Comment by fidotron a day ago
> Americans are already quite free to seek a broad range of domestic and foreign viewpoints.
The reality is they live in an establishment controlled media bubble, that is itself full of propaganda.
Being free does not mean free to live in a lie constructed for the benefit of someone else, it means being free to live in reality, and that freedom is being denied to Americans. At least the Chinese are aware of their reality.
> I can navigate my browser to Al Jazeera, RT, or Xinhua without interference
The reason you can is that very few people actually do. As the Tik Tok affair shows, the moment the US suspects it might have some real competitor in controlling the narrative, it shuts them down. Maybe it's the right thing to do, but it's worth taking note that it's how things are.
Americans live in a society lying to them by omission. You have to have learned AlJazeera, RT or Xinhua exist, because they're not going to be shown to you by normal channels, and you almost certainly go on a watchlist if you visit too much.
The whole point is to remove anything that may cause a passive media consumer to question what is presented to them.
> You have to have learned AlJazeera, RT or Xinhua exist, because they're not going to be shown to you by normal channels
They’ve each run ads on billboards in New York. I distinctly remember Xinhua’s in Time Square.
You have to have learned AlJazeera, RT or Xinhua exist, because they're not going to be shown to you by normal channels
Al Jazeera is widely known across the country, and during the time I had cable television was available in every city in which I lived.
RT is available over-the-air on free regular broadcast channels in some American cities. You can't get less restricted than that.
You speak like someone who's never even been to the United States.
It doesn't matter what media are available as long as you manage to control their impact- that is, the vast majority of your citizens don't really watch them. The moment one becomes impactful, you can shut it down citing dangerous foreign interference (and it's true!).
Al Jazeera America stopped in 2016.
RT America was removed from most services as of 2022 and hasn't been broadcasting since.
This is changing in the wrong direction and you are getting less free over time.
> You speak like someone who's never even been to the United States.
You speak like someone who's never left it.
Yes the categories of “our glorious leader” on one side and “their wretched despot” on the other. The categories of “our objective news” and “their state propaganda”. “Their brutish enforcers” vs “our noble police”.
You have to accept that the era of American exceptionalism is over and we’ll all be measured by our actions rather than the dreamy stories told.
I can navigate my browser to Al Jazeera, RT, or Xinhua without interference. Meanwhile, China has a national firewall imprisoning its netizens. So, while most Americans opt to live inside filter bubbles, they are free to escape if they so choose. Not so for the citizens of China, who live in the iron grip of the CCP.
That’s to say nothing of censorship. I can post “f** Joe Biden” on any social platform in the U.S. Meanwhile, a Chinese netizen compares Xi to Winnie the Pooh and gets a visit from the police. And their post never sees the light of day.
These aren’t differences of degree. They are differences of category.