My (indigenous) girlfriend said something recently that I just have no clue how to grasp.
Disclaimer: I've always been really bad at explaining opinions/making arguments to people.
We are amerikkkan (sorry)
We we're talking about china and it's modern government. This had always been a sensitive topic for us: I usually state something to the effect of "there are some very real problems with china but the country is an overal good for not only the people but the whole world." Whilst they take strong problem with destruction of historical artifacts/art during the revolution (they are an art historian) and find it irredemable. The thing that really confused me recently was them equating the "nepalese cultural genocide" (I have no real knowledge of what they are talking about) to the genocide of their people. For added detail, they and their tribe are currently fighting for the preservation of what remains of the tribe's historical artifacts.
I don't want to add many personal details but it should suffice to say their tribe was almost completely wiped out.)
Am I just off base for not understanding what they are talking about here? This comparison seems completely wild to me and I don't know if I'm just being insensitive or something.
I'm just gonna play devil's advocate here and say the underlying sentiment to your girlfriend's opinion is valid because of their history between the settler state and First Nations. I think they're just missing some historical context to the difference between the current Chinese state and the US because there was no colonial project in the origins of modern China (arguably irridentist if you wanna be generous) and the popular origin of the Cultural Revolution being in youth movements' rejection of the policies of the state catering towards reactionary social/cultural institutions.
This maybe leads to a broader conversation to have about the nature of global imperialist capitalism eroding traditional cultural institutions in to fit the hegemonic culture (the US bloc) for economic security, similar to how in industrial capitalism the countryside moved to the cities and made people less religious or "traditional" but on a larger scale.
I appreciate the perspective. I agree that they are missing some historical context with this.
Np! I hope you continue to treat this as respectfully as you have, the indigenous perspective on stuff like this shouldn't be easily dismissed