Reposting from a Chinese X user, link below that describe the average Wumao.

I started using Twitter fairly late. When I first began, it was the first time I had such direct exchanges with Wumaos.

One thing surprised me:

I was earnestly saying “your Chinese government has not taken proper care of its people,” and the Wumao reacted as if I had murdered their entire families, exhausting every insult they could think of to express their rage.

The Wumao who left the strongest impression I’ll call A.

A and I were discussing labor rights in China. He insisted China must not improve workers’ rights, because that would be an American-imperialist-capitalist plot to make China collapse.

I didn’t understand: how is paying workers a wage that can actually cover basic living expenses a “plot”?

A: Does the money just fall from the sky? If you give them a reasonable wage, won’t that hollow out our country?

Me: What’s actually hollowing out your country are the unsupervised money-spraying policies of your own government.

A: Besides, companies would never allow such a policy.

Me: Then you strike.

A: There you go again with that vicious idea of subverting the state!

Me: What’s the problem now?

A: Once there’s a strike, production stops and the country collapses immediately.

Me: Your country is remarkably fragile. Outside the Great Firewall, countries have strike news every other day.

A: And companies wouldn’t allow strikes anyway.

Me: Once people are already on strike, why would they need the company’s permission? Of course the union leads the strike.

A: Forming a union is simply impossible.

Me: Why impossible? If people share the same goal, what’s wrong with forming a union to protect everyone’s rights?

A: Wouldn’t the company just co-opt the union leaders and persecute the working people even more thoroughly?

Me: A union is something the workers themselves create. There is no “leadership” separate from them. The leadership is everyone. At most they elect a representative. If that representative dares collude with the company, they recall him immediately and replace him. What’s so hard?

A: You make it sound easy!

Me: So far, what actual difficulty is there?

A: Can a strike even raise wages?

Me: Raise wages, enforce legal working-hour limits, labor insurance, workers’ pensions—all of it.

A: No one would join the union.

Me: Then you legislate compulsory union membership. If you don’t join the union, you can’t work in the industry. Problem solved.

A: Fine, joining is one thing. No one would dare actually participate in a strike.

Me: You’ve already been pushed to the edge of survival. If you still don’t strike, you’re finished. Why wouldn’t people join?

A: Most people will just sit and wait for the strike to succeed so they can enjoy the benefits.

Me: You understand Chinese people pretty well. That’s easy too: people who didn’t join the strike don’t get the gains from the strike.

A: All of your premises require changing the law, but the law cannot be changed.

Me: You need to distinguish “cannot” from “will not.” We started by talking about whether the Chinese government intends to take care of its people. If the government had the will, how hard is it to amend the labor law?

A: Laws cannot be amended! They are the foundation of the state!

Me: Xi Jinping even amended the Constitution, and you’re telling me he can’t amend the labor law?

A: Forget it. I can’t talk to you anymore.

Me: Yes, we can’t talk anymore. Every problem that appears on the road to labor rights already has solutions abroad. The only question is whether your government will do it. You refuse to think about why the government won’t do it and instead spend all your energy inventing excuses for it.

Of course the conversation goes nowhere.

The original post is from @linzong89672609 (display name: 辱共泥棒&六四天安門讀書會).
Direct link:
https://t.co/Ek6amaRJU5