Wednesday, July 16, 2008

By Jingo, Chinese Paranoia Pondered

I never would have thought I would have a chance to use "jingoism" in my blog twice in one week, although honestly because I hardly ever post more than twice in one week, but this BBC blogger's post regarding his observations on the reactionary paranoia and bellicose nationalism displayed by many Chinese actually reflects some of my own observations. He's definitely put more thought into it than I have.

The almost-defiant pride displayed by many mainland Chinese is quite frightening, and it is coupled with what I would call paranoid suspicion of foreigner's motives. They often interpret adverse foreign actions as specially designed to attack Chinese pride in every case. It's as if they believe that honor and "losing face" are sufficient in themselves to explain any adverse action. Any other explanation, such as negligence (on the part of American bombers in Belgrade) or human rights (in the case of Tibet or political dissidents) are dismissed as facades for the true motivation of Western powers.

That's the other thing ~ Chinese I've spoken with tend to anthropomorphize (if that's the proper word) the entirety of Western society into a single sentient beast out to destroy their resurgence. I patiently try to explain that Western society is composed of hundreds of millions of people, thousands of cultures and dozens of nations, and collective action on their part is not only improbable but patently ridiculous. Even accepting that intellectually (and many of the Chinese I've socialized with are intellectuals), they nevertheless return to their (seemingly) instinctive Chinese v. foreigner mentality.

What I've seen since the 90s is an unbridled growth in nationalistic pride, probably fostered in part by the Chinese government to silence dissent and solidify their position. Tyrants throughout the 19th and 20th centuries have found ultra-nationalism to be a superb tool to ostracize the opposition and justify their methods ~ Napoleon. Hitler. Marco. Hirohito. Hussein. Khomeini. Mugabe. In the transition from Communist patriarchy to Free-market socialists, I can only wonder if China will be able to check its swing into fascist police state.

Pride is a cardinal sin because when mixed with other base human emotions, it leads to the other cardinal sins. That is why it is the greatest of the cardinal sins; as Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote, "inordinate self-love is the cause of every sin." What I've observed first-hand is a hubristic conviction that Chinese culture is superior to other cultures and therefore not susceptible to the dangers that history has shown us. Many Chinese I've spoken with see no inordinate self-pride in placing themselves above the other nations of the world, and do not see the irony in nevertheless excoriating the Japanese, British or Germans for doing the same in the past. Such willful blindness is incomprehensible to me.