March 14, 2008
Chinese media lies about US human rights record
What's interesting is this: the headline says that there are at least one million female sex slaves in the US. And the first paragraph of the article goes on to say that these figures from the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which estimates that anywhere from 100,000-3 million underage people are somehow involved in prostitution in the US.
What somewhat pisses us off is the headline, which blatantly contradicts the first paragraph. If you have 100,000-3 million what you have, really, is a huge f*ckin margin of error. Which means there is a probability that the actual number is somewhere between 100,000-999,999, in which case the headline would not be accurate. However, there is also a chance that the real numbers could be anywhere from 1,000,000 to 3 million — or more — but again, the huge margin of error suggests that there is not a whole lotta solid documentation or stats on this matter.
We didn't spend a lot of time researching this matter, but we did find a web page from the DOJ that said this
Although comprehensive research to document the number of children engaged in prostitution in the United States is lacking, it is estimated that about 293,000 American youth are currently at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation.Notice that the number, first of all, and then please notice the words at risk of becoming victims of ... Risk implies an potentiality, not an actuality — unless, of course, this article is just way off base and there are more reliable figures somewhere in the public domain.
This isn't to deny the severity of the problem in the US; we're just a bit peeved at the way things are presented in the media. Take a look at the last paragraph in the article, for example, where it talks about juvenile delinquency, the criminalization of youth in the US, and the disproportionate amount of black people and black youth incarcerated in the US system. Ok, here's another sentence we have a beef with:
美国是世界上少数几个对青少年判处死刑的国家之一，且迄今仍有一些州对死刑判决没有最低年龄限制。
The US one of the few countries in the world that allows the death penalty for minors, and even now, certain states have not set a minimum age for the death penalty. [Translation by Shanghaiist]
First of all, we ought to point out, that one of the few other countries that allows the execution of juveniles is China. Secondly, take a look at this screenshot from a website called deathpenaltyinfo.org:
In case you're having a hard time reading the fine print, it says there that the death penalty is not allowed for people who are under the age of 18 at the time the crimes are committed — and this extends to all fifty states. The Supreme Court ruling mentioned in that web page is from 2005 — which makes us wonder why a Chinese human rights report ostensibly detailing the situation in the US during the year of our Lord 2007 would fail to mention this? We could be wrong about all this, you know. It could just be some unscrupulous writer at QQ news making up shit, taking liberties with the facts because they are bored or lazy. But if this is a reflection of that actual human rights report, then we might have to levy those same accusations against whoever in the government is in charge of writing human rights reports, which take it to whole other level.
The US, on the other hand, has dropped China from its list of worst human rights violators. Whether or not this is the great "propaganda coup" that that article (from The Telegraph) claims it is another issue. Reports and lists are on thing, actions over time quite another. Most of the time these reports refer to internal/domestic human rights conditions — leaving unanswered the issue of how these countries act (or fail to act) overseas, in the countries and governments and with the groups with which they exert some kind of influence. We're talking about Darfur yes, and Iraq, and Nepal (see reports regarding Chinese embassy influence behind Nepalese police handling of March 10 protests) , and the brazen even by Israeli standards collective punishment inflicted on the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip of late — just to name some examples.
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sadly, this has not made the MSM in the US.
George Bush is truly a useful idiot.
spread the word, my man
Far ahead of you brotha man:
strategypage.com/militaryforums/89-61256.aspx
badbadchina.blogspot.com/2008/03/george-bush-dick-cheney-and-condi-rice.html
This is a completely accurate depiction of how the Communist-run media continually warps Chinese people's understanding of America, painting the country as depraved, evil, and committing human rights abuses than...well, than China.
I personally loved last year's report that said raising and spending money on political campaigns is a human rights abuse.
Then again, if I was a student of Mao Zedong Thought, I suppose the democratic process would be evil and abusive from my perspective, too.
The statement is just political retaliation for the USA's similar statement about China recently.
Two serial rights abusers posturing in public. The issue for them is how do the USA have the right to issue such statements.
The USA and China are part of an elite group of executors (domestically) along with Saudi Arabia.
This is a highly convtroversial article on the topic of sex slaves in the US. Even if you accept the stats, the numbers are far less than the numbers above!
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B04EEDA1439F936A15752C0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
I read the article in China Daily (as well as watching CCTV9 for some reason) and laughed. They were really reaching for some information to look like human rights violations--since when does the US "allow" crime to be committed? But the Chinese version with lies is ridiculous.
I really liked this line out of China Daily: "In the United States, money is "mother's milk" for politics while elections are "games" for the wealthy, highlighting the hypocrisy of the US democracy, which has been fully borne out by the 2008 presidential election." And this is considered a human rights violation by China.
If China had simply left the whole issue at Iraq, wiretapping, and Guantanamo, I would have no problem with agreeing with their view. There really are much easier ways to call the US hypocrites.
So with all this huffing and puffing about China-US nonsense, does your board have anything up about the riots in Tibet/Gansu/India? As of Sat morning, not a goddamn thing. And to think people say bloggers are not real journalists! Now, let's have some more news about the latest hot restaurants, you navel-gazing wannabies.
That's a quick way to get fire-walled. I think we can all follow the news on other websites through VPNs and whatnot, but if Shanghaiist starts commentating I bet the cute little cartoon internet police will come down hard.
I agree. I doubt anything reliable will get out of there now anyway.
From the B
China warning on Tibet protests
Tank in Lhasa (Reuters grab)
Witnesses said tanks were patrolling the streets of Lhasa
The authorities in Tibet say they will deal firmly with any fresh unrest a day after rioting that state media said had claimed 10 lives.
Braced for possible further disorder, officials warned what they called the "plot of the separatists" would fail.
They also denied police had opened fire on crowds that torched Chinese-owned shops in Tibet's main city, Lhasa.
China's Xinhua news agency said the dead were "innocent civilians" who had been "burnt to death".
Lhasa had "reverted to calm" early Saturday, the agency reported, in the worst unrest there in nearly 20 years.
It said electricity and telephone services, which were cut for parts of Friday, were also being restored.
"The plot of the separatists will fail. We will challenge them firmly, according to law," said Tibetan government Chairman Qiangba Puncog, reported AFP news agency.
'Long-simmering resentment'
Police have cordoned off a few central sections of Lhasa and are on the lookout for signs of trouble, state media reported.
Witnesses reported seeing tanks on the street.
A regional government official told Xinhua: "The victims [of Friday's violence] are all innocent civilians, and they have been burnt to death."
TIBET DIVIDE
Tibet map
China says Tibet always part of its territory
Tibet enjoyed long periods of autonomy before 20th century
1950: China launched a military assault
Opposition to Chinese rule led to bloody uprising in 1959
Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled to India
Eyewitness: 'Kicked to floor'
Analysis: Beijing's dilemma
Nepal agrees Everest ban
They included two hotel employees and two shop owners, according to the news agency.
A Tibetan in Lhasa told Reuters: "I think we will all stay inside. If there is blood today [Saturday] it will be ours."
Western countries have expressed concern at the clashes, and the Americans called on the Chinese to act with restraint.
The violence erupted on the fifth day of largely peaceful protests that began on Monday's anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.
Fires broke out near the famous Jokhang temple, one of the most sacred sites for Tibetan Buddhists, and Xinhua reported that shops, banks and hotels were torched.
News agency pictures showed young men setting fire to a Chinese flag and throwing rocks, while state media said police had fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
One eyewitness reported seeing people being carried away on stretchers.
The demonstrations - like last those September in Burma - were initially led by Buddhist monks and then attracted crowds of ordinary people.
From exile in India, the Dalai Lama called for an end to the violence and urged China to "address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue".
'Masterminded'
Xinhua cited the Tibet government as alleging the riots had been "organised, premeditated and masterminded by the Dalai clique", which the spiritual leader denied.
Hollywood star Richard Gere - a Tibet activist - told the BBC he would support a boycott of the Beijing Olympics unless China granted basic freedoms to Tibetans.
Unrest in Lhasa on 14 March
The authorities are braced to stop a repeat of Friday's scenes
BBC China editor Shirong Chen in Beijing says the Chinese government certainly does not want bloodshed five months before staging the Games.
On the other hand, it cannot allow the monks and other Tibetans to vent their anger in case this is seen as a sign of weakness, he says.
Many Tibetans claim their culture has been diluted or even destroyed by Beijing and they resent the local presence of Han Chinese, China's biggest ethnic group.
China says Tibet has always been part of its territory - although Tibet enjoyed long periods of autonomy before the 20th Century. Many Tibetans remain loyal to the Dalai Lama, who fled in 1959.
Pot calling Kettle black.
Both countries have terrible Human Rights records - both execute and torture people, both invade other countries and bring death and misery on a monumental scale, both sling mud at each other and accuse the other of being worse and both have child prostitues.
so you guys are incensed by those inaccurate reports by Chinese media? But how about us Chinese? do we have right to feel angry when western media have some very biased reports about China?
Richard Lee.... hmmmm... I think you'll have to ask your government what right you have to feel angry about things, and what things those might be. They take care of that for you, yes? Wouldn't want to get angry at the wrong things! Then they'd get angry at *you*! Just ask Hu Jia about it (oops! You can't, he's not available to answer questions right now...)
But yes, I'm sure they'll give you permission to be angry at biased Western reporting. And to make it easier for you, they'll even *tell* you what to what biased reporting to get angry at so you won't have to take the trouble to figure it out for yourself!
Many different voices may happen upon a similar conclusion, different from in China where one voice speaks through many mouths. Unfortunately, I think the Western media reports people here have access to are ones that are negative towards China. And the negative ones get more attention because people here seem to thrive on the idea that they are somehow victims of the evil outside world. I think Western news is more about sensationalism. Here so-and-so mulling a decision is a front-pager somehow. Go figure.
I would agree that anyone has the right to be angry when something untrue is printed or perpetuated about them. However, I don't really think the ubiquitous "I know you are but what am I" argument solves anything.
@mjohnson, @richard lee
"pot calling the kettle black" misses the point so badly it actually hurts me, as author of that post, to read it. The point is not to defend any country's human rights record. If you read the last graf of my post, you would know that i made that clear. I hate engaging in what el jefe calls "i know you are but what am I" arguments. If you have the IQ of a five year old, that's fine, but let's hope that's not the case. The point of my post is to engage in debates about the facts. Generalizations can easily become obfuscations. It's a slippery slope and the only traction there against such things is is disinterested inquiry into the facts.
Richard Lee, if you want to talk about a biased western report, you're welcome to bring it to the attention of the Shanghaiist staff. You're welcome to do an analysis and post it on your blog, and then tell Shanghaiist about it, we might possibly be able to talk about it here.
I, for one, would be interested in knowing more about sex-slavery in the US--where can we find facts and figures? What are the different estimates, and what conclusions, if any, can we derive from whatever research is out there? The same with China, the same with anything.
Please, just call a spade a spade. I'm not interested in siding with China or the US because as an american of chinese ancestry, i hate both countries very much, but in subtly different ways. I'm only interested in what the facts do or do not say.