I Believe What I Believe, Because Because Because

The lead editorial in the Washington Post today is about how the USA and Europe were wrong to believe that countries like China and Russia would become more democratic as their economies prospered. I think a sub-lesson of what is happening here in the aftermath of the crackdown in Tibet is a repeat cultural phenomenon: the Chinese are again following blindly in the steps of ignorance, and rallying to the cause.

It is a curious situation in the eyes of the free world. Chinese, including educated, well-to-do Chinese, seem to follow blindly the government official line on all issues, including Tibet, Taiwan, nationalism, and Japan, and show barely any signs of independent analysis. In fact, there are some small signs, like a petition by Chinese intellectuals that the New York Times reported on yesterday, and dissidents like Hu Jia, but nothing large scale like the continued opposition that Russians mount against a pitiless autocrat of their own.

As a result, most westerners write off any reactions by Chinese to foreign criticism, as a pitiful site. Basically, the message is: “You are brainwashed, don’t even realize it, and therefore it isn’t worth wasting my time listing to your programmed replies.”

I see two curious points to this situation. First, it seems that the Chinese are repeating the errors they vowed never to repeat when they blindly followed Chairman Mao’s leadership into bad economic decisions. That was just 30 years ago, unfortunately, and it seems this circle will just keep repeating itself. They are following blindly again without debating things for themselves.

Second, they are switching back and forth between the violently anti-government beliefs that caused them to rise up in 1989 and resulted in the massacre in Tiananmen Square and the pro-government belief that they mutter like a bad tape recording today. The Tiananmen Square massacre occured less than 20 years ago, and a people who can be manipulated to switch allegiances so completely are a people who don’t have a clear idea about where they stand.

I went biking this week with a friend from South Africa who has lived for a few years in China, and he noted that like China, African countries have autocratic governments that tells people what to believe and do. But, he noted that Africans generally ignore what they are told, unlike the Chinese who blindly follow. So, Africa is chaotic, and China is less so.

So, there are differences from country to country, and it seems the reasons for this are mixed, but mostly, I think they are just cultural. Chinese are pre-programmed to follow their leader. But, they are also partly technological: it is very difficult for most Chinese to access information outside their government-controlled firewall, including newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan. And, they now have been subjected to years of artificial history about various issues like Tibet and Japan that has created for them a reason to be very nationalistic, although most Chinese aren’t really sure why they feel that way. This place is overdue for a generation of introspection.