Opinion | In the West, China the villain is a narrative few dare to challenge
- Vitriol aimed at contrarians who point to lack of evidence for Xinjiang genocide claims reflects how much Biden’s approach to China resembles predecessor’s
- It is at such times of rabid nationalism that free speech and dispassionate research are needed
Something strange has happened to public discourse in the West, perhaps magnified by the dislocation and despair of the pandemic. People are not just covering their mouths with masks to avoid viral harm; they are covering their mouths so as not to say things that challenge the master narrative of the moment.
The free media is itself complicit in the silencing and outright ridicule of views that don’t comport with the flavour-of-the-month trends coming out of the corridors of power.
Is it not worth considering the possibility that the freighted term “genocide” is being bandied about to inflict maximum pain on China, rather than to reflect an honest assessment of the situation on the ground?
“UK parliament declares genocide in China’s Xinjiang” screams a recent Reuters headline. To cavalierly and carelessly invoke the never-forget tragedy of European Jewry in World War II is an egregious insult to real historic victims of genocide.
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UK parliament declares Uygurs suffering ‘genocide’ in China’s Xinjiang
The juxtaposition of trains and work camps evoke powerful emotions in the West, as evinced by Hollywood and historic photos. Such things can indeed be tools of totalitarian evil doing, but sometimes trains are just trains and work camps are just work camps, which is not to condone work camps.
