D42: 孝昌 → 黄陂

July 18, 2022

Considering that Douyin's response to people reporting the video was both to acknowledge that it broke the rules and should be deleted and to not delete the video, while having my fans brigading the comments section with stuff about how much of an asshole I am not certainly contributed to the algorithm deciding that "this video gets interaction so this video is good" and all the xenophobic keyboard warriors being served up something that claimed a foreigner was behaving badly, it's safe to say they would have gotten it anyways.

The fact of Douyin not deleting the video, the fact of Douyin continuing to share the video after responding to reports with "this rule breaking video will no longer be shared" means that even though studies have shown that AI prioritization of interaction leads to computer recommendations trending towards fascism and conspiretard type content, a human—multiple humans—had to be involved.

First time I've seen an semi permanent installation of an epidemic prevention slogan

Been a long time since I've seen an anti-AIDS slogan

Last time I checked, the video in question had 31,000 likes, 8,702 comments, 985 saves, and 307 shares. This means it's gotten no less than a million views.

I can't find where my blacklist is hiding but I've easily added over 100 accounts to it for the sheer amount of spew they were posting on all my videos. At some point during the height of the ordeal, although the blatantly rule breaking video with the hate filled comments section was staying up, three of my videos¹ lost their ability to get new comments and one had the entire comments section removed.

At the same time, I gained 547 followers in one day, many of whom have rapidly gained superfan status for all their feeling the need to repeatedly go into my comments and apologize to me "on behalf of the Chinese people" because "we really aren't like this".

Yet another closed rural school tells the story of increasing urbanization and the end of the population boom

The peanut gallery and I have decided that the thing in the mountains is a glass bottomed observation deck

Even if you count the judge I met riding his pedal assist bike out to a voluntold assignment in the countryside for Party members to help out with poverty alleviation work or my officially crossing into Wuhan at one of the most laid back Epidemic Prevention and Control checkpoints I've encountered yet, the riding parts of the day, the people I met on the road, the food I ate², and the hotel I stayed in weren't much compared to what was going on online.

¹ Me reading a Mao quote off a wall, my finding an interesting piece of mid 60s ephemera, and a video on why main roads are boring.

This was the traffic level for most of the day

Up until I needed to shit by the side of the road, then the cars wouldn't stop coming

Nice series of wall paintings apparently referencing local opera culture

This wall between the public and a military base, you know what it's missing - windows.

² Waaaaaaay too much fast food fried chicken on account of it having air conditioning and costing less than a vegetarian dish from someplace that didn't.

Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 2,514 km (1,561 miles)

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