Lost amid the noise around whether to ban the app is the story of what happened when hundreds of thousands of young Americans met their Chinese counterparts online.
I am deeply involved in two organizations which practice people to people diplomacy.
Rotary international which has an international student exchange program, which is incredibly good for all involved.
Sister city organization for which my home Galveston is celebrating 60 years as a Sister city with Niigata Japan along with three other Sister cities. when people meet people they find out how much more more we are alike than different.
I was a resident manager of a building owned by the University of Chicago for the first 3 years of the 1980s. The building housed a number of students as well as long time residents, one of whom was an exchange student from mainland China. I called him "My Friendly Neighborhood Communist Chinese Spy" and he called me "His Favorite Running Imperialist American Dog" and we both laughed about it. Other than his difficulty with English and my total lack of ANY kind of Chinese language, there just wasn't that much difference between us.
Imagine this... the government spent the amount of time and focus on TikTok on gun control, gun violence, banning assault weapons, background checks, limiting the NRA what a better world it would be!
Wow, this is fantastic. Thanks for sharing this. The strange "China is our enemy" mantra, which is bipartisan, really pisses me off. People bitch and moan about all the jobs lost with the opening of China to the world's markets, but what about the hundreds of millions of people in China that were pulled out of poverty as a result? Yes, I feel bad for the people here who lost manufacturing jobs, but that is a problem with American policy, not a China thing. There was and is plenty of room for both countries to be successful.
And the contribution of Chinese university students to American academia is profound. We need more cooperation with China, not less. We need more interaction with her people, not less. Maybe this is the start of a grass roots demand for that. Humans being human with each other on a social app despite language barriers. It's really a beautiful thing. Also, China is cool. With an amazing history that few Americans know well (including me).
Every time I see an article about a major research endeavor that includes someone who appears to have a Chinese surname, I think about these morons who are trying to turn China into an enemy. It really is both sides of the aisle. I've had a couple of friends from the PRC, too. I worked in the software biz — I don't even know if they'd be allowed in these days, but they were when I was working in the biz. Something tells me that if I looked them up on LinkedIn I'd discover they returned to the PRC. Which is fine if they're not leaving because they feel unwelcome. But, you know.
In the eighties, I was the director of development for a citizen-to-citizen exchange organization. We focused primarily on the USSR. Most of the groups we sent were small, often representing colleges, universities, and secondary schools. We had severe restrictions on the Soviet citizens we could bring to the States from both our own State Department and the USSR.
These exchanges were hugely successful, albeit on a small scale. There were difficulties; we had a group of Andover students stuck in the Soviet Union when Andropov died, for example. But one of our unique abilities, through the American Russian studies scholars that led the tours, was that we were able to get people into the homes of Soviet citizens anxious to learn.
Citizen diplomacy works, even if it is on an admittedly small scale.
I’m a baby nanny and so fascinated with the Chinese dad’s that are hands on with baby care as well as the baby gadgets and equipment they use. I’m jealous 😂
a chinese colleague of mine out of Shanghai just told me this. she said she loves the exchange that is happening and people sharing experiences thoughts and even recipes. she said she liked more posts over the weekend than all of last year together. how Social media enriching our lives. surely that cannot go on.
It appears that even though TikTok is back, they are now censoring Trump hate. So it's back but it's not. I checked out Red Note because of the podcast you shared yesterday and it's delightful!
My son had the opportunity to go to China in 1995 with a group called People to People. He turned 13 on the plane. The idea behind it was that if kids met and got to know kids from other countries they would see their similarities instead of differences. The understanding that we are all just people. It quite literally changed his life. Neither my husband or I had ever traveled. It just wasn't something our families did. We couldn't afford much, but whenever the opportunity arose to send our kids with others, we jumped on it. My sons have been to Europe, China, Peru, etc. My youngest lived abroad for a couple of years. It was the best thing we were able to do for them growing up. I still haven't been anywhere, really, but my grandkids are now seasoned travelers at 4 and 7. I believe it was because we gave our sons the opportunity to travel and meet people that they would never have had the chance, otherwise.
I wonder how long the Chinese government is going to let those Americans stay on RedNote? Cannot have 'Our young people' thinking that 'those young people' are just like us.
It would be a game changer if we could find a way to sustain this type of open interaction. I'm guessing that a free and open RedNote won't remain that way for long.
Every time I see TFG I think "that f*cking guy" 😅
You and a LOT of other people lol
I am deeply involved in two organizations which practice people to people diplomacy.
Rotary international which has an international student exchange program, which is incredibly good for all involved.
Sister city organization for which my home Galveston is celebrating 60 years as a Sister city with Niigata Japan along with three other Sister cities. when people meet people they find out how much more more we are alike than different.
My parents, who were both Rotarians, hosted quite a few exchange students.
Yes, Rotary youth exchange is making a difference!
I was a resident manager of a building owned by the University of Chicago for the first 3 years of the 1980s. The building housed a number of students as well as long time residents, one of whom was an exchange student from mainland China. I called him "My Friendly Neighborhood Communist Chinese Spy" and he called me "His Favorite Running Imperialist American Dog" and we both laughed about it. Other than his difficulty with English and my total lack of ANY kind of Chinese language, there just wasn't that much difference between us.
Amazing
I like that!
We are all people who basically want the same things: health and happiness.
But there are clearly people whose priorities are money and power and are interfering with our health and happiness. 😟
That is true. They are all in the White House now.
And our children to do better than we did.
Indeed.
Imagine this... the government spent the amount of time and focus on TikTok on gun control, gun violence, banning assault weapons, background checks, limiting the NRA what a better world it would be!
Here's me liking this comment a gazillion times!
🎯🎯🎯
"Youse can have muh guns when youse take 'em from muh cold dead hands..." 🙄
"Your terms are acceptable."
Robocop.
Wow, this is fantastic. Thanks for sharing this. The strange "China is our enemy" mantra, which is bipartisan, really pisses me off. People bitch and moan about all the jobs lost with the opening of China to the world's markets, but what about the hundreds of millions of people in China that were pulled out of poverty as a result? Yes, I feel bad for the people here who lost manufacturing jobs, but that is a problem with American policy, not a China thing. There was and is plenty of room for both countries to be successful.
And the contribution of Chinese university students to American academia is profound. We need more cooperation with China, not less. We need more interaction with her people, not less. Maybe this is the start of a grass roots demand for that. Humans being human with each other on a social app despite language barriers. It's really a beautiful thing. Also, China is cool. With an amazing history that few Americans know well (including me).
I worked for almost 30 years at a state university graduate department. Some of my favorite students were from PRC.
Every time I see an article about a major research endeavor that includes someone who appears to have a Chinese surname, I think about these morons who are trying to turn China into an enemy. It really is both sides of the aisle. I've had a couple of friends from the PRC, too. I worked in the software biz — I don't even know if they'd be allowed in these days, but they were when I was working in the biz. Something tells me that if I looked them up on LinkedIn I'd discover they returned to the PRC. Which is fine if they're not leaving because they feel unwelcome. But, you know.
That warms my heart 💖 people learning about other people
In the eighties, I was the director of development for a citizen-to-citizen exchange organization. We focused primarily on the USSR. Most of the groups we sent were small, often representing colleges, universities, and secondary schools. We had severe restrictions on the Soviet citizens we could bring to the States from both our own State Department and the USSR.
These exchanges were hugely successful, albeit on a small scale. There were difficulties; we had a group of Andover students stuck in the Soviet Union when Andropov died, for example. But one of our unique abilities, through the American Russian studies scholars that led the tours, was that we were able to get people into the homes of Soviet citizens anxious to learn.
Citizen diplomacy works, even if it is on an admittedly small scale.
I’m glad you’re taking the day “off”…so am I. Have a fun day with Riley!
People are people.
So why should it be...?
What an amazing thing!
I’m a baby nanny and so fascinated with the Chinese dad’s that are hands on with baby care as well as the baby gadgets and equipment they use. I’m jealous 😂
a chinese colleague of mine out of Shanghai just told me this. she said she loves the exchange that is happening and people sharing experiences thoughts and even recipes. she said she liked more posts over the weekend than all of last year together. how Social media enriching our lives. surely that cannot go on.
It appears that even though TikTok is back, they are now censoring Trump hate. So it's back but it's not. I checked out Red Note because of the podcast you shared yesterday and it's delightful!
That was probably the condition the owner made.
My son had the opportunity to go to China in 1995 with a group called People to People. He turned 13 on the plane. The idea behind it was that if kids met and got to know kids from other countries they would see their similarities instead of differences. The understanding that we are all just people. It quite literally changed his life. Neither my husband or I had ever traveled. It just wasn't something our families did. We couldn't afford much, but whenever the opportunity arose to send our kids with others, we jumped on it. My sons have been to Europe, China, Peru, etc. My youngest lived abroad for a couple of years. It was the best thing we were able to do for them growing up. I still haven't been anywhere, really, but my grandkids are now seasoned travelers at 4 and 7. I believe it was because we gave our sons the opportunity to travel and meet people that they would never have had the chance, otherwise.
What great parents you are.
Thank you !!! You’ve made the world a better place !
I wonder how long the Chinese government is going to let those Americans stay on RedNote? Cannot have 'Our young people' thinking that 'those young people' are just like us.
It would be a game changer if we could find a way to sustain this type of open interaction. I'm guessing that a free and open RedNote won't remain that way for long.