%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Editorial Board of CBS Incident Committee %%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Friday, June 3, 1994 (No. 2) ============================================================================== *** Part IV. Community Activities *** ============================================================================== Table of Contents # of Lines ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Post to Non-Chinese Newsgroups ................................... 14 2. Calling CBS to protest ............................................... 146 ============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Post to non-Chinses Newsgroups ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _From: he@server.uwindsor.ca (Herb Ho) This is what I sent to another newsgroups, those read mostly by Americans. One way to control the damage is make as many people as possible know the absurdity of this story. To post to non-Chinese newsgroups is just such a way. If you want, you can re-post this message, too. Herb =============================================================== American patriots, those who love freedom and cherish their human rights, GET BUSY! America is under threat! In a special investigation, CBS has found, with the support of US government agencies, that Chinese spies are lurking everywhere in America! Yes, everywhere! It is the NO. 1 spectre haunting this land, the bastion of democracy and liberty! Americans: Ask NOT what your country can do for you, but ASK what you can do for your country! You can help your beautiful country by helping these bodacious spies. As many as they are, these spies, being from an inferior race, are quite stupid and therefore quite easy to catch. You see, they spy by using the computers, the information highway, such as the E-Mail. Any time you see a Chinese get close to a computer, get vigilant immediately. If you see anything suspicious, such as downloading files from the the computer, call 911 without any delay! This is not too much your country asks of you. In case you think it is, you can still help your country by at least staying away from the Chinese. If you are a landlord, evict your Chinese tenants, for they may be spies; if you are buying a new house, make sure you don't have Chinese neighbours, for they may be spies; if you are an employer, fire your Chinese employees and never hire them again, for they may be spies; if you run a university, never accept any Chinese students, for they may be spies; if you are businessman, never do any business with the Chinese, for they may be spies; indeed, never even go to a Chinese restaurant, for the restauranteur may also be a spy -- their delicious food may just be a bait. The Chinese spies are everywhere, built into the American "society structure." Talk to the FBI, fast! They have programs to help you help your country! ================================================================ Okay. Now the CBS story, a battle cry against the Yellow Peril: ================================================================ ... you don't always find spies in trench coats, you could find them next door. In a special investigation, CBS has found out how China is grooming agents to keep an eye on America. Everyday, planeloads of Chinese citizens arrive legally in the United States, ordinary people. ...... .... The FBI is helping American corporations to protect themselves >from espionage. The bureau now has programs to brief executives on how their companies could become targets.-- ------The End--------- =================================================================== Those who have doubts about the threat of Yellow Peril: The above is the text of that story I transcribed from a VCR recording. I have never watched or read a more outrageous news story in any media anywhere. Try substituting every "Chinese" here for "American", "China" for "America", and vice versa, you will know what I mean. Please read the story and then put yourself in the shoe of any Chinese accused, distrusted, denied employment, socially rejected, or criminally charged on suspicion of being a spy, how do you think you can defend yourself, if the allegations here are accepted as facts? You can be branded a spy or a potential spy even if you "just sit there and do nothing." And judging from the response over the netland, Americans, after all these years of China-bashing, usually don't question such stories at all. In fact, they not only readily believe such stories, they can also imagine more. So, someone in soc.rights.human wrote about "several" Chinese spies being arrested, which I guess is even news to both FBI and CBS. The only Chinese spy case that CBS has managed to find as illustration for its story involved a man who came to the US 23 years ago. He is obviously not one of the "planeloads of Chinese" who now come to the US everyday. 23 years ago, Richard Nixon had not visited China yet, and the two countries then were not even posting diplomats to each other. No Chinese could have possibly come to the US, especially in a private capacity, at that time. The guy could not possibly be from mainland China. While it is possible that the Chinese government somehow recruited this man, possibly from Hong Kong or Taiwan, in the US, the case sounds impossible. How can a restauranteur possibly steal engines for jet fighters and then get it out of the US? It is like a supermans' story. It seems the guy pleaded guilty, though, after some plea bargaining, which looked more like a setup. The Chinese in North America have always been a largely passive group of people, and that has a lot to do with intimidation of one form or another. This is a very vulnerable group of people, who over the years and decades have learned more to adapt to overwhelming circumstances but less to stand up for themselves. The Chinese as a people certainly have problems, so does China as a country, just like other peoples and countries. We Chinese should be working on these problems, as I was when I was in Beijing as a political dissident. But the bashing and demonizing of the Chinese in the West is not only excessive but also getting dangerous. Never putting things into proper perspective, such bashing tends to take on racial biases, couched in ideological terms. It hurts just too many innocent people. I must say that the Chinese are not the only ones at risk here. If there is anything to be admired of America, it is the generally open relationships between the ordinary people, and it is the the principles of natural justice that Americans usually insist on for everyone. If you create an atmosphere of suspicion among some people against some other people, you will be lifting up a stone to drop on your own feet, as a Chinese saying goes. To give you an example, if the demonized Chinese can be attacked by blatant fabrication or innuendo, what about the principle of innocence until beyond guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? Human rights, human rights, where are human rights? I see only human wrongs here. Herb ------------------------------- 2. Calling CBS to protest ------------------------------- _From: he@server.uwindsor.ca (Herb Ho) I called CBS headquarters and got transferred to the director of its Audience Services Department. I forgot the guy's name, but either his first or his last name is something like Ray. I urge everybody to call. There are a few things to pay attention to, though. One of the CBS defences is that it reported only an opinion, and it was a US government opinion. We can counter by saying that it was not an opinion piece, and if it was, then CBS is duty-bound to present other opinions, which it did not. (I believe that there is specific legislation in the US requiring balanced presentation of opinions. It will be great if some law students in the US can research the law in this area.) Remember to make specific demands in addition to making protests. We can demand several things: An open apology and recanting of the the story, another story presenting an opposite opinion, and financial compensation. Herb %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Executive Editor of CBS Incident Committee: Miao Ye % % Sign on/off at listserv@ifcss.org, with mailbody as: % % sub fcbs-l Firstname Lastname, or signoff fcbs-l % % Post at fcbs-l@ifcss.org % % Anonymous ftp at ifcss.org:/ifcss/cbs % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%