Totalitarian countries making U-turns
China—along with countries such as North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba ... oh, and Russia— is a country used by the West as an example of a totalitarian regime, and rightly so.
However, Western countries often engage in totalitarian praxes they are unwilling to label as such. What happened with the Canadian Truckers or what's going on with the Dutch farmers (and farmers in other Western countries as well) are recent examples.
That's the West's double standard.
Often times, when I point this out (the double standard in our “democratic” societies) people get mad at me. They argue that I should be grateful [1] for not being born in a country from the evil block (partially listed above).
I am grateful.
But I am not blind.
I don't share the binary view of the world, in which there are the good guys on one side and the bad guys on the other. Interestingly enough, people who see the world this way, almost always believe they are in the good side.
For me, believing in pure evil and pure virtue is being delusional. Human nature contains the seeds of both virtue and evil, and the human existence is the constant struggle between these two forces.
Paradoxically, people who are well aware of their own potential to do harm, of their own demons, are usually the most virtuous. And those who see themselves as pure virtue are often delusionally evil.
All that gibberish to share this article: https://unherd.com/thepost/china-abandons-one-size-fits-all-covid-policy/
China is now re-considering its “Zero Covid” strategy. It seems some totalitarian countries are eager to accept they got it wrong more swiftly than many Western countries. Sadly—yet unsurprisingly—some countries in the virtuous block keep doubling down on the same failed strategies, which only on the surface are less authoritarian than the Draconian measures implemented in “truly” authoritarian countries[2].
As always, only time will tell.
Footnotes:
I was born—and grew up—in Mexico. I think my country is not considered part of “the West”, it is not even considered part of America. Sometimes it is listed as part of North America, others, as part of South America. The last time I checked, Mexico is officially part of what's called “the Big South” (a.k.a. the Periphery). It is unclear to me if I should feel grateful for being born there. Any way, now I live in a country that is officially part of the West, and I am soOoOoO grateful.
I started saying “totalitarian” and then changed to “authoritarian”. If you noticed it, and now you're thinking: “that's not the same”. You're right! However, I throw those terms there as if they were interchangeable simply because many West propagandists cannot tell the difference.