The Motherland Speaks Back

April 3, 2003 10:23 AM

Section VIII Double Standards in International Field of Human Rights

In retaliation to the annual report by the US state department critical of China’s current human rights record, China slings back with a report of its own, this time critical of the US for its human rights record.

Is this the superpower propagandist equivalent of schoolyard name calling, or does the Chinese report make some salient points, ones better left unsaid in the conquest of International Pax Americana
posted by jazzkat11 (13 comments total)

This has been going on yearly for some time. I think it's time for the proud free nations of Tibet and the Sioux to step in and fix this.
posted by hackly_fracture at 10:37 AM on April 3, 2003

But where in the report is China wrong?
posted by rough ashlar at 10:54 AM on April 3, 2003

This has been going on yearly for some time. I think it's time for the proud free nations of Tibet and the Sioux to step in and fix this.

It's a tad bit easier for China to leave Tibet, than it is for the US to return all the land back to Native Americans. I think you know that though, and just couldn't resist a little US bashing. Metafilters number one hobby, as of late.
posted by Beholder at 11:00 AM on April 3, 2003

Metafilters number one hobby, as of late

And, when we run out of that, we resort to grammar corrections.
posted by thanotopsis at 12:07 PM on April 3, 2003

This actually could have been done effectively. But as is, it jumps all over the place and refuses to draw any actual points from the many examples. It also forgets section II and cites items from 2003 (like the war in Iraq) in a report on 2002. I'd give it a C as a college paper.

Here is the US report on China
posted by smackfu at 12:09 PM on April 3, 2003

Human Rights Watch has released a report on countries using counter-terrorism as an excuse to commit human rights abuses.
posted by homunculus at 12:33 PM on April 3, 2003

Tiananmen Square v. Police Escorts?

Tanks v. Mountain Bikes

Dead v. Zip Tie Handcuffs
posted by probablysteve at 12:54 PM on April 3, 2003

Beholder,

Lighten up, yo. America-bashing? Yeesh. Did I or did I not bring up Tibet? On a fpp about China condemning America's human rights record?

Feel free to point out all the sentence fragments, though.
posted by hackly_fracture at 1:04 PM on April 3, 2003

But where in the report is China wrong?

"Democratic candidate John Kerry killed people".

Where is this wrong? (He was in the army, and did kill people). It's wrong because context is missing. The diplomats from every country on earth posture. The realityof a nation's "human rights" is probably far better glimpsed by people voting with their feet. How many Chinese attempt to emmigrate to the US? Now, how many Americans attempt to emmigrate to China?
posted by MidasMulligan at 1:57 PM on April 3, 2003

In terms of human rights, countries really need to evolve, and I think China's done pretty good since Mao 50 years ago. Sure there's corruption and brutality and torture in China, but it's not something that can be changed in a day, or a year, or maybe even 10 years. It's really a mentality that needs to be instilled over generations.

The United States has stated its beliefs in human rights, and have had several generations to evolve those rights and ingrain them in the minds of every citizen, but other nations are not as fortunate.

And probablysteve: that's more of a troll than anything else.

How about Tiananmen Square Vs. American repression on Native Americans?
Tanks Vs. Calvary?
Dead Vs. Dead?
posted by mfli at 1:59 PM on April 3, 2003

This report is laughable. It's a document which takes several thousand words to say 'oh yeah, well you suck too!'

It occasionally touches on illegal detention and police brutality, but it spends large amounts of time talking about completely irrelevant topics (i.e. 30% of NYC HS seniors have tried marajuana), it fails to cite sources on some of the more dubious claims (i.e. 6% of american youths bring guns to school), and the paper lacks any semblance of organization nor does it draw any coherent conclusions.

I'm no big defender of the current administration of the United States, but compare the chinese paper to this report. China is afraid, and apparently they express fear by having their first-year interns write papers.
posted by mosch at 2:44 PM on April 3, 2003

It's always fun to hear reproaches from the country which set world records for non-wartime executions, with a whopping 1,781 between April and June 2001. That's according to Amnesty International.
posted by clevershark at 5:23 PM on April 3, 2003

Oh, so China has a bad government? Well maybe there's something to that saying "it takes to know one."

I know one shouldn't point out anothers atrocities, especially when theirs are as bad or worse, but isn't it possible this is a reaction to a growing concern most of the world has about a new arrogance coming out of Washington? With all the support for invasions, reduced civil liberties, etc, it might appear to other nations that they could be next on our hit list.

Or I could just be full of shit! :)
posted by LouReedsSon at 7:01 PM on April 4, 2003