China has lashed out at Germany after its foreign minister called Xi Jinping a “dictator” and summoned Berlin’s ambassador for a dressing down, in the latest flaring of tensions with a western democratic power over how the Chinese leader is described overseas.
Xi isn’t in the US and his country isn’t part of NATO. Political cartoons are as old as time. They poke fun at the individual, not their descent. By trying to make it more you’re arguing for it to be censored. He has feelings (maybe), but he has gone so far as to attempt to censor the cartoon from his own country. Not because he believes it is racist, but because his opinion is that he doesn’t like it. Streisand Effect of course, it gets used more. I think Xi does remarkably look like Pooh. Do other Asian persons? No. There isn’t an innocence about it. Xi feels bad by it, people use it to make him angry. He is a dictator with lots of power so people use the one tool they have to attempt to fight that power - a fucking cartoon bear.
I think you misinterpreted part of what I’m saying. The use of the meme in Taiwan and Hong Kong were political dissent, not racism.
The use of the meme in NATO countries is racist due to their history of racism and because this is one of the tools these governments use to convince you that China is your enemy and you should support military actions against them before their military becomes stronger than that of the US and they lose their monopoly on international power and subsequently their power to bully the rest of the world.
Before you dismiss this argument by saying it’s just because Xi doesn’t like the meme, where did you get this information? From what I’ve seen the Chinese government has not responded and the reasoning behind the ban is purely speculative. Sure, I believe they banned the comparison as it was the basis of geopolitical dissent, but to claim it’s because a world leader who gets insulted frequently and in worse ways has thin skin is a stretch. He has bigger worries than Westerners tweeting at him.
If you want a tool to fight the power of dictators, you’d be better served focusing on organizing the citizens of your own country against the powers that work against their interests at home. They point you toward foreign leaders and say “look, they’re worse” so you won’t criticize the shit job your own “representatives” are doing at home.
This isn’t how that works. And even if it were, then it would be racist everywhere due to everywhere’s history of racism.
Please explain to me how it works then.