On April 9, Jack Cafferty, a commentator on CNN's "Situation Room," used the term "goons and thugs" in describing the U.S. relationship with China as host Wolf Blitzer compared today's China to that of 20 or 30 years ago. Cafferty issued a clarification of his remarks Monday, saying the comments referred to the Chinese government, not its people. In the comments, Cafferty referenced what he called billions of dollars in U.S. debt and trade deficits with China.... "So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed," he said. "I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years."
If there's one thing I can't stand (actually, there are many, but that's for another time), it's raw, angry, foaming-at-the-mouth nationalism. Having lived under the heavy handed yoke of Serbian nationalism, I've long since developed a healthy distaste for nationalism of any sort. Perhaps I'm taking this to an extreme, but as proud as I am of being an American, I detest overt displays of the "mine is bigger and better than yours" attitude that seems part and parcel of nationalism in this country. Our post-9.11 "let's kick some @$$" reflexive pseudo-patriotism sickens me.
OK, so my experience with it is different than most, but from where I sit, there's a very fine line between patriotism and nationalism. In this country that line has been obliterated since 9.11. Since when is wearing a flag pin on one's lapel considered de riguer in order for a politician's patriotism to be validated? What does putting a magnetic ribbon on your SUV prove, except that you're suspect to ill-considered patriotic groupthink?
Ah, but I'm getting away from myself here. The protests from pro-Chinese demonstrators in Los Angeles are little more than a nakedly nationalistic example of whistling past the graveyard. The maroons are willing to overlook the fact that the Chinese government provides arms to Sudan that are then used in Darfur to kill innocent civilians, and the continued repression in Tibet is, of course, purely an "internal Chinese matter" that the rest of the world has no business lecturing China about. But let CNN's Jack Cafferty speak a few words of truth about the Chinese government and you can count on facing the wrath of Chinese nationalists? Talk about selective ignorance
Jeebus Krispix, people; how about y'all just remove your anteriors from your posteriors and get over yourselves? The reality is that Cafferty was spot on...and Keith Olbermann echoed Cafferty's appraisal in no uncertain terms during Friday night's "Countdown". If I had a television gig, I'd have done the exact same thing. The sheeple in LA may not be willing to face reality, but the Chinese government IS essentially the same collection of goons and thugs that have been running China as their own personal playground for the past 60 years. The faces may have changed, but the script has not.
This collective refusal to own up to reality does not make the truth of what's happening in China any less real. The self-righteous hue and cry about Cafferty's "racism" is simply so much sturm und drang designed to deflect attention from the ugly truth, which is that China is the same repressive thugocracy it's been for 60 years now. The protesters in LA don't have to like, but that hardly matters. Jack Cafferty spoke the truth...and the truth is what it is.
