This isn’t entirely fair to the people pushing back, though I agree sometimes people choose the wrong arguments. There are better arguments that are commonly used, however: see explanations of why Zenz’s work is lacking, “there is no refugee crisis”, and “Muslim-majority countries do not support America in this” for three.
Also, the Zenz thing actually does convince people. The guy is fucking crazy, demonstrating that does make people more hesitant to trust his “research”.
See I don’t find any of those arguments persuasive, and if someone is genuinely looking for rigorous critique they shouldn’t either.
The existence or non-existence of a refugee crisis is probably the strongest argument, but is easily challenged. “China’s control is just that powerful”, “The genocide is through authoritarian control and only limited state violence. So refugees aren’t necessarily present.”
As for the Muslim countries claim, there’s a lot of weird assumptions there. Primarily that state actors would give a shit about human rights abuses when it goes against their national interests to complain.
And finally, Zenz is a creep. Yeah some folks will find this persuasive, but it’s still a bad argument. A fallacy is a fallacy, if you’re talking to someone who cares about the weight of evidence they (and I) won’t give a shit about who he is unless you can demonstrate how his others beliefs affect how he interprets his research.
What weight of evidence? The studies use flawed methodology, the people involved have shown their bad faith. You can’t prove a negative, all you can do is discredit the evidence. People are always going to have a rejoinder which amounts to “I just know in my heart that China is evil”.
unless you can demonstrate how his others beliefs affect how he interprets his research.
He believes god sent him on a quest to destroy China, I’m pretty sure it affects how he interprets his research. He also works for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, known CIA cutout IIRC.
He can believe all these things and still have a correct methodology with accurate data.