Comments by "Stephen Jenkins" (@stephenjenkins7971) on "Why was the Qing Dynasty so weak? History of China 1644-1839 Documentary 1/10" video.

@ikengaspirit3063 Nationalism is blind loyalty. It's the opposite of based. It allows the justification of any stupid policy because "my country, right or wrong".
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@taiwancanhelp6582 Uh, no. The US doesn't boycott Chinese products and is very much a center of world trade. And the US, while lost much of their manufacturing industry, maintained what it had for the past decade. There is no comparison between the Qing in the US whatsoever.
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@GewalfofWivia In what world is the US isolationist?
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I mean, yeah, but there is still the fact that the Qing, on paper, should've been much more powerful than they were.
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@ikengaspirit3063 Generally, yes. I would. That doesn't mean they didn't do good things, or have points. More than that, you can fall out of nationalism as an ideology, and it isn't like nationalism in of itself is all blind loyalty. It's just a trend, for the most part.
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@Russel Fang We have Western Nationalists too. They just tend to be looked down on and suppressed. Thus Westerners the phenomenon of patriotism. There just isn't a nationalist movement in the West that resembles the Nationalism in places like China. Right-wingers are trying to change that in the West, though.
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@kye4216 It's literally impossible for the Soviets to invade the Japanese mainland in the first place. They didn't have the ships, and a naval invasion is really REALLY hard. Much harder than a land invasion. At most, the Japanese feared that the Americans would help the Soviets invade Japan, they didn't fear the Soviets invading Japan by themselves.
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@m4a1JAY Soviet Union did something similar and grew explosively. That didn't mean it did not such. China is similar; explosive growth is good for the generation in the middle of it, but that growth has petered off and the young don't see growth or freedom. What's left exactly?
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Not at all. The US has a far friendlier relationship with its minorities, is very engaged in international trade, has a massive alliance system, has an extremely competent military, etc. Really, the only possible comparison might be American exceptionalism, but that's been a thing for a while.
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@hughmungus2760 Yeah, the Qing didn't, but it also doesn't resemble the US at all, so a comparison makes little sense in the first place. It could collapse in 50 years. Or 100. Or 1000. We don't know and nothing points to a collapse at all atm. But using the Qing as an example makes no sense.
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@hughmungus2760 "Inwards world view" Way to frame a literal unwillingness to adopt new technology or engage in the international community AT ALL as just "inwards world view". This is why I can't take you people seriously, instead of looking at the reality, you manipulate it to fit your world view. The US looks inward a lot, but so do a LOT of countries. In fact; most countries are "inflicted" with the same shit you're implying would cause a collapse. But in reality, no country besides maybe the likes of North Korea engages in literal Qing isolationism. And no, the US doesn't have such a stubborn or selfish elite that they are so blind as to allow literal armies to rampage and sack cities. And "imperial overreach" is only an issue when the country as a whole can't actually protect what they have, and if the US can do one thing; it's protect what they have. The Qing's issues with opioids was not even a reasoning for their fall, wtf? Literally none of the Qing's issues are even present in the US today, not unless you dumb them down to the point that they're just common issues and can place them on whichever country you choose. FFS, you kinda ignored the massive revolts that lead to massive and constant erosion of authority, massive external threats that chip away and steal land, lacking technology, lack of allies, surrounded by enemies, weak military, etc.
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@hughmungus2760 The Qing at the start of the 19th century was a corrupt mess which was ripe for humiliation and destruction. It didn't JUST started getting beaten left and right, it already was at that point but other countries hadn't started yet. And the institutional issues which led to said beatings were there and MASSIVE from the start. These flaws were alreayd omnipresent and nearly impossible to mend, as far back as the mid -18th century. The US, if nothing changes, will be a static superpower in 50 years in its current trajectory. The economy still rising, its military still almighty, and its allies still numerous, and its social issues still pending. You're looking for a collapse that atm is nearly impossible to find or see. You're so used to the US just having no issues at all that any issue or time of social unrest is taken as a sign of future collapse. Chill out, man. You doomers are getting crazy. This is nothing compared to the US' heyday in the Vietnam War.
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It was ultimately the Korean Navy which crippled Japan's efforts in sending greater numbers to Korea. The troops sent helped beat back the Japanese forces already there, but it was ultimately the Korean naval victory that won the war.
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The CCP is more concerned with maintaining China's image and maintaining control over its military. That is a constant issue with authoritarian governments, in fact.
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I mean, yeah. China was just an imperialist that got its teeth kicked in, but lets not glorify Western imperialism still.
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China's history is that of being ruthless imperialists to begin with. Thousands of years of history of crushing it's neighbors. Compared to that, the West are babies.
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None of these people were minding their own business. They were warring with their neighbors and the Europeans had the means to expand their empires. Something China has been doing for its entire history btw. You're not mad at imperialism. You're mad that you were not the biggest imperialist. Century of Humiliation is China suffering what it has dealt to others for thousands of years. Unfortunately instead of empathy, many just seem to get hate from it.
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@kangzhilou4207 Woah, I didn't know I didn't exist anymore. :o
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@kangzhilou4207 Except I didn't say bullshit, but you did. Because, you know, Americans have access to a free media which can counteract government lies; and you don't. And we have plenty of organizations that keep track of population to see that there are plenty of Native Americans around. :D
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