I was watching a Youtube video by a France television station on forced labor in Xinjiang, China. I wanted to see what new evidence they came up with. The presentation was so bad that I wondered if this is a parody on Western media. But I don't think it is and I think that most people in France who watched this will think that forced labor is real.
During the entire presentation from this "journalist" based in Beijing had a video in the background showing cotton being picked in Xinjiang with large machines. The only humans were the drivers of these machines. So are the drivers forced to drive? Are the machines being forced to work? There was not one single person bending over to pick cotton. If they don't have videos of forced labor, then don't run anything in the background. This just boost China's claim that they bought lots of machines from Deere and this was much more efficient than forcing people to pick cotton by hand.
The "journalist" also said he had no first hand information about forced labor but that from "reliable, independent sources" he said that more people than in the past working in the fields are Uyghurs from Xinjiang as opposed to people from other provinces. Well, if there are people in California who needs jobs, would you bring in people from New York to pick strawberries?
By the way, there was only one "reliable and independent source" he quoted. That was the Global Center for Cooperative Security. It is easy to look up this organization and see how "independent" it is. According its own site, 95% of funding are from governments. The dozen or so governments listed are all Western countries except for Japan. Ironically, France is not one of the nations mentioned although the European Union is. If an organization is 95% funded by China and Russia, would you believe it is independent in reporting forced labor in the U.S.?
Despite these shortcomings, I think most people in France and elsewhere in the Western world will believe that this video is strong evidence of force labor in Xinjiang. I would not be surprised that like articles in other Western media on this subject, it will be quoted elsewhere in the future as evidence. It is like Trump retweet something absurd and next thing you know, millions believe it is true. That is how propaganda works.
I guess I would want to know how you came across this Youtube video. Whenever I come across anything on the internet, (especially if I don't know the original poster), I take it with a grain of salt. Though I understand that what you are saying is that some people will look at the video blindly and come to certain conclusions or accept what this person is saying is gospel.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if China knows this or even cares, but it has a big PR problem with most of western civilization. And is that a problem for China or is that a problem for the west? I think it depends on how you look at it.
i think leaders use China as a scapegoat but I don't think they really care about some of these things. It's just a political tool. What the citizens of these countries think about China doesn't really matter. Countries will still do business with China and there will be a two way relationship. I just wish things were a little different so that we can all live in peace and harmony.
-LBOAYM
Youtube, like all social media, sends you videos that they think you are interested in. For example, since I watch videos against Trump, I get the Lincoln Project whenever they make a video. I started following two white guys living in China with Chinese wives several years ago. They were from Indiana and South Africa. They were going around the country showing sights, good or bad. I felt they were giving fair representation of China. Then they left the country and both came to the U.S. and started bashing China. For example, one of them was bashing China for starting the pandemic because of the wet market. But couple years ago, he made a video telling the Chinese government not to shut down wet markets because they were great and important cultural aspect of China. What changed? Now they get more hits with China bashing and are getting funding from conservatives in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteBut as a result of following these two guys, I started getting videos of other white guys with Chinese wives living in China. Those who stayed, have completely different views. Now they are being accused by those two others and media such as BBC and NYT as being mouthpieces of the CPC. They deny working for the CPC. Who knows? But I find their criticism of Western media to be fair and their depiction of modern China to be accurate.
I then started getting videos from various sources for and against China. CGTN is obviously pro China and RT is pro Russia so I don't take their words. Nor do I take the words of the BBC and Fox News. I check out others and make my own judgment. This was the first time I saw a French tv talking about China, so I checked it out. It seems just as bad as BBC.
I write mostly about the lies of Western media and not Chinese media because you and everybody in America is going to take the Chinese media with a grain of salt or ignore them totally. But most people are not going to take Western media with a grain of salt, at least not about China. Democrats believe Fox lies and Republicans believe CNN lies but they will believe what both say about China. How many people are going to check out if what these media say about China is true?
In fact, even though our media is not supposed to be mouthpieces of the government, they rarely push back on foreign issues. That is why WMD in Iraq was presented as facts by the mainstream media. Nobody pushed back when the U.S. presented a woman who said that Iraq soldiers went into a hospital to kill babies. All those were lies by the government and 90% of the public believe them to be true. So I am afraid if our leaders decide to go to war or blockade China, the lies will be published as truth here. It is already beginning. Then what will happen to us Chinese Americans then?