A weekly column in which Chinese media is taken to the stocks.
By TAR Nation
“Public accepts other views despite anger” is a piece from He Hu Should Not Be Named (or born for that matter) about some 2,200 tourists aboard the cruise ship Costa Victoria.
“Tourists?” I hear you say through my mind’s ear-hole. Yes, tourists. They did something insidious, something unthinkable, something that will make your blood boil and your bones do the dougie. They went to…
The traitors.
The insidious Jap devils were devious enough to warmly welcome the 2,200 tourists to their festival in Kumamoto, just the kind of thing those island-stealing demons do on a daily basis to gain trust from the West and the Dalai Lama and his clique of dog-faced shin-kickers! Those bastards even sent devious Chinese-raping high school students to the reception holding banners reading “Welcome” in Chinese. Does their perfidy know no bounds?
The “news” seems to consist of “netizens” being useless prattling twats. They claim that money they spend in Japan will be used in the coming war against Japan and America, that the people on board have no patriotism and that microblogging is a good use of their time, despite the fact that Weibo is… well, if I were to make a logo for it, it would be a castrated bunny with alopecia being crucified.
Basically, this is a minor mess that “netizens” made out of thin air. The Costa Victoria didn’t spring from ocean foam like Venus. The Italian owners have been carrying Chinese tourists to Japan for years. Nevertheless, here we find ourselves.
So, the Global Times waded into the waters, suggesting that this was, in fact, freedom we are all seeing.
According to GT, here are your options, Chinese people, so listen up:
People have the right to express their dissatisfaction by not traveling to Japan. They are also allowed to put their personal interests above the national interest.
Cancel your business trips and burn (cook?) sushi in the streets for the motherland like a good red patriot who loves China or be a traitorous Jap-loving dog. Your choice.
But, let’s be fair. This is a step forward as GT editorials go. It’s an attempt to be understanding. Less Darth Vader, more Anakin just before slaughtering all the younglings.
Mostly the piece is back-patting, showing that China is a modern wonderful Toontown-like world where people have the RIGHT to disagree with the mainstream. For those of you keeping score at home, the mainstream is what the People’s Daily tells you it is (the GT editorial was republished on People’s Daily).
The fact that the government is not intervening should be viewed as progress.
No. No it shouldn’t. Not beating Hu Xijin to death with a baseball bat while hovering over him screaming “Who’s homogenous now, motherfucker!” is not proof that I am peaceful. What it proves is that I want to do something, but haven’t. Like an adult.
Also, this isn’t everyone’s view.
Yang Bojiang, director of Japanese Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said, “There is nothing to argue about regarding the recent group tour to Japan, since traveling to Japan at this time or not should be left to tourists to decide.” Apparently — and I was made completely unaware of this but have been educated by “netizens” — China is preparing for war with Japan. Go figure.
Chinese people no longer have identical opinions on major issues.
Hmmm. That seems to be slightly at odds with EVERY SINGLE EDITORIAL IN THE GLOBAL TIMES, EVER. The propaganda rags use the word “China” as a concrete noun with feelings, emotions and complex thought, swiftly followed by what happens when you disagree with “China.” In Chinese editorials, China has things, does things, owns things, sees things, feels things, suspects things — and it has one opinion. This is evidenced by the at least 25 the-Japanese-are-bastards editorials this week. Perhaps, and I’m just brainstorming here, if Chinese people don’t have “identical opinions” anymore, then maybe, please, just maybe, can we please, just for a bit, not have identical newspapers and media outlets? Take this from the previously mentioned China Daily article: “If Japan misuses China’s friendship and hurts its interests, China will certainly pay back in the same coin.” Countries don’t have friendships. I barely have friendships.
Certain percentages of the public disagree with or show indifference to mainstream views. It is a very normal phenomenon in such a huge society. Minority views should be respected.
Yup, it says that. You heard it here first, folks. So, if you think Rabeeya Kadeer is a sweet piece of ass, that the Dalai Lama is just a religious leader and great dancer, Communism is balls and that Ghengis Khan had some pretty good ideas (H/T Newsroom), now’s the time to send your editorial to GT. Go on. Your minority opinion “should” be respected.
The government should leave it up to the public to decide how they deal with Japanese products. In fact, the official policies toward Japan in recent years have been intended to reflect the will of the Chinese public, rather than guide public opinion.
…m’kay. Just gonna let that stew. Done stewing? Moving on.
So, there you go, Chinese people. You are free to “put (your) personal interests above the national interest” (sorta).
Free at last, free at last.
Actually, credit where it’s due, the Chinese press didn’t go balls-out crazy over it. This Global Times article even quotes Kiichi Matsuki, head of the Yatsushiro Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as saying, “I hope their visit will be a chance to melt the snow between Japan and China.” And around the horn, headlines were mostly either “Chinese tourists to Japan spark debate” or “Web users angered over Japan tour.” Though many “web users” seemed to be pretty cruel, the Chinese press tried to highlight the less childishly nationalistic bits, hinting that this is a sign that tensions won’t last forever. China Daily got on board with “Visiting Japan not a crime.”
However, many articles included words like “ancient times,” which we’re all so fond of. People’s Daily also couldn’t help mentioning that the “friction” between China and Japan is attributed to “Japanese right-wing politicians.” And we return to the top-linked GT piece:
One cruise carrying Chinese tourists headed toward Japan should not be taken as a sign that the Chinese anger toward Japan has ceased.
I love dashing hope. On the Chinese side, the discussion has taken on economic vibes, saying that Japan can’t outlast the economic woes brought to it through Chinese general ire. Bullying, basically.
But Japan seems to take a different tone. Exports and imports be damned, Japan likes Chinese tourists. Hiro Yoshida, director of Tourism & Convention, Fukuoka City Government, says, “What I hear so far is there’s very little impact. On the contrary, the popularity of Hakata Port is increasing.” That was said a little over a month ago, right around the time 7/11s were still getting a going over. Renho, a member of the Upper House of the Diet of Japan, recently said that the whole country was looking forward to more Chinese tourists. Last Monday, the governor of Hokkaido said via Japan Today, “It is impossible that people in Hokkaido dislike China,” even going so far as to point out that they have land for sale to foreigners, with 21 Chinese-owned companies proudly owning land in the region.
All this despite the government-organized protests and state media-sponsored borderline racism from the CCP. Japan has its crazy rightists, but thankfully, they’re not in charge of anything as important as, say, oh I don’t know, the entire national press. Even an alien from a distant galaxy made of bacon grease would have to admit that China has made itself extremely dislikable in the issue over those stupid, stupid, stupid stupid, stupid fucking bastard islands. There’s talk of an economic war and “netizens” talk of an all-out war. If it’s to be a PR war, I’m sorry comrades, but China doesn’t have a prayer.
Also this week, Japan’s attempt at discussions are futile in the face of good ol’ bullying, Presidential candidates shouldn’t talk about China as that is the first rule of China club, calls for environmental reform sprayed through spit that smells like CCP cock, pooping on Robert D. Kaplan’s The Revenge of Geography, Public angered over Chinese woman’s “forcedkowtow,” “marriage without housing is sexual harassment,” more praise for how the CCP has handled the Daioyu Islands debacle (from the CCP flagship newspaper), and the US presidential candidates shouldn’t talk about China, devoting to it an entirely new sub-site from the people who brought you North Korean Beauties, The People’s Daily: here.
You’re on the verge of unraveling the whole industry’s super secret plan. First, pay netizens to slander Japan, then write about the slander in the national press. There’s no such thing as a slow news day, when news can be invented with the same government money that prints the papers!
If China ever gets its long desired war with Japan, I hope the Netziens are the first on the front lines in the name of the motherland… and get slaughtered.
Japan is a wonderful country, and China would be a better a more wonderful one too if America had let them keep it.