Apathetic, Ignorant, or Just Stupid?
The comments on the NYT article “Before Guests Arrive, Beijing Hides Some Messes” really shock me. Most of them make me kinda sick and sad.
The NYT article is a good one uncovering a corner of the true situation in Beijing before the Olympics opening, though many deemed the story is “China bashing”, and “not newsworthy”, the city beautifying is right or at least understandable, because they thought that kind of things happened a lot, and everyone knew that.
Guys, you were totally misunderstanding the point. Beautification of the city was not the problem. The problem was how the city treat its people.
Yes, beautifying before a big event coming is not news at all, but systematically abusing its citizens by the government is. I believe every case of human abusing and human suffering would make news. It’s a forever theme of journalism.
And people in that city (and yes, in all over China) was suffering from the authorities for the sake of image. That’s the all what the NYT story want to tell you.
Those believed the story “not new” presented some examples, like things happened in Chicago in 1968, Montreal in 1976, Los Angles in 1984, without any concrete and appealing evidences.
All those events held in overseas a few decades ago seam so far away that I can’t have a clue and make comment. I don’t know if there existed any human rights issue in those events. If something bad to their people really happened, I feel sorry and sympathetic to those as I feel the same to my compatriots today. But those were all old days and I believe in western civilized world, as one commenter put it: “In today’s world is quite hard to imagine one day waking up with a wall covering the front of people’s homes, or a veil covering their businesses just because they do not comply with the standards of beauty.”
Others took the happening for granted because they thought they treat their stuffs like laundry the same way when they invited guests to their houses. These statements were totally wrong, because human beings is absolutely not stuffs. Even as unfortunate as those poor Chinese people, they own human rights and civil rights and human dignity as well as westerners. They are not doomed to be victimized, even for the sake of public good! Nobody should be treated in that way. Everybody is not like the “stuffs” you can casually throw, hide or destroy at will.
Should they been sacrificed for the beauty of the city, for the incoming glorious event, for the pleasant sightseeing of foreign athletes, leaders and tourists? No. If someone must pay for the beauty of the city, it must be those who most benefit from the beautification of the city.
China is not just another exotic tourist resort. Chinese people have suffered from ruthless and corrupt despots and bureaucrats for thousands of years. We don’t deserve more suffering because of foreigners. Chinese are open and warmhearted to all kindly friends come from abroad, but those apathetic tourists regarding Chinese pains like the way they treat monkeys in zoos would not deserve it.
If those indifferent comments not came from apathetic heart, it probably came from ignorant mind. Beautification of cities in China are not as the same way most western countries run. There is always an “Chinese characteristic” way done by the authorities to average Chinese. When a governmental campaign comes, citizens are brutally dealt with, houses are arbitrarily teared down, hundreds of thousands of low-income immigrants are mercilessly driven out, dissidents are illegally tracked and harassed, protesters are beaten, tortured and even arrested. It’s out of luck for you when your property or livelihood was in the way. No equitable negotiation. No modest compromising. No fair compensation.
I believe most westerners have no idea what befall average Chinese everyday by the authorities. Most of you seem so friendly to China while critical to your own countries. Unfortunately these kind of friendliness are actually Chinese-government-friendly, not Chinese-people-friendly. These kind of comments sound so familiar to Chinese people just like the tones of the CCP Propaganda Dept hyping everyday. More and more Chinese people know what crap they are today.
“One World, One Dream” is the theme of Beijing Olympics. It’s true that Chinese share the same planet with people in the rest of the world, so as we share the same dream of prosperity, democracy, freedom and happiness with people in the rest of the world. We deserve respect and a better life. Don’t make stupid comments until you really understand what’s happening in China. Help us if you really like China. Keeping concern for the truth and pressure on human rights issues will do the trick.