Hong Kong media: US experts debunk the US media's trick of "demonizing" China

Source: Reference News Network

Reference News Network reported on January 21 that the Asian Times website in Hong Kong published an article titled "<纽约时报>Comparing Chinese Health Workers to Adolf Eichmann – A Distorted Narrative of a Newspaper Deranged by China's Success in Fighting the Epidemic" published on January 19 by John Walsh, a former expert in physiology and cellular neuroscience at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine. The full text is excerpted below:

On January 13, the New York Times ran a front-page article by reporter Yuan Li, comparing the public health and health workers behind Xi'an's recent success in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic to Adolf Eichmann, one of the main organizers of the Holocaust. According to the article, these people are typical representatives of the millions of dedicated anti-epidemic practitioners in China.

In Xi'an, a city of 13 million people, the fight against the outbreak has ended without fatalities. The Nazi Holocaust orchestrated by Eichmann killed millions of Jews.

Ms. Yuan's article spearheads millions of people for mass testing, tracing, isolation, and vaccination, as well as Chinese for containment measures, including ensuring that those in quarantine have access to the necessities of life. Thanks to their work, China has kept the total number of confirmed cases at about 100,000.

Peter Hesler, who has lived and coached in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, described such a situation in an article published in The New Yorker weekly in 2020. In the article, he said a local official said about 90 percent of people approved of the lockdown, some would find it inconvenient, but most would follow the rules.

Hessler wrote in the article: "In my opinion, this is not an exaggeration. This absolute compliance is one of the most striking features of the embargo measures, in addition to the dedication of officials at the grass-roots level. WHO also notes that Chinese people's strong commitment to collective action has made it possible to contain the outbreak. ”

How does Yuan Li of The New York Times compare the two? The way it is written is worth studying.

The online headline of the New York Times article, "Millions of Troops Implement China's COVID-19 Clearance Policy, Whatever It Takes," sets the tone and goals. The argument that compares it to Eichmann then begins as follows: "The government is helped by a large group of community workers who are enthusiastically implementing the (dynamic zeroing) policy... The tragedy in Xi'an has prompted some Chinese to question how those enforcing the quarantine can do so. ”

What tragedy happened in Xi'an? The author mentions three things at the beginning of the article: first, a man with chest pain who was delayed for several hours while admitted to the hospital and later died of a heart attack, and the bureaucratic delay was related to his living in a medium-risk area; second, a pregnant woman who was delayed in her hospital because of an expired COVID-19 test result, she lost her fetus; and third, a young man who violated the containment rules and got into an argument with the security guards.

Of course, the first two incidents were tragic and unacceptable mistakes. The third incident is difficult to judge. But in a city of tens of millions of people, there must be some mistakes in the face of the threat of a deadly outbreak caused by the Delta strain.

Still, the first two incidents caused an uproar online and prompted officials to take action. A large number of complaints prompted authorities to temporarily close hospitals to examine their procedures and punish those responsible. A proclamation clearly states that patients must not be prevaricated or rejected under any pretext.

Building on these three events, Yuan Li went on to write: "The philosopher Hannah Arendt believed that Adolf Eichmann, one of the main organizers of the Holocaust, was an ordinary man motivated by sparing no effort for his personal future. ”

"It is surprising to Chinese intellectuals that so many officials and civilians are willing to be the promoters of policy," she wrote. ”

Who are these unnamed "intellectuals"? This is unclear. But there is no doubt that there are many Chinese intellectuals at home and abroad who are proud of the way China has responded to the pandemic.

All in all, through the analysis, it can be seen that this article sets the tone with a title and a series of carefully selected anecdotes. It is important that emotions are as alarming as possible. Write the most perverse exceptions as if they were ordinary things. Finally, on this basis, suppose that these anecdotes are representative, and then draw far-fetched conclusions.

However, there is also a bright spot. At least in my opinion, many comments posted online believe that Yuan Li's arguments are baseless and even absurd. Americans are not as gullible as The New York Times editors think.

This is gratifying because the daily demonization of China by the American mass media – which the New York Times, which has spared no effort – is a prelude to conflict and war.

As the writer Caitlin Johnstone tells us, "They create public opinion before they drop bombs." The New York Times has recently carpet-bombed Americans with anti-China narratives.