After seeing a megathread praising Mao Zedong, an actual mass killer, and a post about a guy saying “99% of westerners are 100000000000% sure they know what happened in ‘Tiny Man Square’ […] the reasons for this are complex and involve propaganda […],” I am genuinely curious what leads people to this belief system. Even if propaganda is involved when it comes to Tiananmen Square, it doesn’t change the atrocities that were/are committed everywhere else in China.
I am all for letting people believe what they want but I am lost on why one would deliberately praise any authoritarian system this hard.
Can someone please help me understand why this is such a large and prominent community? How have these ideals garnered such a following outside of China?
EDIT: Thank you to everyone who has responded! This thread has been very insightful :)


I can’t stand people who treat everything like team sports, especially those who treat POLITICS like team sports and vilify absolutely everyone who doesn’t root for their guy coughMAGAcough
Has there ever been a revolution in history that was fought without its combatants falling into one of at least 2 separate forces?
My approach to politics is “like team sports” only in that I acknowledge the existence of teams and have chosen one. Do you really think we’re all on the same side? When liberals insist that we all want what’s best for everyone, that there are no conflicting interests only conflicting methods, do you believe them?