
Learning to Survive Without WeChat - tysone
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/opinion/learning-to-survive-without-wechat-in-china.html
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KennyCason
It’s always interesting to me to see posts like this. While I certainly agree
with the author’s sentiment and concerns, I feel like I _never_ hear about
Chinese people actually complain about these concerns in China. Sure I hear
occasional and minor complaints about Facebook/Instagram being blocked.

If you told me to guess what percent of Chinese people actually have concerns
about the heavy monitoring by their government, I’d say <1%. Most aren’t even
aware of the extent of the monitoring/restrictions.

I do wish more people were aware. But there really aren’t many good ways to go
about bringing awareness. If you try anything, you’ll be squashed or jailed.
Me as a foreigner would also not attempt anything as it would likely mean
losing my visa which means I couldn’t visit my family, etc. Quite a complex
situation.

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okatsu
I had sort of come to peace with China having such heavy surveillance. Not
because I approved of it but really there's only so much you can judge when
your tax dollars go towards harming children overseas.

I recently learned about the Uighur situation though and it made me wonder if
the average Chinese citizen even knows about that either and would they even
care if they did. It's really a tricky state of affairs.

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KennyCason
Certainly. I try not to take too high of a moral high ground for many similar
reasons. US’s constant wars/conflict, our ridiculous murder/violence/crime
rates, the fact that China likely needed a very strong handed government to
unify China and push it forward.

I’m just mainly sour about having crappy and extremely restricted internet,
and wish more Chinese cared and could do anything about it. :)

