Foundinchina.com

I rarely bother with the annoying drivel disseminated by China’s English language channel. In the interests of seeing the unfolding torch troubles from all angles, however, I switched on this evening to watch old wooden-top Edwin Mar squirm his way through some truly juvenile propaganda. Everything was going swimmingly we were assured, despite the efforts of a few separatists on route. No mention of the widespread criticism of the Chinese torch guardians and their aggressive behaviour on foreign soil; no word about the scuffles; and silence surrounding the fact that the torch was extinguished three times in Paris.

Next up was Aussie PM Rudd delivering a speech in Beijing. We heard about his view that Olympic boycotts don’t work, but heard nothing about his warning to Beijing about rights abuses in Tibet. Nor was there ant mention of Rudd’s noncommital stance on attending the Games or his praiseworthy refusal to allow the Chinese entourage in blue anywhere near the torch in Canberra.

Just imagine for a second a 30-strong team of trained henchmen from foreign shores, acting without authority, and shoving locals around in Beijing. London and Paris showed zero inclination to confront the Chinese on this issue, allowing the ’thugs’ (go here) to fuel the chaos and mayhem while preventing anyone from getting a look at the torch. Hats off to Rudd for laying down the law; in Australia, security is the responsibility of Australians.

The news hour was cut short for a special report from Tibet. It defies credibility that any educated Chinese can possibly swallow this patronising shit. Sadly, if the comments I’ve been reading recently are a guide, credibility has indeed been defied. In one typically pathetic piece of CCP theatre we saw the smashed windows of a hospital van and a close-up of a rock lying inside the vehicle. Next, in one of the poorest amateur performances I’ve ever witnessed, a tearful nurse described the anguish of being prevented from attending to the needs of a six-year-old boy by the stone-throwing ‘Dalai clique.’

Any criticism of western media lacks credibility when it emanates from a government still spoon feeding its citizenry with increasingly dodgy-sounding party rhetoric. It really is time for the CCP to stop treating its people like fools, even if that means the end of comedy hour on CCTV9.