Christine Lu’s Harmonious Fries award
The continued polarization between Western popular opinion and Chinese popular opinion continues. I read Chinese Internet Users Say Enough to International Bullying which talked about the (L) China viral movement. The TechCrunch commmenters, especially the anti-(L) China commenters, were so offensive that I got baited into writing a 450+ word comment on TC. What a waste of my time — I’m not going to change any minds over there. Anyway, I’ll just post it at the bottom here for recordkeeping.
Christine Lu launched her Harmonious Fries award to celebrate people trying to bring people together rather than split them apart. Here’s mine!
Thanks Christine! Follow @christinelu at Twitter!
Here’s my TechCrunch comment:
It amazes me to see TechCrunch haters on virtually every topic here on TechCrunch. I feel blessed to live in the USA where freedom of speech and freedom of the press allows us to express virtually any point of view without serious concern about my personal liberties being curtailed by the state. I (L) USA!
At the same time, it disturbs me that the anti (L) China commenters are so much more judgmental and one-sided than the pro (L) China commenters. Look, I am not fluent in Chinese and can’t read Chinese media or BBS. BUT there seems to be ABSOLUTELY NO EFFORT MADE by most Western audiences to even UNDERSTAND the point of view of the Chinese people who feel Westerners are getting only 1 side of the story.
The amount of global awareness by educated Chinese people is on par with that of other educated people in most countries. It is the developed 1st world, and America in particular, where people have completely taken their freedoms for granted and not sought to engage in dialogue with others, and just take their own preconceived notions and allow events and news to just reinforce whatever they were already thinking.
On balance the pro (L) China commenters seems A LOT more reasonable and cosmopolitan than the anti (L) China commenters, at least on this thread. Doesn’t that surprise you? Aren’t “we” the ones who are free and “they” the ones who are brainwashed and held down by a repressive government?
Look — if “they” can climb over the Great Firewall via proxy servers (which btw is a total pain in the *ss) to see the outside world, maybe “we” can read Global Voices Online or Rolang Soong’s fabulous translations on EastSouthWestNorth blog (www.zonaeuropa.com) to climb in. Visit. Listen. Keep an open mind. Try to understand. Have a dialogue. Then try to convince. That is far superior than staying in our own little world with our own preconceived notions.
America may only have another 20+ years as de-facto world leader to steer the rules in place before we turn over leadership to a more complex multipolar group which will undoubtedly include China, India, EU, and Japan. Let’s regain our moral authority by reengaging the world with more humility and open-mindedness and only then will we get to create the world we want before we have to turn it over. The close-minded comments of the TC haters on this board convince me that we are still “same bed, different dreams” with the Chinese, and most other peoples in this world for that matter.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I’m glad I didn’t bother visiting the comments on that TC thread. Reading your comment on CNR and the copy of your comment here almost tempted me to check it out but fortunately the number of comments (300+) scared me away. I’m surprised you got snagged into the debate by TC. After weeks of resistance, I eventually got snagged by a GVO post. Ugh. What a nightmare.
I can’t say I don’t understand the sociological reasons behind many Americans feeling like the center of the world and not bothering to look out. That said, it is time for Americans (and much of “the West” in general) to start recognizing how the world is changing in “the East.” We’re in for some interesting times indeed.