"Shiny, Happy People"
by Danny Fisher
Tiffany Stanley at the Religion News Service Blog reports on a new commercial from the Chinese government that depicts “happy Muslims and Han Chinese, donning matching yellow polo shirts and singing: ‘We are all part of the same family.’”
- This ad brought to you by China’s “relentless propaganda campaign” to gloss over the ethnic rioting in Xinjiang, the Associated Press reported.
Ms. Stanley notes the similarities between this reaction and the propaganda that followed the Tiananmen Square Massacre–a campaign that is said to have inspired a very famous song by one of America’s favorite rock-and-roll groups:
The Chinese have a significant problem of racism (both against Han and Uigur), and frankly, dismissing attempts to diminish the racial hatred as "propaganda" is itself a form of propaganda.
Moreover that article actually has inaccuracies:
- The violence did not start "when police broke up a Uighur demonstration in the city's main square," but rather had to do with violence at a factory that preceded the demonstration).
- The media hardly played down Han-led violence.
Moreover what is also missing is that indeed outside groups are trying to exploit this situation.
My reaction to this story – especially reading about it first-hand in China – is that it is much like Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" in a central Asian context.
We Americans don't have a moral high ground here, and I'd recommend that one look at all sides of the issue here. American media does not have a good track record of reporting completely truthfully when to do so would call into question policies of the US government. This has been the case not only with China, but with Israel-Palestine, Venezuela, and a host of other places.