Reality vs. Internet (Patreon)

My videos attract a lot of nationalist hate, and yes recently I have been poking the hornet's nest with a few of my topics, I can't stand by while things around me change for the worse and simply keep my mouth shut, whistle a tune and pretend that everything is rosy and good, there have been some serious palpable changes in society and way of life here in China and I'm not happy with the way its affecting my daily life and also Sasha's work/stress levels (case in point, the vaccine scandal had parents threatening her at her work, police constantly phoning and messaging her to check up on why she has a foreign husband etc).

The thing is that the problems I'm observing and talking about in my videos are the same problems that are worrying the average Chinese person too, people are very unhappy with the exact same issues as I am and are extremely vocal about them over the dinner table and amongst friends and of course to me too. The problem is you see that I'm not Chinese, so when I bring up an issue on my channel, a deep seated, built in, knee-jerk nationalist protocol kicks in and instills irrational insecurity, fear and hatred towards me as an "outsider criticising China". I can understand this completely but at the same time I won't let that stop me, if I see an apple, I'll call it an apple, if I see a pear I'll call it a pear, don't ask me to call an apple a banana just because you don't like apples.

Bear with me here, I'm getting to my point!

This knee-jerk, irrational wounded national pride causes all sorts of hateful attacks on my videos and also big campaigns on Chinese social media to get me deported and or to try and find out where my wife and I live so that they can report me to the police (this has happened multiple times), it is relentless and has at times changed my mind about the average person on the street here in China, I often go out with a bit of a cloud over my head wondering why people could be so easily controlled and brainwashed into behaving so irrationally..... That is until I get recognised by a Chinese subscriber (see, told you I'd get to the point eventually). I do walk around the streets of China in a very aware state, I've had multiple death threats and constant hate comments and I feel that it's better to be safe than sorry and I'm always at the ready to defend myself and my wife, however every single time I've been recognised and approached in public, it has been a positive experience, each time people will tell me how they agree with my videos or how my videos helped them with their home-sickness as they studied abroad etc, I've met some wonderful people and it gives me hope and always removes that cloud from over my head and gets me motivated to hit the next topic. The bottom line is that I often forget that there are a mix of very dedicated Asian supremacists and Paid Government trolls whose entire focus in life and also their full time job is to try and disrupt and silence people like myself, people who are simply telling it like it is. 

I'd like to take this opportunity to directly thank you, the person reading this, the person who has decided to support me here on Patreon whether it be for a dollar or those of you who incredibly generously support me with even more, it sincerely means the world to me, these constant campaigns against me often get my videos demonetised as the Chinese troll army will do mass flagging campaigns and fake copyright claims on my videos all the time, this Patreon account is what allows me to fight through that and for that I am truly grateful, I feel like I don't say it enough, but it's something that sits at the back of my mind every single day, you guys are true heroes to Sasha and myself and always will be.

Thank you again for always Staying Awesome!

- SerpentZA