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Racism and Imperialism |
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Much of the world is badly uninformed on China, often presuming to advise on things not even dimly understood. China's 5,000 year-old culture and traditions are very different from those of the West, and understanding this is not easy. Westerners were born into a Judeo-Christian, Right-Wing, black-and-white, individualistic world. The Chinese were born into a Confucian, social, shades-of-grey, pluralistic world. We cannot use Western measures to understand China any more than we can use liters to measure distance. Most Westerners assume that Western values are superior, and simply refuse to recognize the diversity of valuable and complex cultures that compose the world - mostly far more ancient than those of the West. Americans, Canadians and Brits are the least tolerant of all, the North Americans partly from their isolation and partly their heritage of Christian supremacy. The West, and especially the US, is either unable or unwilling to look at China and the world with an open mind, or to accept the validity of these cultural differences, in spite of the fact that a large segment of humanity does not admire the institutions and Western values the US tries to force upon them. It is of great importance to appreciate that China is a pluralistic society. The West may never understand this. The Chinese don't like conflict; they like harmony. Because they are not so individualistic, they don't treasure the idea of winners and losers; they want a consensus that everyone can live with. That's why China sometimes drags out border disputes for decades; they wait patienly until everyone is in a mood to agree - and they often make large concessions in the name of harmony. One of the fundamental differences between China and the West is a question of values. Chinese people value a society of peace, harmony and social stability more than they do freedom of information or personal liberties. Westerners may derive some supremacist self-satisfaction in believing they have more "rights" than do the Chinese, but this based on ignorance of the Asian culture of shared values where collective rights are often more important. Due to this plurality, the Chinese are quite willing to forego much of what the West might term 'private rights', often leading Westerners to assume that the Chinese are shortchanged by their government. When you enter the local police station in my neighborhood in Shanghai, the first thing you see is a "Mediation Room", where a policeman can help disputing parties settle their differences without resorting to the courts. Understanding, and implementing, such an excellent solution is impossible in a nation like the US where the entire social infrastructure is based on conflict and a perverted Christian morality where I must be "right" and you must be "wrong". The number of Chinese (probably about 90%) who will work hard and make real sacrifices for the overall good of their country is likely in inverse proportion to the number of Americans (probably about 10%) who would give up anything or make any kind of sacrifice for the good of their country. The Western world, led by Right-Wing countries like the US, the UK, Canada and Australia, are individualistic societies where everything is based on ME: My rights, My freedoms, My guns, My everything. We have a dog-eat-dog, law of the jungle, every-man-for-himself, winner-take-all, philosophy where society eixsts only to serve me. It is a place where I am important and my personal rights are paramount - above those of society itself. And in these individualistic nations, and in the US especially, the entire social system - the laws and courts, all commerce, politics, sport - is based on competition and conflict. In these societies, we don't have negotiation; we have winners and losers, the political system being a perfect example. More than that, because each person is so focused on his or her "rights", and in all but one case infused with Christian supremacy, these societies have mostly been Imperialist - those looking to conquer, subjugate and control other nations. Japan is the only non-Christian entity in this list. It should be obvious that these societies are inherently racist, with the US, the UK and Japan leading the pack. Racism does not exist in a vacuum; it is justified by social Darwinism and sanctioned by God. In the case of the US, the UK and European imperialists, this racist imperialism was supported by Christianity, which fit well with the belief of many Japanese that they were the chosen people of Asia and a divinely favored race. It exists in the same way with the Jews in Israel vis-a-vis the Palestinian people, and a not insignificant part of international Jewry considers itself as "God's Chosen People" and all Gentiles as demonstrably inferior. This Western individualism is essentially Social Darwinism writ large - the concept that social survival belongs to the "fittest" which, on an international scale, justifies the invasion, colonisation, and ultimate domination, of the world by the strongest nations. In this sense, among many others, China and the Chinese have been badly misrepresented by the West. China has no interest in remaking anybody to be like them. They think their system (political and economic) is a good one and they are happy with it, but they will not try to inflict it on anyone else. If you ask, they will explain what they have, but they will not try to push it on you. The Chinese believe their system is good FOR THEM. And it stops there. The Chinese do not meddle, and the reason is that they don't have the Judeo-Christian stem cells to tell them they must convert or kill anyone who is different. China is not an imperialist nation because the Chinese have not been infected with religion. They are free of the repugnant supremacist belief that they are in some way divinely favored or that the "God of the Universe" is on their side. Hence the absence of racism and birth of tolerance. Americans, emerging from their individualistic, "law of the jungle" mold, and infused with their thinly-disguised racism presented as a somewhat less inflammatory "American Exceptionalism", cannot accept this because it would destroy the only argument they have for attempting to force their laws, values, beliefs and standards on the rest of the world. If you accept that all people and nations are equal, that others are materially different from you, that there is a natural and desirable diversity in nations and cultures, you cannot justify forcing your values and institutions upon others. The American way of dealing with this is to deny reality, to treat claims of cultural or other differences with contempt, accusing nations of using their cultural diversity as an excuse to escape their true Christian destiny to become American clones. Contained in this, is the enormity of the difference between the US and China. The Americans are so determined to remake the world in their image that they will foster revolutions and wars, subvert and overthrow legitimate governments, just to impose their 'superior' values on unwilling populations. And this is one part of the tragedy that is America. A country that could have been an admired nation simply through tolerance has instead become one of the most widely-hated entities in the history of the world - because American Christian supremacy cannot accept that anything different has a right to live. Return to Index |