> if these “TikTok refugees” stay true to themselves as Americans, they will inevitably try to “remake RedNote in their own image”, by challenging the cyberspace behavioral & cultural norms of the predominantly Chinese app.
This is happening already. I noticed yesterday that topics were turning more from simple curiosity towards deeper inspection and criticism (all of which is projection on the part of Americans), asking about highly controversial topics, notably gender equality and gay rights. While Americans have a right to know about these topics as they pertain to China, they also tend to judge the results with a distinctly American -- and distinctly condescending -- perspective.
For example, Americans are taken aback by how politically *in*correct these issues are in China, all the while disregarding the reality that things are working much better in China than in the US -- society is more harmonious, the people are generally unified. US PC and "woke" culture does nothing but sew division. From a class perspective, these issues obscure class interests and divide people based on various aspects of their identity, making them more manipulable by a ruling class. China knows this, and whatever inequalities that remain, China is dealing with their in their own way, none of which involves PC or wokeness.
Sure, the fuel to the fire is primary the US-loving Chinese liberals who make up a significant proportion of the app's userbase (most of whom have never actually set foot in the US), so the Americans are not purely to blame. But we are reaching a pivot point and its only a matter of which of the two forces prevails -- the emotive liberalism the prioritizing verbal proclamations of justice over action, or the silent majority who prefer unity and trust in their institutions. Time will tell.
> if these “TikTok refugees” stay true to themselves as Americans, they will inevitably try to “remake RedNote in their own image”, by challenging the cyberspace behavioral & cultural norms of the predominantly Chinese app.
This is happening already. I noticed yesterday that topics were turning more from simple curiosity towards deeper inspection and criticism (all of which is projection on the part of Americans), asking about highly controversial topics, notably gender equality and gay rights. While Americans have a right to know about these topics as they pertain to China, they also tend to judge the results with a distinctly American -- and distinctly condescending -- perspective.
For example, Americans are taken aback by how politically *in*correct these issues are in China, all the while disregarding the reality that things are working much better in China than in the US -- society is more harmonious, the people are generally unified. US PC and "woke" culture does nothing but sew division. From a class perspective, these issues obscure class interests and divide people based on various aspects of their identity, making them more manipulable by a ruling class. China knows this, and whatever inequalities that remain, China is dealing with their in their own way, none of which involves PC or wokeness.
Sure, the fuel to the fire is primary the US-loving Chinese liberals who make up a significant proportion of the app's userbase (most of whom have never actually set foot in the US), so the Americans are not purely to blame. But we are reaching a pivot point and its only a matter of which of the two forces prevails -- the emotive liberalism the prioritizing verbal proclamations of justice over action, or the silent majority who prefer unity and trust in their institutions. Time will tell.