I want to say loud and clear that I don’t think the only two options are (1) “saying X in a way that will predictably and deeply hurt lots of people and/or piss them off” and (2) “not saying X at all”. There’s also the option of (3) “saying X in a way that will bring anti-X-ers to change their mind and join your side”. And also sometimes there’s (4) “saying X in a kinda low-key way where anti-X-ers won’t really care or take notice, or at least won’t try to take revenge on things that we care about”.
My sense is that there’s safety-in-numbers in saying “obviously Tiananmen Square is a thing that happened”, in a way that there is not safety-in-numbers in saying “obviously TBC is a perfectly lovely normal book full of interesting insights written in good faith by a smart and reasonable person who is not racist in the slightest”.
But still, if lots and lots of people in China believe Z, and I were writing a post that says “Here’s why Z is false”, I would try to write it in a way that might be persuasive to initially-skeptical Chinese readers. And if I were writing a post that says “Z is false, and this has interesting implications on A,B,C”, I would try to open it with “Side note: I’m taking it for granted that Z is false for the purpose of this post. Not everyone agrees with me that Z is false. But I really think I’m right about this, and here’s a link to a different article that makes that argument in great detail.”
I want to say loud and clear that I don’t think the only two options are (1) “saying X in a way that will predictably and deeply hurt lots of people and/or piss them off” and (2) “not saying X at all”. There’s also the option of (3) “saying X in a way that will bring anti-X-ers to change their mind and join your side”. And also sometimes there’s (4) “saying X in a kinda low-key way where anti-X-ers won’t really care or take notice, or at least won’t try to take revenge on things that we care about”.
My sense is that there’s safety-in-numbers in saying “obviously Tiananmen Square is a thing that happened”, in a way that there is not safety-in-numbers in saying “obviously TBC is a perfectly lovely normal book full of interesting insights written in good faith by a smart and reasonable person who is not racist in the slightest”.
But still, if lots and lots of people in China believe Z, and I were writing a post that says “Here’s why Z is false”, I would try to write it in a way that might be persuasive to initially-skeptical Chinese readers. And if I were writing a post that says “Z is false, and this has interesting implications on A,B,C”, I would try to open it with “Side note: I’m taking it for granted that Z is false for the purpose of this post. Not everyone agrees with me that Z is false. But I really think I’m right about this, and here’s a link to a different article that makes that argument in great detail.”