No matter whether you like Speed or not, I don't think people here realize the effect this is having on his tens of millions of zoomer fans. Even if you just check the comments on his China tour videos that have millions of views, it's very positive, and people realizing they had no idea China was like this, and adding it to their bucket list to visit someday. A year ago I could not have imagined that we'd see the beginning of Chinese soft power growing like this.
this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025
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chapotraphouse
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A year ago I could not have imagined that we'd see the beginning of Chinese soft power growing like this.
Give the streamers profit to pursue and they'll pursue it.
It's why all those TikTokers went to see "the most viral city in the world" Chongqing last year.
As soon as they realized Chongqing was the new hotness that could get them lots of views and money, they were like:
This dude knows what he's doing. As a westerner he's rapidly becoming the biggest internet celebrity that exists there.
Look at all the western videogame companies that have been trying to pander to China with content for a couple years now, streamers lag behind but they have just as much reason to try and get a Chinese audience and significant fanbase as anywhere else.
When streamers realise that there's a significant revenue stack to be made from Chinese audiences we're going to see a U Turn in how online influencers portray China as they all try to pursue the money to be made by having them as part of your audience.
Speed is demonstrating exactly how to build that and there will be others that realise and follow the same path. As influencers start to notice that "oh you get Chinese state media attention and enormous publicity if you make China look good" they're gonna do exactly that.
Do not think for a second that these streamers are not thinking in terms of audience segments and metrics.
That's my thinking as well. There was already a growing "the China the medias don't want you to see" vlogger scene before, but after such a massive internet success, it's sure to massively accelerate.
China needs to double down on support for it. Encourage them. Give them major media coverage for it. Show other streamers that making China look good gets you in front of a billion people on national tv. Seeing this will cause more and more to do it.
If there is money involved, they will all become huge supporters.
You can get all the gamers with this strategy too. Get the biggest most popular commentators doing commentary for hype tournaments based in China, get them saying good things about China, get the players saying good things about China by making them see China as the future of esports or whatever the fuck. If it's where the biggest money is, it'll get their support.
The propaganda will break down.
I've watched some of his videos and he's still super obnoxious but I'm glad he's having such a positive experience and showing it to his massive zoomer audience. If you're reading this right after posting, he's live right now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNS8PHxWdp8
I will just passively appreciate the effect he has
I'm still so on the fence about him. His shtick is being really in your face, but he also seems to have amazing self-restraint and self-awareness. Like there were countless times during the China trip where he was being actively provoked, or someone tried leading him into saying something inappropriate, and he didn't take the bait or was able to deflect or de-escalate.
Yeah, he's not obnoxious like being a shitty tourist or anything. He just constantly yells when he's in public and always has an entourage that is like clearing streets for him even when there's just random Chinese people walking around.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I wonder if there's an active effort to de-brainworm us on the part of the Chinese government.
It seems to be working if so.
JDPon Don helping out doing stuff like defunding rfa and USAid.
My least favorite type of content creator, but critical support for unwinding decades of effort by the US propaganda apparatus.
