Decenter Journal – Read away from the center! Resist Indoctrination!
“I can’t do it anymore you guys. I can’t even think with the Chinese government censoring anything I write.”
“I can’t sell my soul like this, I wanna get away from that farm more than anything, it’s not worth living in a world where China controls my country’s art.”
“Anybody who would betray their ideal just to make money in China isn’t worth a lick of spit.” Excerpts from South Park – The Return of Fingerbang
Because of this episode of South Park, the program is banned in China.
If I mock about the lousy paint job done by my neighbor, it has the undertone of that I believe my house has a better paint job, if not the best. The mocking of the Chinese suppression of information within China reflects that the producer of South Park, if not an average American, believes that such thing, the suppression of information, does not exist in America. I found this belief worrisome. It also validated the fact that the media machine described by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky some thirty-one years ago still works perfectly in America.
It is absolutely true that the PRC government censor and suppress information flow. They do it openly. The Chinese people know about it. They counter it by using VPN. The PRC government knows about the VPN. VPN works well in many days except those days that are sensitive to the nation, for example, the national day. The mechanism is in harmony. Everybody’s happy. Chinese people are living in reality.
However, in the United States, suppression of information flow is not needed because the media has already filtered, censored, modified the information and to steer the news to the direction of the discourse that the government wants the people to believe. Suppression of expression is not needed also. Since the media, or should I say the government, constantly and tirelessly feed the people the official information, one is most likely not be able to form an alternative opinion. Even if one does, he is in the minority. The American people are living in a dream of reality.
Fingerbang pointed out another fact. The foreign corporations are doing business in China consciously self-screen their products or advertisement to make sure they do not offend the sensitive points of the Chinese people. However, Fingerbang viewed this as a “betrayal of ideals” that doesn’t worth a lick of spit. I find this idea contradicting reality. The upcoming China International Import Expo to be held in Shanghai in November attracts 3,000 enterprises from 150 countries to participate. The participation of American companies doubled from last year. If doing business with the Chinese really not worth a lick of spit, how can one explain the enthusiastic participation by foreign companies? Could it be possible that what Fingerbangs talked about was not on “betrayal of ideals” but just to be sensitive to different cultures when you do business with them? Isn’t it the first lesson one learns in the International Business class?
The South Park – The Return of Fingerbang episode:
Capitalist Propaganda, without you knowing it – Manufacturing Consent: