Talk about America's most prestigeous newspaper, the New York Times.
I have been following their "spin" about China, through their "China bashing and demonization" scripted reporting. Ever since June 4, 1949, the torrent of news spun around the script of "human rights abuses" inside China has been relentlessly pursued by the zealots from the NYT, fired up by "Tikkun Olam."
Today's news from the Times must be analyzed and critiqued for its content by those of us in 3rd Space. Spatium Trientis. Straddled between East and West, we have a "third eye" to call bias when we see it.
As writer Albert Camus wrote, "Tor write is to Choose." All of us are trapped by the cultural "bags and baggages" we carry, from our individual experienced in life, whether in the Western or Eastern world.
Consider the story of Grace Wang, a Chinese foreign student attending Duke University, and her attempt to be "peace maker" in the din of the torch relay " food fight" which is now spreading all through blogosphere, and among Chinese youths all over China, and outside of China. Whereever the Olympics torch reaches its destination in its world tour, pro-and-anti torch narratives are being spun by the Western news media, with a biased tilt promoting "Team Tibet-Shangri-la."
And the marching orders from the press "rat packs" covering the news through their protest Beijing -China bashing" lenses are to accentuate human rights abuses and pile on the Chinese government, over human rights abuses, free speech and a free press, being one component of the bashing. What a crock of horse manure.
The NYT spin, from one so-called reporter, Shaila Dewan, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/us/17student.html?ref=asia&pagewanted=all reported that our Chinese student from Duke University, Grace Wang, was tormented by her fellow Chinese students and castigated as a "traitor," after she tried to "referee" a protest march by the "Team Tibet-Shangri-la" protesters at Duke. And she was headlined as the "menu of the day" ("menu de dia") as a headline front-page story.
Good grief. Being insulted as a "traitor," by one's fellow Chinese ? I have every empathy for Ms. Wang, the alleged victim of "Team Pro-Beijing Olympics, " if indeed the story has any merits at all.
Me too. Me too. Me too. I am an American of Chinese descent. I was at Ground Zero in San Francisco. And as a pro-Beijing Olympics American of Chinese descent, I have been villified, attacked, and screamed at as a "traitor." Worse, pejorative words, unfit for the NYT to print, have been hurled against me.
I was in the vortex of the San Francisco torch relay stop which did a fake play and shifted direction away from the "Team Tibet-Shangri-la" intended ambush on the torch and assault against the torch runners on April 9, 2008.
Guess what ? Being called "traitor" is a piece of cake. No sweat.
Our folks from "Team Pro-Beijing Olympics" have been called "worse names" and pejoratives than Ms. Wang, our poor Duke student from China, trying to referee the food fight.
Guess what, one white "Team Tibet-Shangrila" protester in San Francisco hectored and screamed at me, "F'*#@ You." "Go back to China, you scumbag !"
Those of us at Ground Zero at San Francisco, over 20,000 of us, consisting of many ethnic Chinese, including Americans of Chinese-descent, Chinese-Americans, foreign-born, native, or otherwise resettled from the global Diasporic communities, of all sizes, hues, political persuasions, were accused by many Western news media, including our own local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, of having "invaded" San Francisco. And yes, we are part of the staged game play by the Chinese government through its local consulate, goodness Heavens.
The yellow horde; or the yellow peril, so to speak ! The Chinamen are coming. The Chinamen are attacking.
And guess what ? The spin from many American reporters is that the local Chinese consulate has ferried all these "Team Pro-Beijing Olympics" by the busloads to San Francisco's opening ceremonies in an attempt to stage and publicize the counter-narrative.
Shades of traitorship here, if not racism. And shades of disloyalty in America.
Free speech. Freedom of the press ?
More like Freedom to be irresponsible and biased.
Gimme a break, NYT.
Yellow horde ? Yellow peril ? For Pete's sake, I am a San Franciscan. Or what many outsiders would now derisively call those potheads and crackpots in our pot-holed city streets, "Friscans."
And I have been here for the last damn 32 years. And our local newspaper, in a city with 1/4 of its population being ethnic Chinese, with a history of 150 years in this America's most liberal city, with its most historic and most unique Chinese enclave, San Francisco Chinatown, had the audacity to report that we have "invaded" San Francisco.
And so have my ancestors who arrived here before 1849, and settled California, build your railroads, your levees, till your farms, provided you good folks with 'bing' cherries (named after Chinese fruit picker, Ah Bing).
Those 160 Chinese community organizations in our area who mobilized in support of the Olympics torch stop in San Francisco were all broadbrushed as "traitors." We outnumbered the "Team Tibet-Shangri" force at Ground Zero by at least a margin of 3 to 1. And we were accused of being agents of the Chinese government !
What's the big deal, Ms. Grace Wang, from Duke University.
Welcome to America. Free speech, even offensive speech. Vulgar speech. And with fighting words too. So long as you are not being banged up, our most vaunted U.S. constitution ensures everyone a right to free speech, and even stupid speech. Yes. The U.S. constitution provides for a constitutional right and privilege " to be stupid," and to be like the New York Times, "smart but biased and anti-Chinese."
If you don't believe me, just google and wiki and read up on the New York Times sordid and scandalous coverage of Wen Ho Lee, the Chinese-American accused of being a Chinese spy during the Clinton years. I mean Bill Clinton. Not Hilary.
Why don't the New York Times report our side of the story ?All 160 Chinese community organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area who are part of the "Welcome Beijing Olympics" narrative ? Why ? We too are Americans accused as "traitors" by fellow Americans.
Read on about the latest New York Times spin on this sordid episode in China bashing and demonization and rationally compare their spin and my spin to determine if I make any sense at all:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/us/17student.html?ref=asia&pagewanted=all:
