Sunday, April 20, 2008

從「goons」和「thugs」 說起

評論CNNJack Cafferty之前的言論,很多人集中於「goons」和「thugs」兩個字。首先,理解他的言論,先看這兩個字的解釋。

Merriam-Webster字典中「goons」解作「a stupid person」,「thugs」解作「a brutal ruffian or assassin」,中文釋作「蠢才」和「暴民」,大概意義上距離不遠,而且這兩個字也不是禮貌或中性的形容字眼,有貶義。

再看在CNN網站的原文,看他們當時在討論什麼:

BLITZER: One of the arguments that some of the pro-China elements is making, Jack, is that this is a very different China today than existed 10 years ago, certainly 20 or 30 years ago. This communist regime today is almost like a capitalist regime. They're a huge economic superpower and that we have a lot at stake in maintaining this economic relationship with China.

CAFFERTY: Well, I don't know if China is any different, but our relationship with China is certainly different. We're in hawk to the Chinese up to our eyeballs because of the war in Iraq, for one thing. They're holding hundreds of billions of dollars worth of our paper. We also are running hundred of billions of dollars worth of trade deficits with them, as we continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food and export, you know, jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we're buying from Wal-Mart. So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed. I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years.

頗明顯的是,Cafferty形容為「蠢才」和「暴民」的,是中國,或中國政府,似乎不是中國人。不過,近期不少報導都把Cafferty的話釋為「在過去五十中國人基本上一直是一幫暴民和惡棍」,值得相榷。不過,這似乎正好是中國政府官方的處理手法。

中國外交部發言人姜瑜本月17日
在記者會上要求CNN「向全體中國人民作出真誠道歉」,指CNN在15日發表的簡短聲明中,「不僅沒有對該台主持人卡弗蒂發表惡毒攻擊中國人民的言論作出真誠道歉,而且把矛頭轉向中國政府,企圖挑撥中國人民與政府的關係」,還說,「卡弗蒂的言論不僅是對中國人民的侮辱,也是對全人類良知和公理的挑戰。」

這事件令我思想「辱華」這詞語,似乎也是中文才有,英文沒有類似的專用詞或說法,至多只會說「insulting England」或「insulting America」之類,甚少見用。是否中國人最介意別人的批評,不管合理與否?反而唯一令我聯想到是美國人的「un-American」一詞,但在歷史上以用這詞批評人家不追隨美國價值的人,反而得到最負面評價。杜魯門總統曾批評那些說別人un-American的人自己是最un-American的。

我想起法國哲學家伏爾泰的名言(其實不是他說的,是寫伏爾泰傳記的Evelyn Beatrice Hall寫的):「我並不同意你的觀點,但是我誓死捍衛你說話的權利。」("Je ne suis pas d'accord avec ce que vous dites, mais je me battrai jusqu'à la mort pour que vous ayez le droit de le dire.")。看見電視新聞裡全國人民圍攻法資家樂褔的場面,在電視機旁可能最後在笑的(who has the last laugh),也許正是Jack Cafferty。中國人要的,是國民自我價值,自重,不是過份民族情緒。

6 Comments:

At 11:48 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

我同意你的結論,也同意大家都是在過份地利用民族情緒(你的文中有 typo)。

Jack 的確可能是在指中國政權,而不是在指中國人。但 Jack 的說話的確很「可圈可點」。要看得到他說的本意,關鍵是要同時看看 BLITZER 在 Jack 開口前說的話。連埋上文下理一起看,那就有更大理由相信他所稱的出發點。但 so far 除了你之外,不是有太多其他人有這樣做過。

 
At 12:36 PM, Blogger Charles Mok said...

謝,改了。
我寫這些,恐怕必俾人鬧。

 
At 4:19 PM, Blogger Angel Mandala 天使曼陀羅 said...

this is usually the case - "taken context", especially Chinese, used to 斷章取義!

Weired ... i can't view our messages on your "Notes" in facebook ... can I quote yr article into mine? I'm writing a pc "WW3 Preview: internet riot".

Many tks:)

 
At 5:47 PM, Blogger Angel Mandala 天使曼陀羅 said...

http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/cynirvana2/article?mid=1379

Many tks Charles:) I've created a new category "Flammable Stuff" for yr inspiring article in my blog! You know there're many e-readers (internet-gongs?) who may "interpret" the articles.

 
At 6:30 PM, Blogger Angel Mandala 天使曼陀羅 said...

Viewing from those Chi reactions from TV today, i almost wanna agree with CNN ... aiya, must "spark up" la, pls help:)

 
At 6:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041802635_pf.html

Caught in the Middle, Called a Traitor
By Grace Wang
Sunday, April 20, 2008; B01

I study languages -- Italian, French and German. And this summer -- now that
it looks as though I won't be able to go home to China -- I'll take up
Arabic. My goal is to master 10 languages, in addition to Chinese and
English, by the time I'm 30.

I want to do this because I believe that language is the bridge to
understanding. Take China and Tibet. If more Chinese learned the Tibetan
language, and if Tibetans learned more about China, I'm convinced that our
two peoples would understand one another better and we could overcome the
current crisis between us peacefully. I feel that even more strongly after
what happened here at Duke University a little more than a week ago.

Trying to mediate between Chinese and pro-Tibetan campus protesters, I was
caught in the middle and vilified and threatened by the Chinese. After the
protest, the intimidation continued online, and I began receiving
threatening phone calls. Then it got worse -- my parents in China were also
threatened and forced to go into hiding. And I became persona non grata in
my native country.

It has been a frightening and unsettling experience. But I'm determined to
speak out, even in the face of threats and abuse. If I stay silent, then the
same thing will happen to someone else someday.

So here's my story.

When I first arrived at Duke last August, I was afraid I wouldn't like it.
It's in the small town of Durham, N.C., and I'm from Qingdao, a city of 4.3
million. But I eventually adjusted, and now I really love it. It's a diverse
environment, with people from all over the world. Over Christmas break, all
the American students went home, but that's too expensive for students from
China. Since the dorms and the dining halls were closed, I was housed
off-campus with four Tibetan classmates for more than three weeks.

I had never really met or talked to a Tibetan before, even though we're from
the same country. Every day we cooked together, ate together, played chess
and cards. And of course, we talked about our different experiences growing
up on opposite sides of the People's Republic of China. It was eye-opening
for me.

I'd long been interested in Tibet and had a romantic vision of the Land of
Snows, but I'd never been there. Now I learned that the Tibetans have a
different way of seeing the world. My classmates were Buddhist and had a
strong faith, which inspired me to reflect on my own views about the meaning
of life. I had been a materialist, as all Chinese are taught to be, but now
I could see that there's something more, that there's a spiritual side to
life.

We talked a lot in those three weeks, and of course we spoke in Chinese. The
Tibetan language isn't the language of instruction in the better secondary
schools there and is in danger of disappearing. Tibetans must be educated in
Mandarin Chinese to succeed in our extremely capitalistic culture. This made
me sad, and made me want to learn their language as they had learned mine.

I was reminded of all this on the evening of April 9. As I left the
cafeteria planning to head to the library to study, I saw people holding
Tibetan and Chinese flags facing each other in the middle of the quad. I
hadn't heard anything about a protest, so I was curious and went to have a
look. I knew people in both groups, and I went back and forth between them,
asking their views. It seemed silly to me that they were standing apart, not
talking to each other. I know that this is often due to a language barrier,
as many Chinese here are scientists and engineers and aren't confident of
their English.

I thought I'd try to get the two groups together and initiate some dialogue,
try to get everybody thinking from a broader perspective. That's what Lao
Tzu, Sun Tzu and Confucius remind us to do. And I'd learned from my dad
early on that disagreement is nothing to be afraid of. Unfortunately,
there's a strong Chinese view nowadays that critical thinking and dissidence
create problems, so everyone should just keep quiet and maintain harmony.

A lot has been made of the fact that I wrote the words "Free Tibet" on the
back of the American organizer of the protest, who was someone I knew. But I
did this at his request, and only after making him promise that he would
talk to the Chinese group. I never dreamed how the Chinese would seize on
this innocent action. The leaders of the two groups did at one point try to
communicate, but the attempt wasn't very successful.

The Chinese protesters thought that, being Chinese, I should be on their
side. The participants on the Tibet side were mostly Americans, who really
don't have a good understanding of how complex the situation is. Truthfully,
both sides were being quite closed-minded and refusing to consider the
other's perspective. I thought I could help try to turn a shouting match
into an exchange of ideas. So I stood in the middle and urged both sides to
come together in peace and mutual respect. I believe that they have a lot in
common and many more similarities than differences.

But the Chinese protesters -- who were much more numerous, maybe 100 or
more -- got increasingly emotional and vocal and wouldn't let the other side
speak. They pushed the small Tibetan group of just a dozen or so up against
the Duke Chapel doors, yelling "Liars, liars, liars!" This upset me. It was
so aggressive, and all Chinese know the moral injunction: Junzi dongkou, bu
dongshou (The wise person uses his tongue, not his fists).

I was scared. But I believed that I had to try to promote mutual
understanding. I went back and forth between the two groups, mostly talking
to the Chinese in our language. I kept urging everyone to calm down, but it
only seemed to make them angrier. Some young men in the Chinese group --
those we call fen qing (angry youth) -- started yelling and cursing at me.

What a lot of people don't know is that there were many on the Chinese side
who supported me and were saying, "Let her talk." But they were drowned out
by the loud minority who had really lost their cool.

Some people on the Chinese side started to insult me for speaking English
and told me to speak Chinese only. But the Americans didn't understand
Chinese. It's strange to me that some Chinese seem to feel as though not
speaking English is expressing a kind of national pride. But language is a
tool, a way of thinking and communicating.

At the height of the protest, a group of Chinese men surrounded me, pointed
at me and, referring to the young woman who led the 1989 student democracy
protests in Tiananmen Square, said, "Remember Chai Ling? All Chinese want to
burn her in oil, and you look like her." They said that I had mental
problems and that I would go to hell. They asked me where I was from and
what school I had attended. I told them. I had nothing to hide. But then it
started to feel as though an angry mob was about to attack me. Finally, I
left the protest with a police escort.

Back in my dorm room, I logged onto the Duke Chinese Students and Scholars
Association (DCSSA) Web site and listserv to see what people were saying.
Qian Fangzhou, an officer of DCSSA, was gloating, "We really showed them our
colors!"

I posted a letter in response, explaining that I don't support Tibetan
independence, as some accused me of, but that I do support Tibetan freedom,
as well as Chinese freedom. All people should be free and have their basic
rights protected, just as the Chinese constitution says. I hoped that the
letter would spark some substantive discussion. But people just criticized
and ridiculed me more.

The next morning, a storm was raging online. Photographs of me had been
posted on the Internet with the words "Traitor to her country!" printed
across my forehead. Then I saw something really alarming: Both my parents'
citizen ID numbers had been posted. I was shocked, because this information
could only have come from the Chinese police.

I saw detailed directions to my parents' home in China, accompanied by calls
for people to go there and teach "this shameless dog" a lesson. It was then
that I realized how serious this had become. My phone rang with callers
making threats against my life. It was ironic: What I had tried so hard to
prevent was precisely what had come to pass. And I was the target.

I talked to my mom the next morning, and she said that she and my dad were
going into hiding because they were getting death threats, too. She told me
that I shouldn't call them. Since then, short e-mail messages have been our
only communication. The other day, I saw photos of our apartment online; a
bucket of feces had been emptied on the doorstep. More recently I've heard
that the windows have been smashed and obscene posters have been hung on the
door. Also, I've been told that after convening an assembly to condemn me,
my high school revoked my diploma and has reinforced patriotic education.

I understand why people are so emotional and angry; the events in Tibet have
been tragic. But this crucifying of me is unacceptable. I believe that
individual Chinese know this. It's when they fire each other up and act like
a mob that things get so dangerous.

Now, Duke is providing me with police protection, and the attacks in Chinese
cyberspace continue. But contrary to my detractors' expectations, I haven't
shriveled up and slunk away. Instead, I've responded by publicizing this
shameful incident, both to protect my parents and to get people to reflect
on their behavior. I'm no longer afraid, and I'm determined to exercise my
right to free speech.

Because language is the bridge to understanding.

grace.wang@duke.edu

Grace Wang is a freshman at Duke University. Scott Savitt, a visiting
scholar in Duke's Chinese media studies program, assisted in writing this
article.

 

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