I feel this friction all the time in US leftist spaces and my impression is that it's a result of the difference in how Asian countries and the US treat the idea of democracy in their propaganda and how people react to it. 1/7 https://twitter.com/wilfredchan/status/1318980913712214016

Asian dictatorships tend to look down on or even outright state their opposition to democracy by citing legitimate flaws in how the US and other Western countries run their govts, or by using rhetoric about "gridlock" or "inefficiencies". 2/7

So naturally, when Asian activists become disillusioned with their govts, it's only natural to strive for this idea of democracy bc it's sth they've never really experienced. 3/7

US leftists, however, rightfully see how the US has used the rhetoric of liberal democracy as a tactic of oppression and justification for imperialism. However this also drives a lot of us into thinking that the idea of democracy itself is inherently a bad thing. 4/7

US leftist attitudes are also a reflection of our privilege bc even tho we clearly live under an oppressive system, for now we are allowed to express our anti-govt viewpoints, to a certain extent. Even with the qualifiers, that's not sth many Asian activists can do safely. 5/

I didn't plan on thinking of a way to reconcile these two attitudes when I started writing this thread but I suppose one way to do it is to point out how undemocratic and imperialist the US and Western "democracies" are, and their specific systems are not to be emulated... 6/7

...but also clearly state that just bc the US has co-opted the idea of democracy for its own propaganda narrative doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Like how just bc the USSR co-opted the idea of communism for its propaganda doesn't mean it's a bad thing. 7/7