Comments by "Alan Friesen" (@alanfriesen9837) on "The Real Reason Western Media Lies about China" video.

  1. I think jealousy is a very small part of the equation. It has more to do with ideology and privelege. The ideology is political liberalism vs. authoritarianism. Western media outlets believe that authoritarianism is fundamentally unstable and that the ultimate state of society is a liberal democracy. Prior to 1989 westerners in general and western media outlets in particular believed that China was moving towards a liberal democracy. The events at Tiananmen Square completely upended that assumption. Western sensibility, exemplified by its media, was disappointed to the point of devastation. In part this was because of the human tragedy of that event, but beyond that it was because an authoritarian government broke their philosophy, and every success China has is a refutation of that ideology. The other thing that discolors the western press descriptions of China is the fact that China doesn't view the concept of freedom of the press as the kind of inalienable right that western journalists view it as. China controls its messages and it expects resident journalists to follow rules and submit to censorship when the government deems it in the countries interest. Journalists in China are not allowed to run around commenting on anything they want to. Western journalists feel like this environment is unacceptable, largely because they see themselves as superhero champions of the people, able to bring governments down when they get too abusive. This isn't just a journalist thing, it's an editor thing and an industry thing. Journalism attracts people who worship journalism and who want to be superheroes. The industry also rewards journalists who attack their perceived enemies—at the top of the list are governments that don't give journalists free reign to say whatever the hell they want. Of those governments, the Chinese is probably the strongest and the most responsible. Many authoritarian societies deserve everything the western press throws at them. The fact that China is doing right by its people doesn't come into the equation; it's still considered an enemy institution.
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