For this post FB might just be the perfect medium. Allergic - TopicsExpress

For this post FB might just be the perfect medium. Allergic advice: contains criticism, sarcasm and subjectiveness. _____________________________________________________ It’s utterly frustrating to see comments all the time about Chinese democracy, the tireless claims that how human rights are being exploited in China, people have no freedom of speech and are living in barbarism with no reach of happiness and so forth. Those who collected only fragments of stories through the lens of western media can never put up a whole picture of what’s really going on there. However, the problem is not about whether there exist a truer version of China or not either, but that of reducing everything into a simplified parameter of democracy. The conspicuous disregard of the complexities surrounding these issues can only make me doubt one’s real intention. Such accusations of China are an easy “endeavour that requires no investments to extract the pleasure of announcing it insoluble, a morose reassessment with an undertone of narcissism and superiority, capitalised on our powerlessness. The mirror they used to reflect on their own well-being is the misfortunes and sufferings of the others, and most ironically such misfortunes are often imagined and designed to suit their purposes. The point of solely labelling out the problems in China as Chinese and treating them psychologically separately to the rest of the world instead of objectively independently is that they can stay in a vacuum where no responsibilities are involved but only self-satisfying criticism, as if Snowden hasn’t proved enough that we’re all being deceived, the freedom of speech and basic human rights are under threat globally. What’s the big deal that people living in mainland China can’t use FB anyways? To receive a lot of likes? Chinese have their own social networks such as Weibo and Wechat and yes they are censored, just as the rest of the world. And even if you’re really desperate, just get yourself a VPN for nothing but 10 rmb a month. Don’t want to pay? There’re inexhaustible free VPN trials all over the place, thanks to the prosperous internet piracy industries and the left-over communist ideals lurking in China. Plus, are there more dangerous forms of idealogical controls over people rather than just putting up barriers like such? I always think that it’s just the ruse of the Chinese gov is clumsy and less sophisticated than that of the west, and yet they’re equally bad. The efficiency of these grand truisms is profound, reaffirming the pessimism towards China on social networks and other public spheres, ultimately one that of racism. Funny thing is, those who proclaim their democratic ideals against the Chinese government are often found active in oversea students groups from China who barely had any sufficient social experience in China nor in the west. They are often from a privileged social position and environment, having experienced or adapted to the well-developed western system for some time and regarded them inherently better, flawless that no other systems can compete (i.e the firm faith in the western oriented social values such as consumerism/capitalism and the fear of the thoughts of any alternatives such as socialism), let alone a cool-headed, objective analysis without prejudice of the whole picture. Despite of all that, I always find an bitter aftertaste in those voices, a disapproval/diffidence of one’s own roots, a “how lucky I’m not living there (anymore)” kind of relief. This indifferent escapism, the somehow solitary not-belongingness/in-betweeness, the self-elevation by self-denial, a lack of cultural identity in a global society, and the pleasure of biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you might just be the truthful mentality biding far beyond all these cacophonies. China of course is neither a wonderland nor the last place to survive in the world. It’s different from the west, it’s special in itself, it is developing its own cultural currency. After living in the UK for 2 years while travelling a lot in Europe, I found my homeland not as horrible as what being described and believed, the same as Europe and the west as a whole is often fantasised and idealised in so many ways. The problems that Chinese people are confronting are not unique, the urgency is worldwide. Apart from a horizontal perspective, vertically speaking the China we’re talking about now shouldn’t be simplified to a singularity or attributed to one historical event, its government or the ignorance of its vast majority of uneducated, uncivilised people (this often irritates me the most). What China is experiencing is a perplexing complexity. The once profound but then severely disrupted past is still haunting in the present but never resurrects in full form, the void in the gaps of fanatic socialist movements and modernisation processes is suddenly filled up by the incorporation of capitalism in 1979, the influences from international powers and so forth are all reacting and countering one another. With this I can go on forever. Again I want to suggest that I have no intention to blindfoldedly justify everything about my own country nor to give a thorough analysis simply because Im not able to, but merely to avoid simple-mindedness and prejudice as much as possible. And at the end, it’s not about coming up with a judgement of good or bad, right or wrong, or an anecdote to the dreadful circumstances, but of being able to function one’s brain, which I consider the most pressing issue above all of those rants. *Its an observational comment that isnt meant to be 100% true. *This text is not intended to target on any specific individuals.