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FWD: ABC Syndrome



Folks,
	The following article was posted on talk.politics.china.  I find it's
a good reading material.

By Y. Yang

It saddens and depresses me very much that some recent exchanges and
discussions seemed to confirm a suspicion that has been lurking in
the far corner of my mind, which is that some Westerners consciously
or unconsciously believe that Chinese are in the lower end of the morality
food-chain. 

Let's look at some of the exchanges. When they were unable to defend UK's
grip on HK on the ground of history and legality, they turned to morality.
When their accusation of "cultural genocide" by China proved to be false,
they turned to morality. The underline is that you Chinese don't have the
morality to handle things like that. You are trying to impose change from
outside against the will of a group of people, which is necessarily evil
and immoral. At the same time, they never bothered to defend the often
violent enforcement of desegregation and civil rights movement here,
which were also carried out against the will of a group of people, some
times the majority of people, at least in the South. Not to mention what
happened to the Native Americans.

The message is subtle but clear: we are morally superior to decide the
course and timetable of cultural changes, you are not; We don't need to
defend and justify everything we did and do, you must. 

   - We could compensate Native Americans and undo some of the original 
     sins of our forefathers one hundred years later, you must do it today.

   - Emancipation and desegregation in U.S. are beyond debate. Similar things
     in China are highly questionable, if not evil.

   - Turbulent and often violent cultural changes in U.S. and West are good,
     while any cultural change in Tibet must be as smooth as a Rolls-Royce
     ride.

In a broader perspective, it can be summarized as the ABC Syndrome: ANYONE
BUT CHINA. If China involves in any dispute with anyone, China is the 
guilty one by default and guilty until prove innocent. Examples: China was
the guilty one in the Korea War, India-China War, even in the Opium Wars;
Chinese nationalism is selfish, narrowminded, irresponsible, expansionist,
thus dangerous, while other nationalisms stand for self-determination,
freedom, peace, anything positive; Chinese swimmers won some golds in the
Olympics and World Championships, they must have used steroids. Besides,
China can't possibly do anything right because she has a communist regime,
something that consolidates the ABC syndrome already deeply entrenched in
some Westerners' mindset to a degree of being almost pathological.

That is why we have to be constantly on defensive of everything China does,
a endless and hopeless Sisyphean task. A feeling that shouldn't be too much
different from that of a victim's in the court of Inquisition. Can we ever
succeed? Do we have a chance to succeed?

As much as it frustrates me, I keep thinking, is there any positive side of
this syndrome? Are they simply bashing China out of ignorance, bigotry,
hatred, entertainment, or only-God-knows-what? Are they just hopeful that
we don't repeat their mistakes, if there were any? Are they judging China
from a whole set of different and higher standards, out of good or ill
intentions? So far, I have no answers.
____________________________________________________________________________
        You don't need to know the truth! You can't handle the truth!!
                        -- Jack Nicholson