More Jingoist H1B Politics
USA Today, Fox News, and others are running blindly with the US government propaganda campaign, “Chinese Spying on the Rise!“ The message you are supposed to get is that “all Chinese high-tech workers in USA are spies”. This is part of the ongoing battle of the politicians to kick out anyone with education and talent, and instead turn USA into a low-cost labor pool.
The so-called journalists should be ashamed. These stories selectively pick out some anecdotes (from 1987, no less) and present a skewed and one-sided story. Read the USA Today article, and replace every instance of “Chinese person spying” with “Black person mugging a white person”. It is quite possible for a reporter to find statistics of several “black people mugging white people” and present them in sequential order to paint a picture of “black on white crime on the rise!” But it would be unethical, immoral, and dishonest. Such a reporter could claim that he was “just presenting the facts”, but he should be fired anyway.
To be balanced, the article should mention that the U.S. does this to China all the time. It should also mention that other countries do this to the U.S. all the time. And it should mention that the “bad apples” are a diminuitively small portion of the overall Chinese immigrant population (the article smears “Chinese high tech workers”, a clear reference to H1-B, when the actual culprits were all citizens). What percentage of Chinese immigrants are criminals versus other immigrant groups? The article gives us no insight into this, instead expecting us to believe that all Chinese high tech workers are spies.
No American journalist could write about other minority groups this way and keep his job. Why China, and why now?
I think the answer lies in more than just H1-B politics. George Bush has been trying to pick a fight with China since his first day in office. The Democrats are no better — the “food/toothpaste quality” scare and the “global warming credits” are both ways to put economic pressure on China. This is all a concerted anti-China propaganda effort, and it’s shameful that reporters are falling for it. We had 200 years of virtually uninterrupted freedom of the press. Let’s not give it up so easily.
July 27th, 2007 at 2:48 am
The comments posted with that article are very disheartening.
The language choices in the article like “…hidden in their luggage” are very disheartening.
The notion of undertaking all that detective work in order to accuse someone of stealing unclassified material is very disheartening.
However in the end I still have heart…and hope. I still think the fact that there are already over 2 of the 10 billion folks connected telephonically trumps all else.
Patience, my friend.
Love.
July 27th, 2007 at 6:46 am
I recently purchased 4lbs of Talapia at Walmart for less than $10. I don’t need to tell you, that is an awsome price.
Amazingly, when I got home, I discovered that the fish was imported from China. I’m already resigned to the idea that all of the dry goods sold in Walmart are manufactured in China. But food? What is next? Kellogs Corn Flakes made in China?
The fish is delicious, but I am really nervous about eating food from the same country that just executed its FDA adminstrator because of poison/bribes. I’m with the Democrats on that particular issue.
(I guess I can sue Walmart if I get sick.)
July 27th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Honestas,
You could take the execution as evidence that they take food safety more seriously than we do (when was the last time a bureaucrat here got executed for corruption?). Or you could take it as evidence that the stakes in being a bureaucrat in China are much higher. When the stakes are that high, making other people’s heads roll is part of the game.
Multinationals outsource to China in part because of the lower regulatory burden. Walmart does this just for you. We outsource our energy-intensive work to China so that the electricity can be generated more cheaply and the pollution stays “over there”, we send out toxic waste (PCs, etc.) back to their landfills, and then accuse them of polluting the globe. It’s like the johns ganging up to stone the prostitute.
See this story, too: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=chinese-dubious-of-fake-c&chanId=sa003&modsrc=reuters. The problem with anecdotal stories like this is that they say nothing about the overall safety. Anyone can collect a series of anecdotes. When 50% of your goods come from a particular country, reasonable estimates would be that at least 50% of your bad anecdotes will come from there too.
You could watch the movie “Fast Food Nation” and then decide if it’s safer to eat McDonalds or Chinese Tilapia.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:40 am
It is very hard for me to take any news from the Fox Network very seriously. But every time I walk into the lunch room, the channel is tuned to Fox. These people can turn any shit into shineola and unfortunately can sell it to the uninformed way too easily.
People in America are more worried about protecting their wealth at all costs (the real and unstated Republican objective) than they are concerned about healthcare for the poor and the disenfranchised. I love how Fox, the voice of the Republicans can make the billions spent on a 700 mile wall covering part of the 2100 mile border between Mexico and the US sound more important that social security. :o(
August 8th, 2007 at 6:01 am
Please tell me why the frozen talapia from Walmart has Carbon monoxide listed as one of the ingredients??