|
From Magic City Morning Star R.P. BenDedek
Chapter 8 Political Correctness and Other B.S. Although the final version of Chapter 7 has been heavily edited, I personally would have been happy to leave it stand as it was. Unfortunately the friends who read my first drafts thought that it was inappropriate to provide so many graphic descriptions of the bathhouse experience. But as I said in that chapter, unless you have learned to live as the common Chinese live, how can it be said that you have 'experienced' the cultures and customs of China? What I had written was a very normal and 'day to day' experience for millions of Chinese (men), and the only objection I could think of to including those experiences in this book, was that they could be considered 'base' or 'homo erotic'. I am reminded however of a few lines from the movie "Good Night and Good Luck", in which Edward R. Murrow [played by David Strathairn] says:
If you do think that descriptions of common Chinese bath houses are in fact 'base or homo erotic', your opinion would be anything but politically correct and indicative of acceptance of other cultures; and we in the West pride ourselves on our acceptance of other cultures. Don't we? We like to claim that we want 'The truth', but in fact, what we usually want is something 'glossy'; something entertaining or enjoyable. Truth is not always so kind. I remember years ago reading the blurb on a tourist information site that said something like: "Public hygiene in China is somewhat less than that to which we are accustomed in the West". That hardly prepares a beginner for what they will encounter. The truth, no matter how unpleasant, is more likely to prepare you for your inevitable encounter. Even in the nicest restaurants, you are likely to encounter filthy, disgusting, smelly toilets, whose floors are littered with human waste. The truth prepares you. Bullshit does not! In August of 2004 I wrote a two part article entitled: Western Socialisation Versus Life in China, which resulted in a few individuals (including someone from the United Nations) sending me nasty emails about how racist I was. What appears to have escaped their attention, was that everyone has a right to their culture, but that inherently means that there may be things in another's culture that we dislike and don't want in our own homes. The question is then, whether or not it is racist, not to want someone else's culture being manifested in our own homes. As everyone however has a right to their 'own' culture, how can it be said to be racist not to want objectionable parts of another culture manifest in my home, or forced upon my society. Furthermore, as I have indicated many times in my social commentary articles, there are many things which 'our' society will not accept about other cultures, and so we legislate to prevent those aspects being manifest within our own; female circumcision being one such issue. This itself indicates the hypocritical nature of 'political correctness'. So if a reader were to find him or herself disgusted by what they read in Chapter Seven, I would wonder why. I can however, think of at least three reasons. Firstly, perhaps some readers might think that Chinese culture is disgusting? Secondly, maybe they think the common 'people's bathhouse' is a den of homosexuality? Or perhaps, as one person put it to me, that as I am not Chinese I should not go to such places. It may be OK for the Chinese to go there, but as a Westerner, it is suspicious to say the least for me to go. Thirdly of course, there may be another altogether different reason for finding the chapter repugnant; that we have become too refined to want to face the more common realities of life. Within the first two concepts, I believe that there are two very important and subconscious contradictions to our perceived sense of being multicultural, non discriminatory, and politically correct. The first problem is, that the idea that it is suspicious for a westerner to go to a 'people's bathhouse', implies (given that the bathhouse is gender segregated) that the westerner is homosexual, and that reveals certain prejudices which the politically correct simply do not tolerate. It also reveals an ignorance of social customs in China, and judges Chinese culture in the light of Western Culture; that is, that Bathhouses are where Gay men go and spread AIDS. The second problem is that the idea that Chinese culture is OK for them but not for us, is without doubt an indication that one is not truly multicultural, but more than that, that one looks down on the Chinese. We, after all, are far more civilized. Really? When I was a child my parents used to take us to the Centenary Swimming Pool at Herston in Brisbane. The dressing rooms there could accommodate at least 200 people by my reckoning, and one often was pressed to find a space in which to put one's belongings down and change clothes. Additionally, those showering and even those using the Urinals, were visible to everyone in the right position to see. When one entered the room, men of all ages, shapes, colours and sizes were in various states of undress. In those days, no one considered this abnormal behaviour in a public dressing room, but then again, back then, homosexuality was something that was kept in the closet, and the average Joe blow was completely ignorant of it. In subsequent decades however, the gay activist movement supported by other activist movements, has made homosexuality 'normal'. Now before I start getting complaints from the Gay Lobby, let me say that I have no bone to pick with them, but that the statement is made to highlight another issue; the issue of pedophilia and sexual perversion. I personally find it strange that in societies that have accepted and promoted homosexuality as being normal and OK, that those same societies have become generally 'homophobic', and this is not just demonstrated by anecdotes relating to 'straight men'. It is best demonstrated by the 'women's movement'. One of the frequent accusations that estranged wives make today is that their estranged husbands pose a sexual threat to their children. It is the women's movement in my opinion, not the Gay Movement, that has done the most to destabilise society and rob children of their much needed 'role models'. Of course as I mentioned in point three, perhaps finding the chapter too repugnant is just a case of being too refined to want to know anything about the more common aspects of reality. We Westerners do after all, live in a world preoccupied with glamour, wealth and refinement. Moreover, it is a world in which advertising and other forms of propaganda constantly attempt to influence and control the thinking and behaviour of society at large. [That was the warning in the movie Good Night and Good Luck]. Before coming to China to teach, I had actually planned to take a tour of China, and while doing so, to visit my brother. When I asked the tour company to provide me with some cultural information as it would pertain to my own behaviour and dress, I was informed that I should never wear shorts; I must wear long sleeved shirts, and that I must keep my shirt fully buttoned up at all times. That sounded right to me. It fitted well with what I could imagine of a communist country. What a shock I got when I began living in Hong Hu. I saw people pissing on the side of the road; little kids squatting and doing their 'business' on newspapers laid on the floor in supermarkets, or in the garden beds at bus stops. I saw men wandering around in underwear; men in wet underwear washing their cars on the road; boys parading around naked on river banks or wearing wet, thin or otherwise see through underwear. I have even seen old women walking around in the heat of summer wearing nothing at all 'up top'. This may not at all fit in with your vision of China, but it is real, and if the mere reading about it offends, then you certainly don't want to go wandering away from the shopping malls in China. Of course, there is another aspect to this distaste of stating the obvious realities of life, and that is the political correctness aspect. The most obvious forms of political correctness that one observes in foreigners in China, (or those who have been to China), is their objection to hearing or seeing in print, statements made by people such as myself, who just 'tell it like it is'. They find it 'offensive'. Personally I believe that telling only one side of a story gives people a distorted picture of reality. I explained this concept in the article entitled: "ESL vs Conversational English in China" ESL vs. Conversational English in China=, from which I quote: "The actual teaching session was in fact a teaching session about "the two sides of a coin," and about how by presenting one side of truth, a lie is created, because it does not give the whole picture." By now, if you have made it thus far in the book, you will have begun to realise that I really do have a 'bee in my bonnet' about political correctness, but as a Jewish proverb says; 'Just because you are paranoid, does not mean that they are not out to get you!' My personal belief is that political correctness as spun by political activists and the thought police, is a lie that conceals itself within a truth. (See: Political Correctness: Corrupting Democracy) Now although what I am about to share with you is not directly related to political correctness, in tying up with comments made earlier about the women's movement and homophobia, it does demonstrate how the judicious use of words that are true, can create a completely false picture of a fact. My brief second marriage (no children) ended abruptly (albeit it not soon enough for me), subsequent to which, my wife began running around saying the most outrageous things about me. On one occasion, a mutual friend came to visit me, because he had just come from a situation in which my wife made a statement as justification for 'leaving me'. (Whether she left me or I kicked her out, depends on which version of the story one hears). She said: "One day I walked in and found my husband naked with two young boys." You can imagine the reaction, and of course she was "too upset" to discuss the details. The person who came to relate the event to me, wisely had decided that he wanted to know what this was about. So, just as I told him, I will now tell you. Firstly, let me say, that not one word of the statement as it appears above, is a lie! It is totally true! However each word is judiciously contrived to create a picture of an untrue event. Firstly it is true that the event happened in the daytime. It is also true that she 'walked in'. However, as tempting as it is to believe that this 'walking in' involved in any way, an accidental discovery, it is not true. The event that occurred, took place at the side door to the house while she was at the back landing, and rather than just happening upon some scandalous scene, she was drawn to it by all the screaming and laughter that was going on. Next, she did find me naked. I was in fact sitting on the floor inside the house, and there were two young boys present. However, these two young boys, were just two of four young boys living with us, but in the downstairs apartment of a split level house. I had managed to keep the other two from entering the house, by sitting against the door. As far as the word 'young' applied, I can't remember which 'two' boys were in the apartment, so I can't remember their ages, but the youngest of the four was eighteen years old and the oldest was twenty-six years old. Now as for being naked, that came about because the boys stripped me, which wasn't that difficult considering that there were four of them, and that at the time that I went down to find out what they were doing when 'I myself' heard screaming; I was wearing only a bath towel. The long and the short of it was, that as I was losing the battle to retain my covering, I managed to get in the door and block it. So when my wife came to investigate all the screaming and laughing, she found me sitting on the floor, with a 'beanie' covering my prized possessions. That event was a far cry from the one to be 'imagined' by those listening to her judicious use of words. While this event has nothing directly to do with political correctness, it does demonstrate how truth is turned into lies, and it also demonstrates what lengths some people will go to justify their own behaviour. When one thinks of 'Communist' China, one does I believe, tend to immediately think of 'totalitarian social control', and yet, nowhere is totalitarian social control more evident than in western democratic societies. Political Activists, for all their alleged love of non discrimination, are, I have found, the most discriminatory people under the sun; being the instigators of legislation to control both citizens and immigrants, and always under the banner of political correctness. Take for example the lame excuse offered by politically correct activists that Publicly displayed Christian Signs, Symbols, Nativity scenes, and prayers are inappropriate and give offense to non Christians; that they are tantamount to discrimination. That this is a 'lame excuse' is demonstrated by the fact that now in Australian Hospitals at least, the religious pastoral care worker is no longer allowed to mention God or the Bible, even to those who wish to discuss them. And whilst all things Christian are being banned, all things Islamic are being promoted, all in the name of political correctness and multiculturalism. As Only Christians Subject to Separation of Church and State Sher Zieve wrote in "Only Christians Subject to Separation of Church and State: "Christianity, which essentially preaches peace, is being barred from American life while Islam-that preaches war and death to all non-Muslims -is being deified". Those who so often claim to be politically correct, far too often have double standards, and it is only our stupidity or fear that prevents us from seeing it and rejecting such people. Furthermore, those activists who constantly carry on about China, are daily in a battle on the home fronts, to enact draconian laws designed to 'keep the stupid masses' in line. (See footnote: Hate Speech Laws) Although my first wife (with whom I had 5 children) and I, never had need to see a lawyer or see the inside of a courtroom, there are plenty of divorced men and estranged fathers out there who have. Whilst it might be politically correct to constantly accuse men of being the more powerful, the abuser, the unemotional, the uncaring, and the absent father, the reality is that the political activists (the feminazis) have hijacked the lives of millions of children, and do their utmost to make individual 'men' - PAY - for their real and perceived crimes and those of every other male. Whilst as a society we love to jump up and down on irresponsible men, guilty men, unfaithful husbands, and non-supporting fathers, the reality is that there is a lot of injustice in the world when it comes to kids and their fathers, but the political activists could care less. They want one thing and one thing only - power.
Isn't it amazing then, that in Communist China, the totalitarian state that political activists love to hate, that for years now, the government has pulled out all the stops to provide the people of China with the very best that can be provided; and everything in society is geared toward being both a prosperous and a harmonious society. Can the same be said of the West, where there is deliberate and constant political, and dare I say it, treasonous anarchy promoted by those whose first 'catch-cry' is 'Freedom'. Like all newcomers to China, I was 'afraid' to a greater or lesser extent, of 'Big Brother', but after years of living here, that fear rarely enters my mind. If by now the Government of China has yet to consider me a person of significance, or has yet to find anything I have written so drastic as to warrant some type of action, then it is unlikely to ever do so. But what about China's Human Rights record? What about persecution of Christians in China? What about Tibet? Starting with that last point first, 'what about Tibet?' I have in my time in China, and mainly because of some encounters with a few Buddhist monks, lost some of my 'exotic' perceptions about Chinese Buddhism. On an excursion on Mt. Emei in SiChuan, I met and spent some time with an expert on Buddhism, by the name of Mark Halperin (UC Davis university of California), who gave me some much needed insight, and who in the process, provided me the foundation upon which to give credence to an article I was later to read. (SEE : Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth by Michael Parenti.) Today, together with what I already know of China, I find my perceptions of Tibet and the Dalai Lama quite changed. If of course you simply want to start talking about civil wars and independence, from what I do know and have read, the Tibetans are certainly better off now than they were. As for the Christians, well let me just quote from something I have previously written: Christianity and Martyrdom in China
But what about Human rights abuses? Well I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I really don't know what that refers to. I am however pretty sure that on a tit-for-tat basis, the USA and Australia (from what I have read) wouldn't come out any better than the Chinese when it comes to accusations of human rights abuses. If on the other hand you are talking about freedom of the press, or the silencing of, or arrests of political dissidents, then firstly I would have to say that China is a country in the process of change to the 'rule of law'. What excuses can countries in which 'The Rule of Law' is the norm offer for their attempts to silence those who will not believe in or follow the 'prescribed correct thinking'? [See Hate Speech Footnote] Secondly I would have to say that the Chinese government generally speaking, is doing it's best to create a happy and harmonious society. If political dissidence or more precisely, if there is a situation wherein people are promoting something that looks and smells like political anarchy that could lead to disintegration of Chinese society and civil war, then one could hardly blame the Government for wanting to put a stop to it. Who in their right mind would want to see China go back into civil war and anarchy? Remembering that I am a person whose life has undergone a dramatic and wonderful change since living in China, it is hard for me now, to be objective. China for me, is a wonderful Country! As for it's faults, well I believe that in this chapter I have mentioned enough faults within western democracy to indicate that suppression of dissent, imprisonment and social ostracization of those who do not follow the edicts of the totalitarian masters is so common, that it hardly seems right to point the finger at China. Unless of course one is suffering from a psychological condition known as 'Reaction Formation' - a situation in which people point the finger at others because they can't deal with the fact that they themselves know that that very problem is evident in their own lives. China may be a one party controlled totalitarian state, but as long as the government keeps following the path it has been on for the last couple of decades, it may well turn into Utopia. Of course, that is not to say that even I am unaware of some attempts to control the physical activities of certain individuals. Footnote: Faith Speech = Hate Speech? Laws Target Christians By Gary Lane
What is Truth? A Political Camera Angle! R.P. BenDedek Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com Hardcover Publishing inquiries welcomed! R.P. BenDedek is the pseudonym of an Australian who has been teaching in China since 2003. He currently lives in Baotou in Inner Mongolia. In addition to contributing to Magic City Morning Star News as a columnist, he also is an assisting Editor for the Newspaper. Additionally, BenDedek is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at www.kingscalendar.com © Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star |