Its like Hillary walking into a working class kitchen for the first time.
They’ve been shielded from even critical support of China and other AES for so long they literally, not figuratively, literally cannot process that people exist that have beliefs that aren’t Reddit Approved. They immediately assume it’s bots or wumao. Human beings can’t possibly hold these beliefs, so they must be Oriental hordes or actual robots.
Those canvassing/protesting positions are fairly good opportunities for those seeking to push obsessed liberals toward the left libertarian end of things. A few poignant questions and a “based on that, you might be an anarchist” can be powerful.
That’s how I was prompted to dig deeper, and end up with a more “radical” descriptor. One conversation while canvassing to open the door. Prior I would have described myself as liberal because I didn’t know a while lot about other options, but my actual views didn’t change much at all.