Fili’s world

The anti-China atmosphere surrounding the Olympics has reached, IMHO, an all time high. Never have I seen so many people talk so negatively about China as I have in the past week. People and reporters who know nothing about China and get their entire information through cliches and stereotype make the at most outrageous comments about China, about the Chinese people and about how things are over there in regards to the Olympics.

The Chinese have no way of winning the PR battle. If they perform well, they’re described as machine-like cold , if they mess things up a bit, they described as losing control. If they tight up security, they’re violating human rights, if they’re loosing it up a bit, then it’s a sign that China is breaking apart. If they’re on time, they’re fascists, if they’re late, they’re incompetent.

Never, has the Israeli media been so happy to report every small failure and twist things to look bad. On the day of the beginning of the Olympics I’ve heard three different sports reporters happily reporting something on the lines of “maybe things in here are looking good, but we’re sure that a few meters away there’s poverty and serious problems with human rights”. You’re sure, are you? Today’s newspapers were thrilled to report that the 9 years old kid who sang in the opening ceremony was actually lip syncing a 7 years old kid who “wasn’t beautiful enough”. “It’s fake! it’s fake! just like everything else that’s Chinese!” they cry out. How delighted reporters were when pollution refused to clear up and rain came pouring down to stop the tennis games from happening the following day. “The Chinese are fu%king it up, they deserve it” was the general message I’m getting as an Israeli listener, and if you think it’s only Israel I suggest you start following NBC and CNN to see how far reporters can really go. Although this next piece is a parody, I think it well represents how the media covers China :

You want an example. I’ve got dozens. Let’s start with this next one from a while ago on an Israeli morning show :

Male Host: Tzachi? hello… so today we’re talking about China, my favorite super power of them all… (Fili - sarcastic tone)

Finance expert: Yeah, so we’ll talk about the Israeli export to China, we’ll see that the Israeli export to China is low compared to other countries in the world.

Male Host: Excellent.

Finance expert: but let’s think about how this affects us… [blahblah skipped…]

Male Host: Wait, there’s something I don’t understand, since when do the Chinese buy anything from someone else? they’re only selling.

Female Host : Poisonous toys.

Male Host : Yeah.

Finance expert: Some things they just can’t do because they don’t have. Take “High-Tech” (IT) for example, they don’t have enough “brains” there. They only know how to manufacture.

Male Host: That was a racist remark.

Finance expert: Oh, no, God forbid.

Male Host: You said the Chinese don’t have enough brains, how do you expect us to interpret that? he said that, right? didn’t he say that?

Female Host 2: Yeah, I heard it, he said it.

Male Host: Tha’t’s it.

Female Host 2: You did say that, it’s a pity.

Male Host: Yeah, it’s a pity, 3 big Chinese will come over there and take you away. Why? (Fili - or “is it worth it?”)

Finance expert: Or maybe they’ll leave Israel and we won’t have (construction) of new buildings… but that wasn’t my intention. My meaning was that the Israeli IT is leading the world, we’re smart, and we should export that, and instead of just exporting to the US, we should think about other places in the world as well.

Male Host : I don’t envy you for when you arrive in China. […] They’ll show you what the Chinese do to people they don’t like.

Funny? I don’t think so. Horrible, just horrible. Renjintso, one the very few Israeli Hebrew blogs devoted solely for China, does a good job at explaining how bad things are (in Hebrew) :

Gentlemen, I hate to say it, but you’re writing out of ignorance, not knowing the actual facts, and being closed minded. There’s a name for this and it’s called Sinophobia. Do us a favor and stop, since it doesn’t make you look good. You can criticize China, but before you do that, you have to get some sense of what you’re talking about. It’s exactly the same as the difference between the legitimate “Israel is violating human rights in the occupied territories” and “All Israelis perform genocide in the Palestinians, poisoning their wells and murdering their kids”. I don’t really have to explain the difference, do I?

I agree. Especially in Israel, having the world’s number one worst PR, we should be sensitive to try and see through biased media reporting and keep an open mind.

If I have the energy, more video examples to follow up later.