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Honestly, this.

Speaking as a “tankie,” people go too far if they deny that anything happened at all. It was a significant and controversial event, enough that Deng Xiaoping himself resigned over it. But what I don’t get is why people are so obsessed with it, when the shit that happened under Mao was way worse, and this happened so long ago. I think people are just uneducated and disinterested in Chinese history, so they’re vaguely aware of like to three events from it that they name-drop endlessly to own the tankies. It’s such a tiresome and repetitive subject, and the obsession shuts down more intelligent, nuanced discussion about China and global politics.

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Kacarott@aussie.zone ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
The reason I think it is somewhat of a big deal is less the fact that it happened, but rather the fact that the Chinese government seems like it tries to hide it, or at least downplays it a lot.

Compare with Germany, where some of the most horrific events in history took place. But Germany acknowledges it and actively teaches people about how bad it was.

The current Chinese government still seems to be trying to cover up for the mistakes of a previous government. (At least, as far as I am aware)

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- Objection@lemmy.ml ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  That’s a fair point, but I think people are too attached to this 1984 idea of what dystopia looks like. Like, I’m free to criticize Mitch McConnell all I want, but if it has zero actual impact on his political power, then is it really anything more than jester’s privilege?
  
  Of course, it’s a valid criticism, but is it enough to write off the whole country as a dystopia, rather than critically examining the positive and negative aspects together? Does censorship of a 40 year old event outweigh, for example, poverty alleviation?
  
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  - Kacarott@aussie.zone ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Well first, the US political system is a total mess. In any good system the amount of criticism McConnell gets should impact him, thereby making the ability to criticise valuable.
    
    But yes, I certainly don’t think that China is the dystopian nightmare that it is sometimes portrayed as, and it certainly does many things well. However covering up tragedies is still a point worth criticising, and any point worth criticising is worth criticising often (in the hopes that it might change one day).
    
    And this goes for any country, good and bad (by whatever metric one might decide that with).
    
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    Objection@lemmy.ml ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    That’s fair. But I’d rather focus on things in my own country where I (theoretically) have some say over what happens. The only means I have really over the Chinese government would be through the US government interfering. That’s not to say the affairs of other countries aren’t important to pay attention to and understand from an academic standpoint, but I don’t see how I’m supposed to effect change through criticism of China from abroad.
    
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Zpiritual@lemm.ee ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I’ll keep “obsessing”/highlighting over how a atrocious thing was done and then ignored after the fact. If this shit that happened in the middle of the main square in the capital for all the world to see isn’t fully recognised by the leadership and government what other potentially vastly more horrible things are being executed in their name elsewhere?

The answer is we don’t know and as long as what obviously happened isn’t fully acknowledged we have no reason to even give them any benefit of the doubt in any related matters based on anything they claim. That’s what is being "oppsessed"about.

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- Objection@lemmy.ml ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  
  what other potentially vastly more horrible things are being executed in their name elsewhere?
  
  And so you speculate and assume the worst. It’s very easy to manipulate this perspective through propaganda, and the media does so all the time. Instead of saying things outright, which they might be held accountable for if the claims are later disproven, you’re led to fill in the gaps with your own imagination. So, a person is said to have “disappeared,” and you immediately think they’re in some black site, but if they reappear and it turns out they were fine all along, the media can say, “Well, we personally didn’t know where they were.”
  
  Of course, there’s also stuff that the CIA covered up for decades, such as the 1953 Iranian coup. And most people are simply unaware of it because it’s never discussed in the news. I suppose it’s different in that it was done to a foreign country but I’m not sure that makes it better. In any case, they have the capability to do things like that without the public’s knowledge.
  
  No doubt, any comparison between the two will be met with “whataboutism,” regardless of the relevance of the comparison. But shouldn’t we also say that it’s impossible to say what, “potentially vastly more horrible things are being executed in their name elsewhere” regarding the US?
  
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