Internet Wars in China

[Randy W]

from the Global Times - War on Populism

 

Populism trend needs to be curbed

 

 

Populism has limited influence upon China but shows overwhelming power on the Internet. Certain members of the web elite take advantage of populism to advocate liberalism and some liberalist lawyers attempt to expand their personal influence. This leads to the awful consequence that inconceivable values and political groups are shaped in China.

A society is unable to campaign against populism even with huge effort because the idea takes on different variations and always appears with specific ideologies or political targets. Therefore, what a mature society should do is to get a lucid picture of the reality and nature of its objective existence, strive to prevent political forces in support of the thought from breaching laws and regulations as well as make its pursuit a disgrace in mainstream society.

If not maliciously utilized, populism is supposed to be "innocent" in itself since it only expresses some people's sentiments accumulated in a natural way during the unbalanced development of society with no destructive power.

But such an assumption is all too idealistic, so mainstream society and in particular the government must identify targets in order not to fall into direct conflict with populism and get mired in a passive position in public opinion when cracking down on political extremism.

Given its clear-cut political direction, Internet populism has become politicized populism instead of pure sentiment or thought. Therefore, the general public needs to hold politics back from penetrating into this.

 

 

 

 

and the Wall Street Journal

Former Google China Chief Faces Online Attack

 

 

Major Chinese Internet portals have republished an essay from an official media website that calls the former head of Google’s China operations a “loser” and implies he lied about being diagnosed with cancer, in what some of his supporters are calling a coordinated ad hominem effort to discredit the influential tech figure.

 

. . .

 

Yet the appearance of the essay on a website under the direct control of the Ministry of Propaganda suggests that it was approved at a high level. Comments under the articles on the top commercial websites are overwhelmingly supportive of the essay, which is unusual given Mr. Lee’s popularity online. The tech executive has more than 51 million followers on Sina Corp.’s Twitter-like Weibo microblogging service, and has won praise from online commenters outside the business and tech worlds for his advocacy of greater transparency on pollution.

 

Hexun also posted with the article an online survey in which 100% of respondents said they believed Mr. Lee was playing up his cancer. All respondents also said they believed Mr. Lee wasn’t qualified to be a leader of China’s youth. Attempts by China Real Time to choose other options on Monday produced no change in the survey results.

 

 

[Randy W]

This article was only mildly interesting to me, but if you want to read it . . .

 

People power offers challenges and hopes

 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/818481.shtml?utm_content=buffera8c4f&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=Buffer#.UmCq0tJ9efM

 

 

Should the government put public opinion first, or is it only dangerous sentiment? Four Chinese experts talked of "populism" during a recent symposium held by the Global Times in Beijing.

 

. . .

 

Some officials like talking big, and making political shows and irresponsible promises. This is the real monster for Chinese politics. Some of them do not care about the long-term interests of the people, simplifying some complicated problems and prioritizing individual benefits ahead of public interests. Democracy becomes their verbal twitch.

Some "public intellectuals" describe themselves as the incarnation of the popular will, but actually, they do this only for the benefits of some certain individuals.

China's new leadership has noted that as China is still at the primary stage of socialism, society cannot advance rashly. Facing intertwined social problems, China needs a powerful central government, which has absolute authority over many groups of vested interests.

This government must focus on China's core and long-term interests, which are in line with the majority's benefits.

In the meantime, it must have the courage to avoid populist politics and assume responsibilities to deal with concrete issues.

 

. . .

 

Generally speaking, it is not necessarily a bad thing that politicians try to please the public.

The public will feel dispirited if the government makes no promises.

In current China, the tense relations between officials and the public is unprecedented, the origin of which is social unfairness and the officials-oriented doctrine.

This doctrine prevails in some places, and populism is a natural, if emotional byproduct.

The government should hold public opinion in awe. Most public demands are rational. If officials are determined to carry out the Mass Line Campaign, they should have the wisdom to listen to sharp criticisms from the public.

If we compare the country to a building, then public opinions are the cement between bricks and tiles. Without cement, nothing will be left.