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China Jails Overly Sad & Rich Influencers - Should We?
In this episode, Simone and Malcolm Collins dive deep into China’s sweeping crackdown on social media, exploring how the Chinese government is targeting not just political dissent, but also “sad people,” conspicuous consumption, LGBTQ+ communities, and even influencers who promote minimalism or criticize the economy. We discuss the cultural, economic, and political motivations behind these policies, compare them to similar trends in other countries, and debate the long-term consequences for China and the world. From the disappearance of China’s “Kim Kardashian” to the fate of the “lying flat” movement, this conversation is packed with surprising stories, sharp analysis, and global context.
Simone Collins: [00:00:00] Hello Malcolm. I’m excited to be with you today because we are going to talk about China’s crackdown and it’s not exactly what you would expect.
It’s a crackdown on sad
Malcolm Collins: people. Sad
Simone Collins: people
Malcolm Collins: go to jail,
Simone Collins: directly to jail, sad people. It’s also a crackdown on, on Crazy Rich Asians, which are my favorite.
Malcolm Collins: So yes, yes. Sad people. Rich people. They’re basically like live. The middle class like that is the aspiration we want on the internet. Yeah. You will be moderates.
Well, but not just that. ‘cause we’re also gonna go on, you know, them disappearing gay people, them disappearing trans people. Literally everything that they are shoving down the west right now. Like everything that they are filling. TikTok whiz, their bots are hammering. YouTube whiz. Probably
Simone Collins: more apparently.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
Malcolm Collins: Yeah, but this, this is, oh, no, no. YouTube still very badly affected by Chinese bots. This is what every, everything that, that, you know, we keep saying this is what they’re hitting [00:01:00] us with within their own country. It’s controlled their own citizens can’t even voluntarily produce this kind of content.
And
Simone Collins: most people are familiar with this, with TikTok. How, like in the United States, TikTok is just sort of this, this, this. S toilet vortex of debauchery and distraction. And in, in China it’s like educational content.
Malcolm Collins: Yeah. But the way that Laowai talked about this was he said it’s, it’s a form of informational, asymmetric warfare, you know?
Mm-hmm. With their own country. All of this stuff is banned and I think the question that we’re gonna be coming to throughout this episode is. Is this actually bad, like the way that China is implementing this? Yeah. I know that we have like this idea around free speech maxing in the United States but when other powers are actively and provably using these platforms to, so social discord was in our country.
You know, do we need to address this? Or is [00:02:00] there benefit in addressing it the way that, that China’s addressing it? And what are the downsides to addressing it the way that China’s addressing it? Yeah. So get started, Simone.
Simone Collins: Yeah. So first off, what really got me and what I, where I first heard about this was the conspicuous consumption takedown where all of a sudden these really treasured.
Famous Chinese people. Just like not known to Americans had their accounts taken down. So notable people were weighing Hong Queing. Yes, I butchered that. 2.3 million
Malcolm Collins: followers.
Simone Collins: Yeah, this guy was known for being China’s Kim Kardashian. I’m setting you. A picture of him looking fabulous in his outfits.
I, I just, I love his look. I’m, I’m kind of devastated that he’s been taken down because this means that I can’t easily consume
Published on 2 months, 1 week ago