> The glitches serve to remind them daily that their government is manipulating them.

I suspect that the vast majority of Chinese viewers barely notice, or just assume that there was some sort of problem with the source material when it was imported into their country. Most probably don't make the connection that portions have been censored, because this is just what they've grown up with, and seems normal.

I think you both under- and over-estimate Chinese people in this regard. Certainly they are well-educated, but they've been raised culturally very differently than you or I. It's not impossible to be smart and know how to think, but also close off your mind to certain classes of criticism because you've been raised to value unity and harmony above other concerns.

I don't think that logical and critical thinking protects against being fine with living in an authoritarian state, or even being in favor of authoritarianism.

I'm itching to give a counterexample, but that'll ignite a flame war. I'll cowardly insinuate it instead: you know the country I'm talking about.

I mean, seriously. I'm American, and the US primary school system is clearly designed half as day care, and half as a factory for teaching US citizens how to think like US citizens are "supposed" to think.

We also forget that, in the mid and late 1900s (or, like many of us, just weren't born yet), many (though not all) of the same kinds of censorship were present in American TV, and to some extent movies as well.

I do find the Chinese version to be more insidious (and more dangerous, given current surveillance and content-blocking technology), and much of it probably is, but I do think some of it is just unconscious nationalism and "othering" on my part, as much as I try to stamp out that kind of thinking in myself.