继 Mr. James Shen 发布了他剖析西方主流媒体的文章“Blemishing China Marathon" 后，有一位美国人对文章提出不少异议，就此沈先生也写了一篇回应，并引发了一些新的议题。现在AC 发布如下，欢迎更多的网友参与讨论！
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Please, Let’s not get too excited when the West is criticized
Response to Joe’s criticisms on my article “Mainstream Western media stages Blemishing China Marathon” at www.Chination.com
Thank you, Joe, for your patience to read my article “Mainstream Western media stages Blemishing China Marathon” and your criticisms.
You were right to point out some quotation discrepancies. Indeed, there are different versions of translations for the saying of Confucius (己所不欲，勿施于人), and I agree that your version of translation is more suitable in the context of this article. Also you mentioned about the biblical source of “let he who is not sin cast the first stone”. Again there are multiple sources including John 8:1-11, Matthew 7:12 in the Bible citing this criticism of Jesus on Pharisees. I have updated my article to reflect your suggestions. Thank you for helping me improve this article.
However, I have to say you have misread some parts of my article and I feel obliged to clarify and respond.
I do know Barack Obama is not a Muslim or the anti-Christ and I cited media reports of these lies to show how some Western media would like us to believe them despite how obvious the truths are. For the record, I happen to be an Obama supporter.
I also happen to know very well what cannibal or cannibalism is. While my English may or may not be as good as yours, I certainly is much better than the Chinese of most, if not all, Westerners living in China.
Your comments seem to suggest that I was advocating for the official Chinese media, but if you read my article carefully then you realize I was only hoping that there were more positive coverage on China by the mainstream Western media so that people who do want to see some positive developments in China do not have to rely exclusively on the official media.
It was also indicated that I do not know what is going on in China. I don’t know where that came from, but let me tell you I spend at least three months in China each year, work with ordinary Chinese employees routinely, has a blog in Chinese where I share thoughts with Chinese bloggers, read internet news in Chinese often, and has the experience of worshipping in house churches, government-approved churches and international churches in Beijing. Does that convince you that I may know just a little more than you or Western reporters about China?
However, I am particularly disappointed that you have repeatedly referred China and the Chinese government to me as “your country” and “your government” in the comments despite my statement in my article that I am a Chinese American and a naturalized American citizen. For your information, my government is the US government and I am electing a new president in November. Regardless how some Americans would like to discriminate or prejudice against my ethnicity and race, I refuse to give up my rights as an American and no one can take away my pride as a patriotic American with Chinese heritage.
Indeed, the rights of minorities in America have improved dramatically in the past 50 years. But by no means has racism submerged in today’s Western societies. While you may wish to dispute it, my personal feeling is that racism and racial prejudices are simply taking new forms, and racial tension is growing in political, social-economic, legal and cultural arenas in Western countries. Your own assumption that I, a Chinese American, am somehow an outsider serves to show the racial mindset of many.
Your criticized my citations of various political and social problems as well as foreign policy issues in the US and the West. You also implied explicitly that I am somehow ignorant about the foreign policies of “your country” although I clearly indicated in my article that I am a Chinese American who has lived here for 19 years and received advanced education in the West.
If studying, living and working in the UK and the US for 24 years does not qualify me to comment on the problems and politics of “your country” where I live, work, pay taxes and vote, why do you feel those Western journalists who have little or simply no living experience in China deserve to bash that country regularly for its policies and problems?
It is obvious you felt the discomfort of “your country” being criticized by an “outsider”, but please don’t get too excited about it – it is not good for your health – I learnt it from having to deal with similar discomfort every day.
Well, I have to admit my article was intended to give you and people in the West a taste of that discomfort in the hope you realize how we, as Americans with Chinese heritage, feel when China is pushed around by over-simplistic, ignorant and biased media reports routinely.
The point of my article is neither to criticize the West nor to enter into debates about race and international politics, but rather about "don’t do unto others what you don’t wish to do unto yourself" and “to live and let live”. It is obvious there are differences and disagreements between countries, races, religions, interest groups, if we focus too much on them, we can argue and fight forever and we all will never live in peace and a better world.
Lastly, you spoke about appointing a Uighur or Tibetan to the position of the Chinese premier. Perhaps you are not aware of the fact that Uighurs and Tibetans are well-represented in the governments of their respective autonomous regions. People from these two minorities also hold important positions, such as the Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress, in the Chinese political system. Dalai Lama himself held an important position at CPPCC before rebelling in 1959.
As to a Uighur or Tibetan premier for China, I am quite hopeful you will see this happen by the time we have an American Indian as the President of the US.
With reference to the remarks that China does not allow Tibetans to read religious texts, I am surprised that you actually bought the story since you quickly pointed it out that Obama is not a Muslim. I have not been to Tibet, but at the least I do know there are many monasteries and monks in Tibet. If they don’t read religious texts in the monasteries, do they study and read English instead? No wonder the Western journalists can communicate with them so well.
Since you touched on the issue of minorities and minority regions in China, let me share another personal story with you to show where I am coming from. I have always wanted a big brother from very young. The fact is I do have a big brother but I hardly know him at all. He was a well-educated young man with a lot of future, but he responded to the callings of the government and volunteered to relocate from Beijing to Kashgar, Western Uighur in late 1960s to support the development there as a technician for the local frozen-meat factory. He passed away two years ago in Uighur at the young age of 59 due to various diseases associated with the hardship he endured there. Make no mistake about it, he is just one of the many many Han Chinese who volunteered to help Uighur and Tibet in the past fifty years. For whatever that is worth, they should and will be remembered by history.
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Finally, I apologize if I hurt your feelings in any way because it is not my intention to be mean. Wisdoms from the Bible and my Chinese heritage teach us to be more generous and not mean-spirited, but I guess we are all too weak when provoked. This is probably why the Chinese culture always call for harmony and avoidance of direct confrontations.
The Bible taught us "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" (Matthew 5:9) and "...be at peace with one another" (Mark 9:49). Let me conclude by offering my reconciliations to you despite our disagreements. Let’s focus on our common values and interests rather than underscoring differences, and join hands in the hope of a better and more unified world.
If not anything else, for the sake of our children and their children!
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Joe’s comments on my article : Mainstream Western media stages “Blemishing China Marathon”
You should read more carefully. Barack Obama isn’t a Muslim. Confucius said that you shouldn’t do unto others as you would not want done to you. You might have been quoting Jesus in Matthew 7:12. I’m also not sure if you know what a cannibal is. Eating scorpions is only cannibalism if you are another scorpion.
In case people only like to read what Xinhua tells them or watch cctv, these same criticisms of China are available from Indian, Korean…media.
There are a plurality of sources for media in the West be they independent, not for profit, single issue, for profit, institutional, governmental, non-governmental, international. Also, almost every country has an English language paper which western viewers can read wherever the country is …Xinhua is a government mouthpiece.
To talk about CNN putting up phony pictures and praising Xinhua is a horrible hippocracy. Some of the pictures in Chinese papers are flat on their face fakes to the naked eye.
It is a huge step towards infantalism to believe what your government tells you time and time again. It is worse off to portray run of the mill propaganda as a positive Chinese trait.
It is a moot point to talk about other countries biases when you don’t even know what is going on in your own country. If people get news from official sources and foreign sources aren’t let in, then it is a monument to self deception for someone to think they know what is going on anywhere.
It is also absurd that you talk about racial tensions becoming worse in the last few decades in the US. Do you think the situation was really better in the 1930’s? The 1800’s? Even comparing the 1980’s to today, you believe racial tensions have increased?
I don’t agree with Bush on the vast majority of issues, I believe the war in Iraq was completely wrong and I do believe there is a lot of media bias towards China in General, but to show Western foreign policy as retrograde in the last few decades is not really sound either. While World war 1 killed more than 9 million people and World war 2 killed 50 million. Since then, however, the cold war resulted in the Korean War and Vietnam, but the total death tolls in both wars combined was less than half of World war 1’s.
Countries such as Japan and Germany were engaged as allies and enjoyed great leaps in prosperity, and stability instead of being humiliated and robbed. The US is unique in history of ending wars and leaving without family ties as in the old European system. Did Germany do this? Did England? Did Japan?
Past choices by China are the reason that it wasn’t the world’s richest country a long time ago. It’s allies as well as its fellow communist countries have also suffered economically. Chinese support for Burma has meant nothing but poverty and death for a nation bounding with minerals. Chinese support of Sudan, has left Arabs richer, but has meant that blacks are victims of genocide with Chinese weapons or being pushed into deserts to die. Chinese Weapons to Zimbabwe go to a dictator who has completely ruined his country’s economy and killed his own people…
To bring up this lovely 5,000 years is really to look past the fact that the country itself is less than 50 years old and that large swaths of it are regions of other groups such as in Xinjiang. If you want to talk about a Chinese way in reference to the country, then why not make an Uighur or Tibetan premier and then prove how unified you are instead of sending a bunch of han to live in their regions and not letting them read their religious texts?
[ 本帖最后由 Nicolle 于 2008-8-26 01:00 编辑 ] |
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发表于 2008-8-25 00:16
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晕我只看主楼主的，没看下面，这也说灌水了，郁闷ing.....
