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To me this journalist is disgusting and plainly unprofessional. Yes, Jiayang Fan, I am looking at you. It's ok to argue with an interviewee, but, gosh, who doe
by gdy 7y ago
To me this journalist is disgusting and plainly unprofessional. Yes, Jiayang Fan, I am looking at you.
It's ok to argue with an interviewee, but, gosh, who does it like that?
While "brainwashed" Liu Cixin is "deaf to the argument", the journalist ignores opponent's arguments because of her (commendable, of course) "inflexible sense of morality" and "principles to be upheld regardless of outcomes".
In case the reader is not susceptible to the journalist's line of thought, let's plug a couple of bits like "as if I were minding a small child" and "he sounds almost like a child" in seemingly innocent contexts. Of course, it has nothing to do with how Liu Cixin's words should be perceived in the other contexts.
But what if the reader is still not sure who's won the argument?
The journalist tells what she had read in Liu Cixin's mind: "he sighed, as if exhausted by a debate going on in his head."
Of course, he sighs because he doubts what he says, what else that could possibly be?
"I looked at him, studying his face. He blinked" - oh, Jiayang Fan, you are magnificent.
- EastToWest 7y agoHey, cool down a bit. I don't think posting here on HN has any effect on the piece or journalist's style. Westerners think any opinions Chinese people have, if not conforming to Western values, are due to either "brainwashed" or "fear repercussions". I have resigned from expressing my opinions long ago in real life because I don't think people around me care much about what I think other than claiming superior or vindicating their own position. So my normal response has been "fly there and ask people what they want, see for yourself". It has been fascinating to see so many Chinese people who go oversea but end up supporting the current government even more (mind you, not everything the government does, before someone brings this up).
- gdy 7y agoBut I feel so much better now :) Yes, what irked me is not so much her arguments as her smug attitude and the underhanded way of retelling the conversation with a person who trusted her enough to talk with her at length. If you ask me, lifting almost a billion of people out of poverty is amazing. Still, some developments in China make me feel unease. What do people in China think about the social credit system? Also while rounding up a million of Muslims in a reeducation camps is better than fucking up two countries in the wake of 9/11, it still doesn't sit well with me.
- EastToWest 7y agoMy impression for the social credit system is that people seem to like it (mind you, I'm not in China), because it is a powerful tool against bad behaviors and law breakers. I'm not sure if people are aware of or care the invasion of privacy in the implementation of the system. I'm not a big fan of this system in its current form, but someone will need to propose better alternative. As for the reeducation camps, I haven't been following that closely, haven't had first hand account or direct experience. To form my opinion I will need to travel to Xinjiang to see for myself -- yep, I live up to my own suggestion.