It is funny how people on every point in the political, religious, and economic spectrums demonize or simplify people they do not know or understand. We all do it. With scant direct information about someone from the village of Licun in Guangdong Province, if we hear one story about someone from that village, our minds paint a picture of Licun. Our palette is constrained by our limited knowledge of Licun, its province, and the People’s Republic of China. However, this does not dissuade our overactive minds from painting a quick sketch or masterpiece of Licun.
Back in the good ‘ole USA, there is a lot of painting going on. Maybe it is the internet and our news feeds. Our thirst for understanding allows us to survey the entire physical and social universe. Unfortunately, our “research” is miles wide and an inch deep. We acquire one little vignette and extrapolate wildly to ensure we “know” what’s happening.
As one example, something that is not only happening, but something that our current federal government encourages, please see this short video my brother told me about: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/R6L-Pj_mbuc
The video below was created in December, and almost no one watched it (my website gives me statistics). This could be due to poor video quality or to the fact that all my friends and relatives know everything. https://youtu.be/S1SvBjJj6GE
I think we can all agree with the tenets of the two videos. We just need to take the time to get to know people and not jump to premature speculations and judgments.