Warning: this post is probably offensive unless you're mainland Chinese.
The ultimate Olympic sport is how much humiliation can China take? Don't worry. It's lots.
Actually, in 1989 (?) Wang Shuo 王朔, wrote a book with this premise called Please Don't Call Me Human 千万别把我当人.
I've had it with the protesters, though. For a while, I've been trying to be like, oh well, it's a good way to publicize issues and for people to put pressure on the Chinese government. But you know what? No. It's offensive, it's ignorant, it's pretentious, it's bullshit. Most of the protesters don't know what they're talking about; they just want to feel good about themselves by ragging on a country that everyone hates anyways.
What bothers me the most is the hypocrisy of it all. People are just so used to the idea of China abusing human rights that China is practically synonymous with human rights abuse at this point. Of course, Western opinion isn't biased at all given that China has been an enemy for the greater part of the previous century. I'm not saying there aren't problems, but how can you say that China is the biggest human rights abuser and it doesn't deserve to host Olympics and it really 'challenges the conscience of the world.' What about IRAQ? Hello? That sure challenges my conscience. The US just invaded that 5 years ago to "liberate" Iraqis, and I'd even venture to say that they've fucked them up way more than the Han Chinese fucked up Tibetans. What about Guantanamo? Overthrowing governments in Latin America? Plight of Native Americans? Violence and oppression in Africa, which of course has nothing to do with the fact that the 'enlightened' Western nations enslaved and colonized black people. And of course, what about Israel? If people care about human rights so much, why the hell are people not more concerned about Palestinians? But no, they're Muslim and terrorists, and we don't negotiate with terrorists. Oh wait, didn't the US create Al Qaeda in Afghanistan to fight the Russians? SHHHHHH America is a beacon of hope, freedom, and democracy, you unpatriotic communist heathen. Behold, our fair and unbiased media, and our democracy which elected George W Bush, TWICE.
Many of the people who protest think they're being sooo brave. Mouthing off about a country across the ocean that everyone already doesn't like is not courageous! Give me a break. Protesting and working to change things that are wrong in your own community is much more difficult, although perhaps less glorious. For example, calling for the US to close bases it doesn't need. VERY complicated. Calling for Israel to compromise to create a Palestinian state already. Suddenly, you're a Nazi. Working to fix a lame system and oil barons for sustainable energy! Working on climate change issues is human rights!
People think that Chinese people all hate the Chinese government. They're right and wrong. In America, if you complain a lot, people think it means you're unpatriotic. In contrast, Chinese people love to complain about their government. But they are still proud that it's come a long way, and they don't want to see China fall. They still get offended if Westerners criticize China and demand things aggressively. It comes off as being hostile to China's security and economic interests. They all saw how happy the US was when the USSR fell. Chinese people don't want China to become like how Russia is today. The US is already in Japan, Korea, and Afghanistan, and they regularly do reconnaissance tours off the southern coast of China. And of course, the US just invaded Iraq. Chinese people would be hopelessly naive if they weren't worried about US aggression. Hello, during the so-called "Cold War" China fought the US in Viet Nam, Korea, and the KMT during the Communist Revolution. Also, China just went through a century of being too weak to stand up to Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and the US so naturally, they are sensitive to complaints and demands from the West. When the Chinese complain about US meddling, the context is that the US was the main supplier of weapons, money, and even food to the KMT during the Communist Revolution, who subsequently got their asses handed to them anyway, and ran away to Taiwan. America, land of the free, home of the brave rich people, was committed to keeping the KMT in power. If either the Democratic or Republican Parties were strongly supported by a foreign country, say Saudi Arabia, Americans would surely object to how much control that country has over American politics.
I'm JUST SAYING
3 comments:
Check it out: http://govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=sr110-504
(and look at the cosponsors!)
There's also a pretty good ongoing discussion on the Amnesty International mailing list that I'll forward to you.
Ack I didn't get to say what I thought.
Anyway, I think the main thing that I am against when talking about the boycott/protest-Chinese-Olympics bit is that (maybe outsiders can't see this, but) the Chinese Olympics is not all about the Chinese government advancing China's standing in the world. It's been and has become such a source of pride for the Chinese people, and attacking the billion people for something that they had no involvement in is completely ridiculous, in my opinion.
Boycotting the Olympics (I think) is not only ineffective, but it doesn't target the right people at all. I mean, if you're trying to shame the sponsoring corporations into dropping out, you seriously need to realize that for any business, China is a dream come true. Any business that can go to China and implement is basically guaranteed to succeed. There are just so many people that no matter what you're selling, someone's going to buy it. So if corporations drop out, there are just plenty more where they came from. They're all about generating a profit, the largest interest of their shareholders; as much as we would like, they don't care about human rights at all. All these companies going green? They're not doing it for the environment, they're doing it because it will make them more profit. The same goes for any humanitarian-type activities that any business does.
My $0.02.
This is an insightful post. America sees it as an absolute priority to secure its dominance in the world. As part of that ambition, containing and inhibiting China has become an essential component of its foreign policies.
This has translated into the constant demonizing of China in its domestic discourse and mobilizing support world wide to put pressure on China on anything out of which they could make a case.
It does not matter that China has progressed tremendously in the past three decades. It does not matter how eagerly and sincerely China wants to integrate into the world community. It does not mater that the Chinese people want so much to host Olympics successfully. As long as China is seen a a rising power that threats America's dominance in the world, America will do all it can to contain China. It does not matter that Chinese people feel humiliated. China as an enemy must be taken down at all costs.
This is the America's underlying policy. Of course, it is all framed in the noble objective of helping the human rights situation in China. Of course it is. Never mind that the Chinese people are inherently suspicious and resentful of foreign intervention. Never mind that the Chinese people all feel deeply insulted in the past few weeks. Never mind that their animosity towards the West has escalated humongously in the past few weeks.
As long as China is humiliated, who cares?
Of course, when America went to Iraq, it was also framed in the noble objective of "planting the seed of democracy". And who could forget about the WMD hype that the media made Americans believe in. And who could turn a blind eye to the tons of oil that has been shipped out of Iraq since the noble liberation?
Indignant Chinese National
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