A couple of weeks ago I got into a tiresome Twitter argument with a young woman from China over her government’s policies. She didn’t say how old she was, but I am assuming she is young because I have heard her arguments from many young Chinese, but not from older ones.
It started because I criticized Beijing’s claim that it was not suppressing the Uighur minority, but in fact was treating them very generously. Obvious bullshit, but Ms. Hyper-Nationalist wasn’t having any criticism. She accused me of not paying attention to what actual Chinese people have to say - unfair criticism given that I’ve spent much of my professional life studying and reading about modern China and talking to Chinese citizens. In fact, I lived for a total of about two and a half years in different Chinese cities: Hong Kong, Qingdao, and Beijing.
Some of my fondly remembered Qingdao
University students in their dorm (1994)
What was most troubling about Ms. HN’s arguing was its imperviousness to any news or information that wasn’t approved by the Chinese government. In other words, she has drunk deeply of the Chinese Communist Party’s Kool-Aid and is a full-fledged member of the “China Shall Dominate the World” Cult. I use this insulting phrase with regret because, in fact, I am very fond of China, I admire its culture and I have had countless wonderful experiences with my Chinese friends. I hope these friends will understand my appreciation for them despite my contempt for the policies of the so-called Chinese Communist Party.
I say “so-called” Communist Party because the CCP is more fascist than communist. It is led by multi-millionaires who were only able to amass their fortunes after China introduced capitalism into its economy around 1979.* The CCP started describing its new economy back then by using a bullshit slogan to hide its capitalistic essence: “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
Right. And I suppose last week’s suppression of Hong Kong’s popular Apple Daily is “freedom of the press with CCP characteristics.”
The younger generation of Chinese is being raised on a cult-like diet of fanatic nationalism rooted in a sense of hurt feelings over China’s “century of humiliation.” It is true that western nations and the Japanese, starting in the 1800s, did invade and exploit China. In fact, these countries abused the Chinese very much as the Chinese are abusing the Tibetans and Uighurs today. Maybe someday leaders from these victimized minorities will rise up and denounce China for its decades of humiliation of them.
But I digress. What I want to say is that China’s late entry into the capitalist game has brought about a near miraculous economic expansion which has lifted hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty. Well done, China! But the CCP claims that its “communist” leadership made this miracle possible and demands the strictest loyalty to its dictates. Absolute and heavy-handed control of the press is the rule, with the result that an entire generation of Chinese has grown up believing the CCP’s bullshit message and itching for revenge against a world that caused its “century of humiliation.” Ms. Hyper-Nationalist is very typical of this generation. She is so thoroughly indoctrinated by her upbringing in an environment of thought control that she is incapable of clearly seeing the CCP lies that have victimized her. She has come to believe that western news sources are all “fake news.”
Yes, fake news. Which brings me to my final point: there is a lot of similarity between the Chinese Communist leader Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. Both are contemptuous of democracy, both rely heavily on outrageous lies to justify themselves, and both have created large cult-like followings that depend on their members rejecting outside sources of information and only believing the great leader.
I’m not alone in thinking this. A Twitter friend, Thomas the Traveler, who watched my back-and-forth with Ms. Hyper-Nat commented that it “Almost felt like an exchange between a Trumper and a normal person.” Exactly.
All of this means that we who believe in democracy now must fight on two fronts: internally the enemy of democracy is the Trump Cult, which lives on with the support of Fox News (or, as reporter Jim Acosta calls it, “the bullshit factory”) while internationally, the so-called Chinese Communist Party attempts to spread its authoritarian power outward, much as Imperial Japan did in the 1930s. And like Imperial Japan, the CCP insists that no citizen shall be allowed to challenge its self-adulating bullshit. Gird up, believers in democracy, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
*It’s not my intention to praise capitalism here, but only to grant that it was capitalism that has driven China’s new-found prosperity.
