This has to be seen to be believed. According to Raw Story, this video was first posted by a Twitter feed called Passion Times which noted the woman in this clip was wearing an “I love Hong Kong” t-shirt. But the clip really took off on social media Monday after it was tweeted out by the Washington Examiner. The young woman, who appears to be American but claims to live in Hong Kong, lectured a small group of protesters about some signs and graffiti on concrete.

After suggesting protests were a waste of time she asked, “Is this okay? Is this respectful?”

“Why not?” one of the students replied.

“Why not? If my mother saw me [write] this…” she said. After some back and forth she came to her point, “Violence breeds violence, do you agree? Find me one case where violence led to a good solution?”

The clip is very noisy at this point and one of the students who is looking away from the camera says something about freedom.

“So the problem is, it’s not the bad demands, it’s you guys value freedom more than safety, do we agree?” she said. She added, “I think safety is more important than freedom. If you have a safe environment, you can communicate.”

She goes on to say that “old thinking” like China’s thinking even today, puts safety over freedom. At least she’s honest about her own agreement with mainland China.

The problem with this lecture, obviously, is that valuing freedom more than safety, while not the Chinese way, is something close to the American way. The protesters in Hong Kong recognize that which is why some of them have been waving American flags during the protests. The idea that it would be better to succumb to Chinese totalitarian communism for the sake of preserving a dialogue overlooks one critical point: It wouldn’t be a dialogue between equals. A master speaking to a servant is not a dialogue worth having.

Last month, CBS News interviewed an anonymous student protester in Hong Kong who said, “We will give all we can give because we want to see a free world in our city and in our home. Freedom is never free and that is why we need to take the risks for the greater good for all the Hong Kong citizens.” An American patriot couldn’t have said it better. What a shame that this dopey woman is arguing against human freedom to a group of people on the verge of losing theirs. Here’s the clip:

"You guys value freedom more than safety."

American woman in Hong Kong begins lecturing protesters in the street.

"Is this ok? Is this respectful?" she asks them. pic.twitter.com/Qe3K4RJMfs

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 24, 2019