Comments on: In Uhmerica, 911 Operator Fuck-Up Costs Chinese Woman Her Life

By: Ick

Ick — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 15:43:15 +0000

One assumes Mr. Tao was having a ‘Bad American Media Day” much as the rest of us have “Bad China Days” and his tantrum was uploaded here rather than CCTV via an edited mobile phone video.

re. Brian’s ““Communists Are Bad; China’s a hellhole; It can only be improved by becoming more like us” I think the first and last are generally present in much western European, Japanese, Korean and Continental American media reporting. However, is this not, when push comes to shove actualy true?

The “Communists” are, by and large bad. I have married into them made friends among them done business with them. They are rarely pleasant, almost never ethical and never moral. I doubt a sane man would say the P.R.C. Bureaucracy would not benefit from becoming more like the Germans.

By: bag-o-dicks

bag-o-dicks — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:57:12 +0000

Four years ago some German shops published photos of muslims with the wrong name of the photographer? I guess Anthony’s post does make sense after all!

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:43:03 +0000

There’s a world of difference between false balance and ignoring that the problem may have its roots in objective conditions rather than ideology. The subtext from e.g. Quentin Somerville’s BBC coverage of the 2009 Urumqi riots was blatantly partial to the extent that for the first 24 hours I thought it was Han rioting and killing Uighurs; a number of German outlets used wrongfully-attributed or edited images to make the facts fit the story.

That they’re better in general than the Chinese media at publicising national and government failings isn’t the issue I felt this piece was pointing at. When it comes to China, their story is the same one time and again and it’s set in stone: “Communists Are Bad; China’s a hellhole; It can only be improved by becoming more like us”.

By: bag-o-dicks

bag-o-dicks — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 06:21:14 +0000

Yeah, I hate false balance. Or commentators who write “the reporter forgot to mention…”

By: bag-o-dicks

bag-o-dicks — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 03:47:51 +0000

911 operator: Madam, how are you?
Woman: I’m fine thanks. And you?

911 operator hangs up.

By: Ick

Ick — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 03:20:58 +0000

I’m not sure where you’re from and I’ll happily admit to not reading a great deal of American produced news but the papers from France, Britain and Germany tend to be fiercely critical of their ‘motherland’. Certainly the British press is perpetually filled with tenuously extrapolated stories about how such and such event proves the utter destitution of whatever aspect of society or government function is currently mode du jour. What you don’t tend to find however is ‘our schools, postal system is shit but so is that of China/Nepal/Angola. Simply because mentioning those places is as extraneous to the story as comparing China to a foreign country in every dispatch. If I wish to read an article about say coal mining in inner Mongolia I do not wish to have to have it compared to say 1920′s Wales or 1890′s Alsace Lorraine, even that might serve the interests of ‘false balance’ .

By: Big Pile O' Fragrant Roses

Big Pile O' Fragrant Roses — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 03:18:42 +0000

Everone in America is shooting all day long and if you get shot 911 doesn’t help you. How come there are still people alive in the US of A? Explain yourself!

By: wafflestomp

wafflestomp — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 02:21:33 +0000

Great, now I get to hear from all my friends they think America is unsafe now. Knee jerk reactions for everyone!

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:27:48 +0000

Personally, I thought it a mildly amusing piece of satire from someone who’s clearly at his wit’s end with the smug ‘ours doesn’t stink’ reporting of China that dominates in the US and European news outlets. Just because they’re every bit as superficial about everything else they report doesn’t mean everyone has to like it or pretend the guilty parties are all living Paul Foots.

By: Oro Invictus

Oro Invictus — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:35:42 +0000

This… This was not one of Tao’s better pieces. My guess? He probably read some nonsense commentator from the “West” (how I hate that gross oversimplification) saying something about some recent tragedy in the PRC (more specifically, I’m guessing the recent suicide bombing) and, in his annoyed state, whipped this up. Not the best move given the quality or content of the piece written, but understandable.

Then again, maybe I’m talking bollocks and he was in a normal state of mind when he wrote this, I don’t know. Still, in my opinion, this is a dramatically poorer piece than most of Tao’s other work.

By: name

name — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 09:08:42 +0000

Leave Anthony Tao his 15 minutes of whining.

By: Chinese Netizen

Chinese Netizen — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:50:58 +0000

Chinese woman.

Car.

That’s like giving a can of gasoline and some matches to 8 year olds!

By: Big Pile O' Fragrant Roses

Big Pile O' Fragrant Roses — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:36:12 +0000

“If Chinese media cared to report this in the same manner that some Western media occasionally reports Chinese stories of this ilk, here’s how it might look:”

Didn’t we already have a topic to whine about racism/discrimination/boo-hoo? Would this news have even made it to this site if the victims hadn’t been Chinese?

By: 阿江

阿江 — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:26:53 +0000

In response to what Dan asked, it’s actually not uncommon for 9-11 calls to get outsourced to contracting companies, or to neighboring areas in the states, although none that I know have been outsourced to India (directly).

As for the forced paid leave this person received, unfortunately, it’s probably in place as a result of labor disputes between a union and the agency. Or, it may have been put in place as part of that state’s policy on government workers. Most benefits government workers receive, were due to the fact that they were actually used to match what was available to private sector employees back in the 1950s and 1960s.

That aside, I know a veteran who got into a car accident 2 years ago. When the paramedics arrived, they wanted to send him to the hospital to get checked. When the veteran asked to be sent to the VA hospital, the paramedic changed his attitude, and came up with all sorts of excuses to not send him there. If the veteran went to a non-VA hospital to get checked up, the ambulance and medical bills would be pretty high. By sending the veteran to the hospital, the reimbursement amount would have been very minor (in other words, they could’ve gouged this veteran for more money, than they would have gotten in government reimbursements). In short: Medical care in America sucks.