My therapist made a comment about how China is a failed socialist experiment because they have 2-3 year olds working in factories. I responded “So we’ve been told.” She looks at me like I’m crazy. (Not a great look for a therapist) “I’ve not seen any evidence of that.”
“Because they’re such a closed country!”
“Which means you have no evidence to your point either?”
“Well, missionaries… anyway!”
it’s awful. I’m sitting down having lunch the other day, and a dad and his daughter I recognize are at the next table. my back was to them (they arrived after me) and I don’t feel like socializing, so I don’t turn around, I just eat my lunch and read my book. at one point I tune in again and overhear him say, “in China, to this day, women working in the fields squat and have their baby and go straight back to work.” as if it’s typical for 1.4 billion people.
I understand grown adults repeating obvious lies to each other (False Witnesses) but somehow hearing a dad say this to his young daughter crushed my spirits
EDIT: and every time I see this dad socially in the future I will think of it and I am no longer capable of having any respect for him
After my first trip to China years ago I was telling a director of the company I was working at how great it was and specifically how good and cheap the food was. He was genuinely gobsmacked and responded “I thought they were all starving over there”