Thank god my grandmother crossed the borders of China to Hong Kong. I will always remember what my father said to me. He starved so much and was so grateful for watery gruel that he said he wanted be a chef, so that nobody would ever have to experience hunger like he did when he was 4 years old. And become a chef he did! Eventually he decided to migrate to Britain to start his own restaurant. I can't imagine what it was like for a child who survived that era and grew up in communist China.
I've read multiple books on about how it has been to grow up during Mao's Great leap backwards and the Cultural Devolution. It wasn't pretty in any sense of the word, except maybe the small things. But overall, the 50's-80's was something the CCP shoudln't have never put the Chinese people through. Many were scarred for life and left jaded, hence the system we have today... I got goosebumps reading your comment. I have some picture of what your grandmother ran away from and I can say with some certainty, that she made the right choice for herself and especially her future family. You might not exist if she hadn't moved then. Makes you think...
@@FinUgShietit is pretty wild to think about. Every one of our ancestors had to be in the right place at the right time, and likely had to make some tough choices or persevere some awful things, in order for us to be alive today. Most Chinese immigrants would’ve had family members that managed to get out of communist China, every first or second generation immigrant had a patent or grandparent was able to escape from the Kim family regime, the majority of European and Israeli Jews today descend from a holocaust survivor.. sometimes it seems crazy that humanity is able to even continue lol
I grew up in America, as a young adult in the late 2000s, just a couple of years of wondering where my next meal was going to come from sparked a lifelong love of agriculture, food, and eventually craftsmanship. If suffering begets beauty, if I may be so bold, I must imagine your father's cooking to be divine!
western sanctioned china and when china was in a drought, i was there, in the coastal area, next to hong knog nobody were starving that is bullshit. people suffered were in sichuan inland etc. this is bs channel . cia scripts bs.
Both of my grandfathers were in it. One was a US educated professor who went back to fight the japanese during WW2, and the other owned a pharmacy. The professor was called a counter revolutionary because he rightfully questioned the absurd orders for the great leap forward. The pharmacy owner was still branded a capitalist's dog by the communists even after they took everything. Both were lucky to survive, finally released by Deng Xiaoping's reform after Mao's death. The US educated grandfather made sure my parents studied hard and got into US universities and immigrated out because the politic in China can change anytime at the whims of one man.
So that's where the inspiration for Lake Laogai came from? And also Monk Gyazo? Thanks for this Episode. Not only did it enhance my knowledge of history, but also taught me new things about one of my favorit TV shows of all time. Dark Episode, but at least no cabbages were harmed here.
That story of the guy who begged to be let back into the Laogi after being shunned by his family and his village is heartbreaking and harrowing, but just imagine being a guard at that camp and seeing him return at the gates and begging to be let back in; that would catch me so off guard.
@@mariusvanc exile wasn't a death sentence. The Greeks used to exile people all the time, and there are literally hundreds of recorded accounts of Greek generals exiled to Persia. There are just as many counts of Persians being exiled to Arabia and Greece. Exiles were typically shunned for a period of seven years, at which time they were allowed to return home. It was an alternative to imprisonment, not execution. You really need to do a little history homework.
It never ceases to amaze me how much research the ATLA creators did for the show. From actual martial arts fighting styles being used to the cultures of each nation, to the fact that ba sing se has elements of communist china.
To allow yourself to believe that things such as this cannot happen again in a major country would be the equivalent of an adult writing a letter to Santa Claus.
lots of American kids seem to think they can make communism work, but they also think people should be forced into re-education seminars for not respecting pronouns, so I think we all know how communism would turn out under their guidance.
This could happen so very easily again, there is a lot of hate out their. It could happen so very very easily. There is just as much or even more polarised Hate out their now as there was in the first half of the 20th Century. There are people that would do it with ease.
They’re already trying this in the west. You get punished for “wrong-think.” If you even slightly disagree with the “approved narrative” you”” get shunned, cancelled, lose your job, etc.
But the research only focuses on the negative, any positive won't be acknowledged, and in other videos regarding Russia or China figures regarding death tolls have been inflated. This video conveniently avoided the condition of China before Mao took power, orr the brutality of Japanese and British colonisation. And the thousands of years of continues domestic wars between States,. To unify China at such a time was an accomplishment no short of s miracle. And the fact that the beginning needed to be brual and hard and authoritarian is evident to the history pre and post Mao.
@@taffiejoshwhile I see your point and respect your opinion. I don’t believe in shedding light on Laogai is an intentional move to burry the havoc and ruin those outside empires brought on China. While violence and tyranny is typically way to gain control and “unify”, it’s not the only way. What the Western powers did to rip China “open” to the world is not talked about enough. The inhuman actions of the Imperial Japan has been intentional suppressed by Japan. Those don’t disregard the what Mao and the CCP did to the common people of China. Those truths are also intentionally suppressed and information in their state controlled media won’t report on its own corrupt governments. This isn’t a problem in only China, other countries did very similar things in the time period. It’s important to know information like this because it provides so much context for modern day China.
@@billpetersen298When the reality of what has truly been done with the “reeducation” of Uighurs is revealed to the world, in its entirety, humanity will shiver.
Yeah socialists/communists, or more specifically 'tankies', are notorious for having such a profound hatred of the western world in which they hold basically every small action accountable, but the they turn around and defend and glaze everything communist countries do. Cuba is a good example, they idolize figures like Che, and also claim that the only reason Cuba is a failed state is because of the embargo, when in reality its a multitude of things like no freedom of speech, no freedom of assembly (they get arrested en masse for protests), horrendous economic management etc.
@@braedenhunter6501- one can only hope, but given the fact the the internet exists and just a cursory search would inform people about the evils of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Che, etc., leftists still admire them… 🙄
Chairman Mao's Little Red Book of Sayings was apparently mandatory reading for British Rail staff at one point. I have an uncle who used to work for them during that period, as a porter who wasn't actually allowed to do any portering. Also, of COURSE the laogai still exist. Where do you think lithium for batteries comes from?
You’re right, they certainly do still exist. It’s not just batteries but cotton and pretty much anything one can think of. I try not to buy anything made or sourced there because of it - and the pollution. Interesting that you say that about the rail workers. My husband (British) believes that Britain was a somewhat socialist country when he was growing up in the 80s.
@@comment3711 It definitely was during the 60s and 70s, with the unions killing off the car industry and trying to choke out everything else. Containerisation and new port facilities came to britain because enough industries defied the dock worker strikes and built newer, automated ports further out to accept bigger, more automated, more efficient ships. My grandfather was part of the cooperative that built those, since he was a farmer and mill owner.
TBH honestly not much difference between them and Conservative parties like the Republicans & the LNP. If look up the Republicans Project 2025 which is 900 page on how to implement Fascism across the USA. I think we see the rise of the third R*ech again in the USA if Orange man gets in.
Us people in the Western world often complain about how hard we have it here. No, no. We have it on a platinum platter, Britain and Europe for the most part are 500star holiday resorts compared to the nightmares that take place over that side of the world.
What do you think is coming to us and to our future Generations? Here's a hint. Who is emerging as one of the world's greatest superpowers and who do we owe a shitload of money to? We are watching our rights being eroded every day and this is the end game.
@margaretreefer1145 Let's be honest with ourselves. Neither China nor Russia have the potential to match the western powers at their current state. China's corruption and *flagrant* human rights violations severely outweigh any economic output they muster. It doesn't help their military index is so full of corruption that you'll be lucky to find a working ICBM. Russia, I don't need to explain.
Just cause someone has it worse does not make your suffering any less important. We should be trying to make our species proliferate, but we would rather stagnate ourselves by dividing ourselves.
@@margaretreefer1145if you think China is going to be able to project power you need to take a second look at their demographics. China will collapse in on itself in the next 20-30 years.
I really despise this argument. Just because others have it worse than you, doesn't mean you don't deserve to have it better. Explain to me why the existence of brutal authoritarian regimes means that we are not allowed to wish for things like reasonable wages or affordable houses.
😂 My comment got deleted because I mentioned one totalitarian regime copied their practices from another totalitarian regime. Mods don't like "hate facts".
It’s fun to find many names and references in Avatar Last Air Bender that come from China: Dai Li, Mao’s secret police chief Laogai, this labour camp The Earth King being a ‘God’ to his people, Mao’s personality cult And more, probably.
Fun fact: The Earth King was based on the real Chinese Emperor, Aixin Gioro Puyi. He wore glasses, dressed in manchurian garb, and never went outside his palace.
Dai Li is not Mao's secret police chief. The secret police chief of Mao is Kang Sheng. Though Dai Li was the 1st secret police chief of Chiang Kai Shek's KMT.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL....as if democracy is the best system. As if HItler wasn't voted into office. Let's all pretend biden didn't cheat and we didn't see the videos of his minions counting the same vote over and over and over. You don't pay any attention at all to anything. Pittsburg has voted democrat for 100 years, literally, and now they don't even have cops between 3am and 7am. All voted for through democracy. Must be nice to think the world can vote it's way out of the mess low IQ voters wanted LOL
I worked in China in the mid ‘90’s. We had an interpreter who was a professor of electrical engineering. He grew up with the Japanese occupation in WWII. Later, he was in university when the “Hundred Flowers” movement was on and got denounced. During the Cultural Revolution he was denounced as an “Intellectual” and sent to the country side to “learn from the peasants” where, because he was a professor of electrical engineering, he dug holes for telegraph poles. He went to self-criticism sessions every single day. He was beaten often. He stayed in the countryside until Deng Xiaoping came to power and declared “It is glorious to get rich.” He was rehabilitated back into the city where he was allowed to teach and work as an interpreter. In the ‘90’s when he was with me he was escorting me around Tiananmen Square where Mao’s Mausoleum is. You could enter and pass by the preserved body of Mao himself…or a wax figure. Who knows? I asked the professor if he wanted to come though with me but he shook his head no, and whispered “I hate him, Mr Colin! I hate him!” I went through and when I came out I said “Good news, Professor!” and then whispered “He is still dead!” Well, the professor laughed and clapped his hands and repeated it to me…he is still dead! For the next two months we worked together he would sometimes look at me and laugh and whisper “He is still dead” and clap his hands. That was nearly 30 years ago and I think of him often.
Thank you for explaining it in detail. Why does such a proven bad system still exist to this day around the world? Humans are incomprehensible for allowing such to continue. It’s given that oppression limits productivity and advancement.
For context, I first watched Avatar as an adult. "Lake Laogai? Where have I heard that word before.. *does some Googling* oh..." And yes, Avatar being unbelievably based as usual, giving the CCP the middle finger.
My grandmother used to tell me stories of how terrible it was, and how people would throw themselves off the tops of the prisons to escape. I'm glad she made it through and that the CCP recognised her usefulness for the country instead of stubbornly persecuting the educated.
@@mrvn000 Yes. Mao also said: "It is better that 50 million should starve to death (which there were during the GREAT LEAP FORWARD), so 50 million can work"
Simon, how on earth does your brain and heart cope with your amazing research about such horrors in the world? You are doing a wonderful service to humanity by your podcasts. ❤
I’m incredibly grateful my dad and his family were able to escape from Tibet, survive as refugees in India and eventually make it to America. But I cry for my Tibetan brothers and sisters - the chances are that people in my family tree suffered such an engineered hell, and possibly maybe currently live through it… learning these details and statistics is gonna make it hard to sleep tonight. With much respect, thank you for making this video. The world needs to know.
UA-cam will only promote so many videos per channel per week. This group gets around that issue by having a lot of different channels. Same production company, same reader, different channel.
Megaprojects, sideprojects, decoding the unknown, places, warographics, science unbound, astrographics, casual criminalist, brain blaze, today I found out, into the shadows. Also pre 2023 geographics biographics and top tenz that are owned by someone else.
After watching the Decoding the Unknown video on Holocaust deniers, I can’t help but wonder why no (to my knowledge) people that have survived atrocities like this have ever denied this happens? Before anyone thinks I’m comparing these atrocities, I’m not. Not in the slightest. I’m only questioning why people are selective on what they believe and what they “think” actually happened. When I say ‘atrocities’ I mean all instances of genocide across the world. There are far more than my mind can comprehend.
It's a hot take that will get 'unpleasant' reactions but I'm going to say it all the same. I think it was more about WHO the Holocaust effected than anything. Without going into what country did what and when, there was no other period in global history where genocide was acted out on a race of true Caucasians. Upto today, the closes that we've seen this again was former Soviet bloc countries (Bosnia, etc) and the UN, etc., stepped in immediately. All of the other places of genocide have been in countries whose citizens would be considered impoverished or third world (Rwanda, etc) and are politically ruled by dictatorships dressed up as Communist or Socialist Republics. These are dismissed as religious or civil political war actions within those countries. The Holocaust was multiple countries and the only notable violent action within Caucasians. The majority of those denying it are a small minority of Caucasians.
Remember the Chinese hate the Japanese for what was done to their people. Then they do the same to their own people. Just instead of rape, murder and grizzly medical experiments it’s work camps, starvation and murder.
@@sknkwrksowner I'd say a far more important factor concerning how the Holocaust was and is remembered is who did it and what else was going on at the time, not necessarily who it was done to. The people who it was done to had faced similar on and off persecution throughout Europe for centuries, the difference being the scale of it, which could be achieved with 20th C technology only. It was not the first time by any means. I don't know what your definition of a "true" Caucasian is, sounds like a get out clause to me (no true Scotsman vibes), but wouldn't you say that Armenians at least are Caucasian too?
Prison Labour Camps still existing in the early 2000's were administered by local prison governors and probably still are. One very enterprising individual set up an bank of 100 computers in a prison basement and had young convicts play World of Warcraft for 16 hours a day earning in game tokens which were sold to children in Western countries via brokers in HK. I met two very young Italian guys living in the canary islands after leaving China in 2009 brokering in game currency purchased in HK. They were makin in excess of 5000 euros per month. It's a very strange world we live in.
There are a lot of channels or videos I’d like to watch, but I simply can’t because the person doing the voice over or narration is simply intolerable. But I have found three I think are by far the best. One, Coffee House Crime is a great and well done series and very easy to watch and listen too. Adrian Stewart does thorough research and has a very easy onscreen personality. Second is American Greed. Stacey Keach is a great actor and has a voice that brings life to that serious. And third, Into the Shadows. You do an amazing job with what you present and the work it takes doesn’t go unnoticed. Simon Whistler fits a great job and I can even live with him pronunciation of contributing. Thanks Simon 😎
Laogai never ended, where do you think the cheap Chinese clothes made from Xinjiang cotton came from? It’s in every purchase on TEMU and Sheinn when you made those purchases.
These days are coming back with Mao 2.0. the terminology of these times are back. The little vlogger girl who sung along sing songy humming with the national anthem disappeared and when she was heard of again it was one message of 'i will re educate myself and engage in rigouros self criticism
The Uighur people are not allowed to leave their house without their phone so they can be tracked. And if they spend time talking to a person of I treat, they get a text from the government that says to stay away from that person or they will be sent for "re education"
Thank you, Arnaldo. Ppl in the US don’t know that criticizing the opposing political party(if there even is one) is all it takes to be sent to one of these places…The ones that advocate for it would be the ones imprisoned if they had the mental ability to reverse the roles. Or to realize that it’s almost impossible to 100% agree with anything, let alone political OPINIONS. It scares me that so many ppl in the US support a system like communism/socialism/statism(all the same damn thing, just different ways of implementing it)
While we are all aghast at stories like this, if we could truly empathize and feel what they felt/feel, we'd all be doing something about this. Both the convicted and the witnesses all become desensitized and it just seems like a ghastly story. This is why we walk by homeless people sleeping on the concrete and do nothing and in some cases even blame them, same as the family of the man who tried to return home. You only get one life to live and imagine if you were a slave of any sort and what that means to all the potential and experience those persons could have had.
I didn’t know what the “struggle sessions” Contrapoints kept on advocating for were. Really puts her in a different lens seeing how she sees them as a positive thing…
First, they offered the cheapest products through cheap labor and not caring about the environment. Second, they have natural resources that they have specifically tried to maintain the lowest cost for and really locked down that whole not caring about the environment thing. Third, they just kept doing everything they could to maintain that position so they could profit. It worked, it essentially became the basket everyone was putting everything into, until they began to see the writing on the wall and started freaking that they needed to move away from working with China so that their industries wouldn't be shut down by the CCP. The US started blocking trade with them and businesses were freaking out because they wanted the money from working with China. In short, China made itself cheap and did things others didn't want to do, and Capitalists LOVE setting tomorrow ablaze for higher share value today.
I keep seeing people making comments about Canadian war crimes. Can you make it Into the Shadows about The war crimes that the Canadians did to shape the Geneva convention?!
Ok, not me seeing this alert and first thinking “WHO CONVINCED SIMON TO DO AN EPISODE ON LAKE LAOGAI?!? Oh wait….” Now I have a new wishlist episode- “Writer Gives Simon a Full Script About Lake Laogai that is Written So He Doesn’t Know It’s A Fictional Place Until The End”
Apparently Tank Man wasn't some high-principled hero, he was just the local nut, who did erratic things and was tolerated because he was pretty harmless. He just did random things. Like in that case stand in front of tanks. Kind of like a homeless guy in a small town I used to live in, called "Moses" because he'd stand in traffic so the traffic would part like the Red Sea. Tank Man probably barely knew what planet he was on.
sounds like pinko apologist rhetoric, but watching a young person cape for authoritarianism isn't anything new... seeing as no one has produced anything to positively identify him, I say your claim is bullshit, whereas the millions dead are very real
With less torture, communism, and corruption involved, this wouldn't be a bad way to change the US prison system. Might even be less dangerous. Then again, that's just on-paper, and I'm sure if I thought about it a bit more it'd be quite flawed.
Thank god my grandmother crossed the borders of China to Hong Kong. I will always remember what my father said to me. He starved so much and was so grateful for watery gruel that he said he wanted be a chef, so that nobody would ever have to experience hunger like he did when he was 4 years old. And become a chef he did! Eventually he decided to migrate to Britain to start his own restaurant. I can't imagine what it was like for a child who survived that era and grew up in communist China.
I've read multiple books on about how it has been to grow up during Mao's Great leap backwards and the Cultural Devolution. It wasn't pretty in any sense of the word, except maybe the small things. But overall, the 50's-80's was something the CCP shoudln't have never put the Chinese people through. Many were scarred for life and left jaded, hence the system we have today...
I got goosebumps reading your comment. I have some picture of what your grandmother ran away from and I can say with some certainty, that she made the right choice for herself and especially her future family. You might not exist if she hadn't moved then. Makes you think...
@@FinUgShietit is pretty wild to think about. Every one of our ancestors had to be in the right place at the right time, and likely had to make some tough choices or persevere some awful things, in order for us to be alive today. Most Chinese immigrants would’ve had family members that managed to get out of communist China, every first or second generation immigrant had a patent or grandparent was able to escape from the Kim family regime, the majority of European and Israeli Jews today descend from a holocaust survivor.. sometimes it seems crazy that humanity is able to even continue lol
I grew up in America, as a young adult in the late 2000s, just a couple of years of wondering where my next meal was going to come from sparked a lifelong love of agriculture, food, and eventually craftsmanship. If suffering begets beauty, if I may be so bold, I must imagine your father's cooking to be divine!
western sanctioned china and when china was in a drought, i was there, in the coastal area, next to hong knog nobody were starving that is bullshit. people suffered were in sichuan inland etc. this is bs channel . cia scripts bs.
What is also mind boggling is people's unwavering belief that communism can be a success.
There is no war in Ba Sing Sei.
It's funny...but damn. It's too real.
My first thought too...
My name is Joo Dee
😂
bazinga i guess
Both of my grandfathers were in it. One was a US educated professor who went back to fight the japanese during WW2, and the other owned a pharmacy. The professor was called a counter revolutionary because he rightfully questioned the absurd orders for the great leap forward. The pharmacy owner was still branded a capitalist's dog by the communists even after they took everything. Both were lucky to survive, finally released by Deng Xiaoping's reform after Mao's death. The US educated grandfather made sure my parents studied hard and got into US universities and immigrated out because the politic in China can change anytime at the whims of one man.
N😅😂
Ohhhh gosh yu are right
So that's where the inspiration for Lake Laogai came from? And also Monk Gyazo? Thanks for this Episode. Not only did it enhance my knowledge of history, but also taught me new things about one of my favorit TV shows of all time.
Dark Episode, but at least no cabbages were harmed here.
Monk Gyatso was actually named after Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
@@SlickTater W monk knowledge
Yup. They did their research.
That story of the guy who begged to be let back into the Laogi after being shunned by his family and his village is heartbreaking and harrowing, but just imagine being a guard at that camp and seeing him return at the gates and begging to be let back in; that would catch me so off guard.
People need belonging. In old times, being exiled was certain death. One could not survive alone, physically, and mentally it's equally deadly.
@mariusvanc deeply true.
THAT is called "BEING BROKEN DOWN TO LESS THAN HUMAN"...THIS is a main tactic of Communism... LOOK at WHO funded the CCP originally...
@@mariusvanc exile wasn't a death sentence. The Greeks used to exile people all the time, and there are literally hundreds of recorded accounts of Greek generals exiled to Persia. There are just as many counts of Persians being exiled to Arabia and Greece. Exiles were typically shunned for a period of seven years, at which time they were allowed to return home. It was an alternative to imprisonment, not execution. You really need to do a little history homework.
Begging is fictional.
It never ceases to amaze me how much research the ATLA creators did for the show. From actual martial arts fighting styles being used to the cultures of each nation, to the fact that ba sing se has elements of communist china.
Fun Fact: This is the reason why it is called Lake Laogai
Immediately thought of avatar lake laogai when I saw the video title
hearing this was literally a light bulb moment
Everything is fine,there is no war
There is no war in ba sing se
How funny that I JUST got off a video that was about ATLA Lake Laogai. It was an analysis video, and boy is it good.
To allow yourself to believe that things such as this cannot happen again in a major country would be the equivalent of an adult writing a letter to Santa Claus.
Stockholm syndrome, is when a victim totally sympathetic to their kidnappers, abuser's! (Subconscious survival strategy!)
lots of American kids seem to think they can make communism work, but they also think people should be forced into re-education seminars for not respecting pronouns, so I think we all know how communism would turn out under their guidance.
They still have these camps in China
This could happen so very easily again, there is a lot of hate out their. It could happen so very very easily. There is just as much or even more polarised Hate out their now as there was in the first half of the 20th Century. There are people that would do it with ease.
@@megsleyplease help me remember: which president put kids in cages again?
Minus 10,000 Social Credit Points!
They referred to Tibetans as a separate category from Chinese, so better make it 11,000.
That system is going to be installed in other countries.
Yes....hes gonna get a lot of flak for this.....
Better not take any flights that may maliciously be rerouted to HK.
They’re already trying this in the west. You get punished for “wrong-think.” If you even slightly disagree with the “approved narrative” you”” get shunned, cancelled, lose your job, etc.
Gotta appreciate how much research went into even the most minute details of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
But the research only focuses on the negative, any positive won't be acknowledged, and in other videos regarding Russia or China figures regarding death tolls have been inflated. This video conveniently avoided the condition of China before Mao took power, orr the brutality of Japanese and British colonisation. And the thousands of years of continues domestic wars between States,. To unify China at such a time was an accomplishment no short of s miracle. And the fact that the beginning needed to be brual and hard and authoritarian is evident to the history pre and post Mao.
@@taffiejosh Tankies truly are nothing more than Red Nazis.
@@taffiejoshwhile I see your point and respect your opinion. I don’t believe in shedding light on Laogai is an intentional move to burry the havoc and ruin those outside empires brought on China. While violence and tyranny is typically way to gain control and “unify”, it’s not the only way. What the Western powers did to rip China “open” to the world is not talked about enough. The inhuman actions of the Imperial Japan has been intentional suppressed by Japan. Those don’t disregard the what Mao and the CCP did to the common people of China. Those truths are also intentionally suppressed and information in their state controlled media won’t report on its own corrupt governments. This isn’t a problem in only China, other countries did very similar things in the time period. It’s important to know information like this because it provides so much context for modern day China.
@@taffiejoshwhat fucking positives? xD
@@taffiejosh Communists aren't people.
One of the reasons why i hate people who idiolise mao.
Xi, is Mao, 2.0
@@billpetersen298When the reality of what has truly been done with the “reeducation” of Uighurs is revealed to the world, in its entirety, humanity will shiver.
Yeah socialists/communists, or more specifically 'tankies', are notorious for having such a profound hatred of the western world in which they hold basically every small action accountable, but the they turn around and defend and glaze everything communist countries do.
Cuba is a good example, they idolize figures like Che, and also claim that the only reason Cuba is a failed state is because of the embargo, when in reality its a multitude of things like no freedom of speech, no freedom of assembly (they get arrested en masse for protests), horrendous economic management etc.
@@braedenhunter6501- one can only hope, but given the fact the the internet exists and just a cursory search would inform people about the evils of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Che, etc., leftists still admire them… 🙄
Found the land lord.
Simon, your script writers improved a lot. Years ago they were not accurate. Now - impeccable.
This is why democracy is so important to fight for. It isn't a guarantee, it takes constant work. Constant updating and moving forward.
@@joshuablair252no it doesn’t. The PRC is nowhere near democratic and never has been.
@@joshuablair252also a constitutional republic is a form of democracy dim wit.
@@joshuablair252and the Nazis weren’t a democracy either.
That's why the second amendment is so important to Americans
@@tobyhorn9641 If privately-owned firearms were any good at stopping tyranny, Afghanistan would be a very different place than it is.
Chairman Mao's Little Red Book of Sayings was apparently mandatory reading for British Rail staff at one point. I have an uncle who used to work for them during that period, as a porter who wasn't actually allowed to do any portering.
Also, of COURSE the laogai still exist. Where do you think lithium for batteries comes from?
Yeah, they have millions in concentration camps so forcing them to do something makes sense.
Well sense in communist terms.
You know how we know Uihgur children are smarter than American children? American children use Iphones; Uighur children make them.
You’re right, they certainly do still exist. It’s not just batteries but cotton and pretty much anything one can think of. I try not to buy anything made or sourced there because of it - and the pollution.
Interesting that you say that about the rail workers. My husband (British) believes that Britain was a somewhat socialist country when he was growing up in the 80s.
My mom had a copy in the mid-70s it was definitely going around.
@@comment3711 It definitely was during the 60s and 70s, with the unions killing off the car industry and trying to choke out everything else. Containerisation and new port facilities came to britain because enough industries defied the dock worker strikes and built newer, automated ports further out to accept bigger, more automated, more efficient ships.
My grandfather was part of the cooperative that built those, since he was a farmer and mill owner.
“Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.”
- Mao Zedong
Then what's the sickle for?
@@M0rshu64to remove a digit every time you don't tell them the truth
@@GrievousReborntheir truth
@@GrievousRebornBy "truth" you mean the official party message
TBH honestly not much difference between them and Conservative parties like the Republicans & the LNP. If look up the Republicans Project 2025 which is 900 page on how to implement Fascism across the USA. I think we see the rise of the third R*ech again in the USA if Orange man gets in.
Us people in the Western world often complain about how hard we have it here. No, no. We have it on a platinum platter, Britain and Europe for the most part are 500star holiday resorts compared to the nightmares that take place over that side of the world.
What do you think is coming to us and to our future Generations? Here's a hint. Who is emerging as one of the world's greatest superpowers and who do we owe a shitload of money to? We are watching our rights being eroded every day and this is the end game.
@margaretreefer1145
Let's be honest with ourselves. Neither China nor Russia have the potential to match the western powers at their current state.
China's corruption and *flagrant* human rights violations severely outweigh any economic output they muster. It doesn't help their military index is so full of corruption that you'll be lucky to find a working ICBM.
Russia, I don't need to explain.
Just cause someone has it worse does not make your suffering any less important. We should be trying to make our species proliferate, but we would rather stagnate ourselves by dividing ourselves.
@@margaretreefer1145if you think China is going to be able to project power you need to take a second look at their demographics. China will collapse in on itself in the next 20-30 years.
I really despise this argument. Just because others have it worse than you, doesn't mean you don't deserve to have it better. Explain to me why the existence of brutal authoritarian regimes means that we are not allowed to wish for things like reasonable wages or affordable houses.
We as Americans are scarcely educated on the history of the CCP I think that is a major problem.
"Reform through labor"
Sounds like.
"Arbeit meicht frei"
Sound familier?
The term was coined in the late 1800's before the Nazi's co-opted it.
It's all socialism... a completely unnatural system that needs violence to incorporate. The Nazis got their cues from Communists in Russia.
Marxists tend to think alike
😂 My comment got deleted because I mentioned one totalitarian regime copied their practices from another totalitarian regime. Mods don't like "hate facts".
Sounds exactly the same to me
"You guys can criticize me all you want, don't worry" why would people fall for that
It’s fun to find many names and references in Avatar Last Air Bender that come from China:
Dai Li, Mao’s secret police chief
Laogai, this labour camp
The Earth King being a ‘God’ to his people, Mao’s personality cult
And more, probably.
Seems like the Earth Kingdom should have used red as their color, not the Fire Nation...
Fun fact: The Earth King was based on the real Chinese Emperor, Aixin Gioro Puyi.
He wore glasses, dressed in manchurian garb, and never went outside his palace.
Dai Li is not Mao's secret police chief. The secret police chief of Mao is Kang Sheng. Though Dai Li was the 1st secret police chief of Chiang Kai Shek's KMT.
@@michaelguderian
I was close; going off memory
@@slyninja4444luckily they didn’t also take over puyi‘s personality
Jesus Christ... "A prudent estimate." ?!?! Wtf are we doing in this world?!
I'm Joo Dee, welcome to Ba Sing Se.
We are so lucky to have our walls to create order
Gulag Archipelago 2: Chinese Boogaloo
Chairman Mao has invited you to Lake Laogai
The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai.
My name is Joo Dee
This is why we should have democracy everywhere.
It would be rather nice to have it in my country, the USA.
Democracy doesn't prevent atrocities. Majorities are the ones who commit atrocities in the first place.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL....as if democracy is the best system. As if HItler wasn't voted into office. Let's all pretend biden didn't cheat and we didn't see the videos of his minions counting the same vote over and over and over. You don't pay any attention at all to anything. Pittsburg has voted democrat for 100 years, literally, and now they don't even have cops between 3am and 7am. All voted for through democracy. Must be nice to think the world can vote it's way out of the mess low IQ voters wanted LOL
You they were fighting for democracy
And the usa has the largest prison population
Democracy isn't immune to this. Just more resistant to it than any kind of dictatorship
I worked in China in the mid ‘90’s. We had an interpreter who was a professor of electrical engineering. He grew up with the Japanese occupation in WWII. Later, he was in university when the “Hundred Flowers” movement was on and got denounced. During the Cultural Revolution he was denounced as an “Intellectual” and sent to the country side to “learn from the peasants” where, because he was a professor of electrical engineering, he dug holes for telegraph poles. He went to self-criticism sessions every single day. He was beaten often. He stayed in the countryside until Deng Xiaoping came to power and declared “It is glorious to get rich.” He was rehabilitated back into the city where he was allowed to teach and work as an interpreter.
In the ‘90’s when he was with me he was escorting me around Tiananmen Square where Mao’s Mausoleum is. You could enter and pass by the preserved body of Mao himself…or a wax figure. Who knows? I asked the professor if he wanted to come though with me but he shook his head no, and whispered “I hate him, Mr Colin! I hate him!” I went through and when I came out I said “Good news, Professor!” and then whispered “He is still dead!” Well, the professor laughed and clapped his hands and repeated it to me…he is still dead! For the next two months we worked together he would sometimes look at me and laugh and whisper “He is still dead” and clap his hands. That was nearly 30 years ago and I think of him often.
Thank you for explaining it in detail. Why does such a proven bad system still exist to this day around the world? Humans are incomprehensible for allowing such to continue. It’s given that oppression limits productivity and advancement.
Marxism/Communism is the easiest path to power for the incompetent. That's my guess why such a failed system still has supporters anyway.
TLDR: Chinese Gulags were just as bad as Russian ones! another great video Simon!
"Soviet."
~Douchey McNitpick
@@pyromania1018 A distinction without a difference.
The Earth-King has invited you to Lake Laogai
This is why fighting for Democracy is imperative!
For context, I first watched Avatar as an adult.
"Lake Laogai? Where have I heard that word before.. *does some Googling* oh..."
And yes, Avatar being unbelievably based as usual, giving the CCP the middle finger.
I don't think China wants us talking about this.
My grandmother used to tell me stories of how terrible it was, and how people would throw themselves off the tops of the prisons to escape. I'm glad she made it through and that the CCP recognised her usefulness for the country instead of stubbornly persecuting the educated.
Turns out South Park's episode about a Chinese prison was spot-on.
21:22
"I have 600.000.000 people, if I have to sacrifice 100.000.000 of them to the revolution then so be it"
~Chairman Mao
Real quote?
@@mrvn000 Yes. Mao also said: "It is better that 50 million should starve to death (which there were during the GREAT LEAP FORWARD), so 50 million can work"
Ah, the ChiCom new math.
Peak monstrosity...
Those poor people. It's so sad.
Simon, you most definitely should do a safety violation video.
Just watch any Chinese videos of people working.
Simon, how on earth does your brain and heart cope with your amazing research about such horrors in the world? You are doing a wonderful service to humanity by your podcasts. ❤
You should do a video about the Xinjiang papers that came out a few years ago
I’m incredibly grateful my dad and his family were able to escape from Tibet, survive as refugees in India and eventually make it to America. But I cry for my Tibetan brothers and sisters - the chances are that people in my family tree suffered such an engineered hell, and possibly maybe currently live through it… learning these details and statistics is gonna make it hard to sleep tonight. With much respect, thank you for making this video. The world needs to know.
How many friggin channels does this guy have!? Half of friggin UA-cam is this guy.
UA-cam will only promote so many videos per channel per week. This group gets around that issue by having a lot of different channels. Same production company, same reader, different channel.
@@jesseberg3271and each channel covers different topic themes.
Megaprojects, sideprojects, decoding the unknown, places, warographics, science unbound, astrographics, casual criminalist, brain blaze, today I found out, into the shadows. Also pre 2023 geographics biographics and top tenz that are owned by someone else.
"The survivors are the unfortunate". I think the quote comes from the German concentration camps but could be said even to this day.
Simon, the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai
Hey, you should have gotten Temu to sponsor this particular video
“He loved big brother.”
Evils of communism
TRUTH*
@@tachyon8317how is it truth?
Never forget who created communism and pushed it to spread around the world
@@woahblackbettybamalam that asshole Lenin?
@@woahblackbettybamalamwho? Weren't them dern chosen fellers was it
this all sounds very familiar
How upsetting and depressing.... What one person does to another for control.
After watching the Decoding the Unknown video on Holocaust deniers, I can’t help but wonder why no (to my knowledge) people that have survived atrocities like this have ever denied this happens? Before anyone thinks I’m comparing these atrocities, I’m not. Not in the slightest. I’m only questioning why people are selective on what they believe and what they “think” actually happened.
When I say ‘atrocities’ I mean all instances of genocide across the world. There are far more than my mind can comprehend.
It's a hot take that will get 'unpleasant' reactions but I'm going to say it all the same. I think it was more about WHO the Holocaust effected than anything. Without going into what country did what and when, there was no other period in global history where genocide was acted out on a race of true Caucasians. Upto today, the closes that we've seen this again was former Soviet bloc countries (Bosnia, etc) and the UN, etc., stepped in immediately. All of the other places of genocide have been in countries whose citizens would be considered impoverished or third world (Rwanda, etc) and are politically ruled by dictatorships dressed up as Communist or Socialist Republics. These are dismissed as religious or civil political war actions within those countries. The Holocaust was multiple countries and the only notable violent action within Caucasians. The majority of those denying it are a small minority of Caucasians.
I’d say that’s a fair point to make @@sknkwrksowner . Never thought of it that way.
Remember the Chinese hate the Japanese for what was done to their people. Then they do the same to their own people. Just instead of rape, murder and grizzly medical experiments it’s work camps, starvation and murder.
@@sknkwrksowner I'd say a far more important factor concerning how the Holocaust was and is remembered is who did it and what else was going on at the time, not necessarily who it was done to.
The people who it was done to had faced similar on and off persecution throughout Europe for centuries, the difference being the scale of it, which could be achieved with 20th C technology only. It was not the first time by any means.
I don't know what your definition of a "true" Caucasian is, sounds like a get out clause to me (no true Scotsman vibes), but wouldn't you say that Armenians at least are Caucasian too?
This reminds me of the horrific torture and incarceration of the Uyghurs in China since approx 2017.
Yeah China didn't stop
This reminds me of the forced removal of hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples from their homes and repeated beach of treaties
Prison Labour Camps still existing in the early 2000's were administered by local prison governors and probably still are. One very enterprising individual set up an bank of 100 computers in a prison basement and had young convicts play World of Warcraft for 16 hours a day earning in game tokens which were sold to children in Western countries via brokers in HK. I met two very young Italian guys living in the canary islands after leaving China in 2009 brokering in game currency purchased in HK. They were makin in excess of 5000 euros per month. It's a very strange world we live in.
I’m pretty sure Uyghur Muslims are still experiencing this
This one had to be demonetized, unless Simon and company get a pass others don't.
Oh Liu how you suffered. No words can express how you have your life has been affected by this doctrine. I hope your pillow is soft now.
This should be compulsory viewing in western countries schools.
Laodong Gaizao reminds me of Arbeit Macht Frei.
There are a lot of channels or videos I’d like to watch, but I simply can’t because the person doing the voice over or narration is simply intolerable. But I have found three I think are by far the best. One, Coffee House Crime is a great and well done series and very easy to watch and listen too. Adrian Stewart does thorough research and has a very easy onscreen personality. Second is American Greed. Stacey Keach is a great actor and has a voice that brings life to that serious. And third, Into the Shadows. You do an amazing job with what you present and the work it takes doesn’t go unnoticed. Simon Whistler fits a great job and I can even live with him pronunciation of contributing. Thanks Simon 😎
You should make a video on the seaorg of Scientology.
The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai
Is this what Lake Laogai in avatar is named after?
Anyone got a list of all this mans channels? God damn legend.
Laogai never ended, where do you think the cheap Chinese clothes made from Xinjiang cotton came from?
It’s in every purchase on TEMU and Sheinn when you made those purchases.
You really covered a termendous amount of ground on this one Simon, ground filled with obsene amounts of death.
These days are coming back with Mao 2.0. the terminology of these times are back. The little vlogger girl who sung along sing songy humming with the national anthem disappeared and when she was heard of again it was one message of 'i will re educate myself and engage in rigouros self criticism
The Uighur people are not allowed to leave their house without their phone so they can be tracked. And if they spend time talking to a person of I treat, they get a text from the government that says to stay away from that person or they will be sent for "re education"
Perfect timing with 3 Body Problem being out right now.
Keep the videos coming
Its scary to think that mere people such as ourselves are capable of such grotesque attrocities
I see a lot of Dai Li Agents from the Earth Kingdom within this comment section
But Dai Li was anti-communist till his death?
@@Nestalgba92023 I'm talking about fictional organization from a popular anime
I had no idea the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender were so plugged into history.
Monk Giatzo, Lake Laogai. I wonder what else they coded in?
Been watching your content for years and I’d say this one is very well made and very well said
Thank you, Arnaldo. Ppl in the US don’t know that criticizing the opposing political party(if there even is one) is all it takes to be sent to one of these places…The ones that advocate for it would be the ones imprisoned if they had the mental ability to reverse the roles. Or to realize that it’s almost impossible to 100% agree with anything, let alone political OPINIONS. It scares me that so many ppl in the US support a system like communism/socialism/statism(all the same damn thing, just different ways of implementing it)
They aren't the same thing. Even Mao would tell you that.
The US party that is promoting socialism is already attacking opponents by trying to get them all arrested
@@cg4432 show me a country where communism worked - ill wait.
Forced labor and slavery is still very prevalent in China thanks to the ccp
Absolutely sickening
Comrade Mao has invited you to lake Laogai
Now do one about the prison slave labor system in the United States
Sounds how a lot of corporations and big companies operate to this day.
Thanks for the REDICULOUS, UNTRUE comparison!!
"C'mon man, the A-BOMB is no worse than napalm!!"
....kinda sounds a bit like you.
Corporate rule is single party mono culture. Compliance is essential to life. It's why Americans are soft today.
Temu
This channel tells the best bedtime stories
While we are all aghast at stories like this, if we could truly empathize and feel what they felt/feel, we'd all be doing something about this. Both the convicted and the witnesses all become desensitized and it just seems like a ghastly story. This is why we walk by homeless people sleeping on the concrete and do nothing and in some cases even blame them, same as the family of the man who tried to return home. You only get one life to live and imagine if you were a slave of any sort and what that means to all the potential and experience those persons could have had.
I didn’t know what the “struggle sessions” Contrapoints kept on advocating for were. Really puts her in a different lens seeing how she sees them as a positive thing…
I guarantee this is still happening today. Just with a lot more secrecy
Are you in a position to guarantee such a thing?
@eadweard. I know people who are. Unfortunately I can't identify them for obvious reasons.
@@tootallforyou112 People will just have to take your word for it it.
@@eadweard. unless you want someone to die yes
@@tootallforyou112 You see funny things on the Internet but "Believe me unless you want people to die" is a new one.
how many channels you have bruh you rock
Why does the world work with china at all
First, they offered the cheapest products through cheap labor and not caring about the environment. Second, they have natural resources that they have specifically tried to maintain the lowest cost for and really locked down that whole not caring about the environment thing. Third, they just kept doing everything they could to maintain that position so they could profit. It worked, it essentially became the basket everyone was putting everything into, until they began to see the writing on the wall and started freaking that they needed to move away from working with China so that their industries wouldn't be shut down by the CCP. The US started blocking trade with them and businesses were freaking out because they wanted the money from working with China.
In short, China made itself cheap and did things others didn't want to do, and Capitalists LOVE setting tomorrow ablaze for higher share value today.
Cheap labor
No labor laws
No epa
By rights we should have sanctioned them
This one was hard to finish
The Earth King invites you Lake Laogai
was staggered to see this portrayed in the opening scene of Three Body Problem. I wonder how it got through the west's censors.
This is one of many reasons I could never support any president who even JOKES about being a dictator.
😳🤯🙁 My faces this whole video......
Watching this makes me grateful to live in America
I keep seeing people making comments about Canadian war crimes. Can you make it Into the Shadows about The war crimes that the Canadians did to shape the Geneva convention?!
How about an Episode on the Stasi of East Germany. Probably can do multiple channels with that topic.
I imagine this still exists in some form.under a different name
You're spoiling us today 😅
Ok, not me seeing this alert and first thinking “WHO CONVINCED SIMON TO DO AN EPISODE ON LAKE LAOGAI?!? Oh wait….”
Now I have a new wishlist episode- “Writer Gives Simon a Full Script About Lake Laogai that is Written So He Doesn’t Know It’s A Fictional Place Until The End”
This might be where the inspiration for that came from!
@@NouveauViewhonestly I’m going to have to do the research, because it definitely feels that way
*The Earth King invites you to Lake Laogai*
Winnie the Pooh has invited you to Camp Laogai…
Gyatso was a survivor?
Starting to think the people who made Avatar TLA knew more about China than we thought.
“There is no war within the walls. Here we are safe. Here we are free.” - China in 2 years.
they probably sent Tank Man to Lake Laogai
Apparently Tank Man wasn't some high-principled hero, he was just the local nut, who did erratic things and was tolerated because he was pretty harmless. He just did random things. Like in that case stand in front of tanks. Kind of like a homeless guy in a small town I used to live in, called "Moses" because he'd stand in traffic so the traffic would part like the Red Sea. Tank Man probably barely knew what planet he was on.
sounds like pinko apologist rhetoric, but watching a young person cape for authoritarianism isn't anything new... seeing as no one has produced anything to positively identify him, I say your claim is bullshit, whereas the millions dead are very real
With less torture, communism, and corruption involved, this wouldn't be a bad way to change the US prison system. Might even be less dangerous. Then again, that's just on-paper, and I'm sure if I thought about it a bit more it'd be quite flawed.
He finally found a subject that he couldn’t blame on the USA.