Cup of Cha
This is China

I’m going to list several insults with the author and target deleted, and you decide which is the most offensive. Let’s call it a test of perspective:

1. war criminal
2. the Devil
3. a wolf with a human face
4. goons and thugs
5. Satan
6. someone who makes junk
7. son of a motherless goat

I’m going to go out on a limb here, but “goons and thugs” and someone who makes “junk” would not be at the top. It’s safe to say the worst three are “war criminal,” “Satan” and “the Devil.”

 

If you’re wondering who made these remarks and whom they targeted:

1. Don Imus calls Dick Cheney a “war criminal” regularly
2. China called “Mr. Lama” the “Devil”
3. Ditto for “wolf with a human face”
4. Jack Cafferty (!) called the Chinese leadership “goons and thugs”
5. Don Imus has repeatedly called Hillary Clinton “Satan”
6. Jack Cafferty said China makes “junk”
7. Steve Martin called El Guapo a “son of a motherless goat” in Three Amigos

So, um, how is it that, not only is the Chinese propaganda machine going nuts about Cafferty’s comments, but the Chinese pubic is eating it up? It is entirely a result of cultural perspective…and a bit of selective translation. Here’s the headline the People’s Daily ran about the comments:

美国有线电视新闻网（ＣＮＮ）节目主持人卡弗蒂辱骂华人是50年不变的“呆子”。 [color is my edit, not theirs]

According to the headline Cafferty called hua ren, or the broadest, most inclusive word for Chinese people (based entirely on ethnicity), as the direct object in his statement. Let’s compare Renmin Ribao’s translation to his original statement. According to the NY Times:

So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed,” [Cafferty] continued. “I think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.

What happened about 50 years ago…hmmm…seems like the government had a change of leadership (59 years ago to be exact). Plus, he said “China,” which granted could reasonably be translated as “中国人” (although I think it’s fairly clear that wasn’t his intent), but extending this to “华人,” or ethnic Chinese, is utterly ludicrous, and clearly demonstrates the real aim in this campaign. Keep in mind, I’m not apologizing for his statement, I’m just saying that we need to keep things in perspective. Cafferty clarified on Monday that he was referring to the Chinese Government, but conveniently the Chinese press failed to mention that, even though the editorials did not come out until Wednesday.

The difference in perspective is compounded by the fact that people in the West are used to extremely harsh criticism of their own leaders. Hell, people complain that no one wants to run for office because the scrutiny is too intense. The media in America is so viciously critical of its own leadership, and others around the world, that the public sees government officials as fair game. Yet in China, where no one would dare to criticize public officials in, um, public, this is somehow shocking and disturbing.

In fact, I found this interesting piece in Peking Duck from last year when Reuters called out some government-hired muscle to push around some locals who had the audacity to birth more than one child. It is interesting to note the exact use of the words “thugs” and “goons” by Reuters, and perhaps even more striking what Peking Duck had to say after the chunk of text from the Reuters article. Peking Duck wrote:

Interesting, to see Reuters using words like “goons” and “thugs.” Good for them. Now, if they’d only apply those terms to [US Congressman Tom] Delay and Abramoff and the rest of BushCo [i.e., President Bush and the top American leadership], I might start believing the media was wising up. A good sign, nonetheless.

Wait, this is all so confusing! Why would someone who doesn’t hate all Americans call people the government “thugs and goons”? Head hurts.

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Tags: cafferty, media, nationalism
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