Xi on Lemmygrad when

This is a very good approach to a modern implementation of the mass line, however i would add one caveat which is that it needs to be coupled with a strategy or system that can weed out astroturfing and fake online chatter manufactured by foreign governments, subversive NGOs, corporations, etc. In short, bots absolutely need to be rooted out.

idk why but I love the term “netizens”. It sounds kinda cute.

This sounds orders of magnitude more productive than being called misogynist by Neera Tanden at 3am for suggesting she is trying to pull the ladder up behind her.

I recognized the title immediately because I have the following pinned on my Weibo profile in Chinese. From “The Governance of China II”: Let a Healthy Internet Guide and Reflect Public Opinion http://en.npc.gov.cn.cdurl.cn/2021-12/27/c_693855.htm

A society that lacks common ideals, goals, and values and that finds itself in disorder all the time will never achieve success.

Netizens are members of the general public. If members of the public go online, so does public opinion. Our officials need to go wherever the public goes, otherwise how else are they expected to maintain ties with them? Party and government organs and their leaders must learn to stay in touch with the people through the internet. They should go online regularly, observing, chatting, and posting their comments. They need to know what the people think and want, gather good ideas and suggestions, and actively respond to their concerns, answer their queries and remove their doubts.

The majority of netizens are ordinary people who come from different walks of life and have different life experiences. Their views and opinions are sure to vary greatly, and we cannot expect them to always be right about everything and correct in what they say. More tolerance and patience are therefore required. We need to promptly take constructive suggestions, afford assistance to those who need help, tell the truth to those in the dark, offer clarification to those who are confused about certain issues, help pacify those who bear a grudge against something, and guide those with erroneous views and correct their misunderstandings. This way we will ensure that the internet becomes a new platform through which we communicate and interact with the public, a new means through which we understand the people, stay in touch with them, and address their worries and difficulties, and a new channel through which we promote people’s democracy and accept public scrutiny.

A sound atmosphere for the expression of opinion online does not imply that there should be only one voice and one tune. Rather, it means that people are not permitted to conflate right and wrong, circulate rumors, cause trouble, violate the law, or commit crime; it means that people cannot overstep the boundaries of the Constitution and other laws.

Is the internet different in China?

I swear that everyone’s a racist genocide supporting nazi if you look at online forums in the west. There’s filters being placed on platforms such that only the opinions in-line with state policy are pushed to the top.

I know that there’s a national bourgeois class in China, and it’s very possible for them to manipulate opinion in their interests. So, taking data from platforms that they control may not be a great idea.

nice, meeting the people where they are wherever they might be