I'm not excusing what Hollywood did, but I will point out that such 'brainwashing' was done by almost everyone. In fact, you'll find that historically speaking, nations that had internal pushback against such brainwashing are very much the exception to the rule. I argue with Chinese nationalists on Twitter almost every day - to hear them tell it, America (and the UK before us) are responsible for all the ills of the world, full stop.

Have we done a lot of wrong? Sure. But there's *plenty* of blame to go around. But the real key is this: where are the Chinese who speak out *against* Beijing, against expansionist policies like their ludicrous 'ten-dash line'?

*crickets*

Yes, the US does its own share of brainwashing - but even in the year following 9/11, there were people standing up and saying, "No, Iraq doesn't have nukes, don't invade them."

Is pushback like that allowed in Russia, or in China? In the latter, one might see a reeducation camp. In the former, one might accidentally fall out of a window and become what Frank Miller termed "one-step street pizza".

All nations brainwash. Only those with freedom of speech allow pushback against the brainwashing.