellow on the inside) they go to the US and miss Asian food. They argue 8/n

Over which Asian country to go to on vacation because we haven't been there yet. As a Dad, to me that is awesome. Though I owe no one any explanation, that is why I do what I do. If that makes me an authoritarian collaborator then so be it. I make zero apologies for having 9/n

worked where I have worked and lived. I now have much more actual knowledge and experience of CCP authoritarianism than pretty much everyone in DC and academia talking about this stuff put together. Balding out