When you are in a position of authority such as being a
teacher, office supervisor, employer or editor, you always deal with underlings
who come to you and complain about other underlings … or about life in general.
There is such an enormous number of reasons why people
complain about other people, it is impossible to categorize all the reasons and
describe a model resolution for each category. It is just that the person doing
this job must have the right kind of talent and the right kind of instinct to
be effective at it.
The best that can be done to prepare someone whose job will
require them to sift through and separate the truth that is spoken by the
genuine seekers of relief from the lies which are spoken by the purveyors of
hate –– is to discuss actual testimonies given by those who plead their case.
The job is made easy when the testimony is given in writing such as a court
deposition or a script that's submitted for publication. A good example of that
is the article which came under the title: “The China syndrome,” written by
Clifford D. May and published on August 21, 2018 in The Washington Times.
In this case, Clifford May complains about China as well as
the responses given to a survey that asked about China. May thinks that the
survey shows the respondents to be blind to the danger posed by China, for not
seeing the ominous realities of that rising power the way that he does.
In a case such as that, the first thing to determine
concerns the question: what needs to be sorted out in the first place? The
answer to this question becomes clear when we ask these follow-ups: How much of
what the writer is complaining about is legitimate? How much of it is the
result of paranoia? And how much of it is intended to make the readers fear and
loathe China for no rational reason?
What should be of concern to America is what China is doing
in response to America's own actions. And the remedy to that is simple: America
must cease doing what is forcing China to respond. Here is what worries
Clifford May: The Chinese Army practices long-range bombing runs to train for
strikes against US targets. It is deploying nuclear-capable bombers and
integrating them into a triad. It is building artificial islands, equipping
them with infrastructure. It acquires American military technologies through
various means.
Well, the Chinese did not get up one morning and decide to
adopt this costly policy for no reason; they adopted it because they saw
American long-range bombers fly close to their airspace, and American warships
sail close to their shores. They kept quiet when they did not have the means to
respond, and responded when they developed the means to do so. What China has
done is absolutely natural.
And here is what China does that's legitimate and welcome by
humanity, except for the likes of Clifford May that's complaining about it.
China has embarked on a Belt and Road Initiative aimed at developing economic
ties with other countries. To Clifford May, this allows the Chinese to shape the
interests of those countries, and have them align with China's. May does not
like that but worse, he says, is that the Chinese lend money to poor countries.
When they cannot pay it back, China proposes ways to bail them out in exchange
for the surrender of sovereignty. Well, two things can be said about that.
First, Clifford May has described how the colonial powers of
old used to behave; in fact, this is how they came to “own” the Suez Canal. But
there is no sign that China is playing this game. Second, if borrowing from the
Chinese is scary, the Americans ought to be the most scared people in all of
human history. But there is a puzzling question here. It is this: Can someone
be paranoid on behalf of someone else when he is subjected to the same peril but
is not paranoid about what may happen to him? Please help, Sigmund Freud!
What follows is a glaring example of the upside-down
mentality of the mob of pundits to which Clifford May belongs. First, there is
what's not America's business, which he wants to make America's business. It
has to do with the question of human rights whose observance in China has
raised half a billion people from poverty to the middle class. Apparently,
Clifford May does not believe this is good enough to offset being without a constitution
that contains a Second Amendment like that of America, and being without
children so full of energy, they channel it into murdering other children in
their schools.
And then there is what's clearly America's business, which
Clifford May wants to make someone else's responsibility. It has to do with
what he says is China's ability to impress the educational and cultural elites
in America, making them turn a blind eye to China's threat to U.S. national
security. That's his cry from the heart, imploring China to stop dazzling his
people, or face becoming public enemy number one.