you’re doing it again. you’re assuming that just because someone has a job in the us and spoke to you, they’re automatically a credible, unbiased source. that’s not how memory, trauma, or propaganda work. people can genuinely believe what they’re saying and still be wrong – also still be repeating a version of events shaped by decades of exile and media reinforcement.

you also keep framing this as “real people” vs. “the other side,” as if the chinese government’s official account is the only alternative to fallible informants. that’s a false choice. there are historians, journalists, and researchers who don’t work for either the ccp or the us government and who have pieced together more nuanced versions than either “nothing happened” or the narrative you’re holding onto and they’re very easy to find.

the fact that you won’t entertain the possibility that your sources might be incomplete or shaped by their own biases – and instead mock anyone who questions you as ignorant of how jobs work – says you’re not actually weighing evidence. you’re defending an identity. and that’s what someone who’s been propagandized does, whether they realize it or not.