Australia demonstrates the worth of internet comments

We keep hearing about the "wave of nationalism" gripping China, and i keep not experiencing anything like it on the ground.

As has been pointed out so often - yet often ignored - it's a predominantly online thing. The only analogue, real-world manifestations of this "wave of nationalism" are the protests outside Carrefour stores, and they've not exactly been well supported, given the country has 250 million internet users.

That is, a sizeable majority of the Chinese population have not been involved in any outpouring at all. My friends in the countryside, when asked, have expressed disappointment and anger about that wretched, criminal Dalai Lama and the biased western media. But i've read only one story of rage against an actual foreigner, and it was promptly debunked by the alleged "victim".

This Time article is probably one of the worse examples, with outrageous references to "the fever pitch of nationalism" and China being "awash in antiforeigner sentiment".

But even quality commentators have continuously been referring back to angry and misinformed online comments. I used to work on the website of a penny-dreadful rag in Australia and can categorically say that Australian online comment there, too, tends to be misinformed or uninformed, bigoted and - most importantly - downright ridiculous as an indicator of sober public opinion. That's because it's generally uninformed hotheads who feel the inclination to comment straight after they read something.

Have a look at the first few comments reacting to the (Sydney) Daily Telegraph website's inflammatory report of the olympic torch relay in Canberra:

Wow!!Whats happened to our golden brown Nation?. We've descended into a black hole of racism.....Thanks alot Canberra all recent past leaders have destroyed THE AUSSIE WAY!! Terry.
Posted by: TERRY HILL 11:52am today
Comment 1 of 143

multiculturalism... gotta love it..
Posted by: kidk of sydney 11:53am today
Comment 2 of 143

These people who think it is acceptable to come to OUR country and spit on australians should be escoreted out of the country immediatly. Go to your own country and protest, disrupting our country is not going to help your cause. And while your at it, how about show some respect for the anzacs!
Posted by: melissa of sydney 11:57am today
Comment 3 of 143

If they are on student visas and they can be identified then they should be immediately deported. No need for foreign nationals to assault Australian citizens. Then again, were the instigators Chinese "security" staff or embassy staff? As they were waving Chinese flags I doubt that they are Australian citizens.
Posted by: Gavin of Maroubra 12:01pm today
Comment 4 of 143

Chinese students came here under the FALSE pretense of running away from the Tianamen Massacre and now they are showing their true colours spitting on our people and running riot. They came here only for ECONOMIC reasons as they are clear supporters of the murderous communist party in China and should be deported!! Deport Chinese trouble makers. They are making trouble in Australia when we welcomed them to help them. They show NO RESPECT for Australia yet are either permanent residents or even Australian Citizens. KICK CHINESE OUT OF AUSTRALIA!!!!
Posted by: Joe of null 12:02pm today
Comment 5 of 143

The pro chinese supporters need to realise that this is Australia and not their own poor communist excuse for a country and that in Australia, you have the right and the privledge to have a protest without the other side belting the hell out of you. Maybe we could add that to the citizenship test.
Posted by: David Sim 12:02pm today
Comment 6 of 143

It goes on - after comment #1, the next non-hysterical voice is comment #20.

So, on the basis of this evidence, should the Chinese print and online media be fretting about how Australia is awash in antiforeigner sentiment?

Of course not. It's completely normal for hotheaded idiots to let off steam in internet forums. Many wouldn't even say these things in a real-life public forum. Why? Because people don't think before they post. It's further proof that "netizens" shouldn't be treated as citizens, and comments from online forums don't constitute public opinion.

More moderate commentators tend to decry the gap in understanding between Chinese and westerners. I agree this is a problem; informed, interested people are struggling to appreciate where each other is coming from. But the chasm between uninformed online hotheads will always be this wide. What counts is their numbers, and in China at least, their numbers aren't that big.

Later on, a few Chinese noticed and joined the above "discussion". And whatever they wrote, it speaks volumes that they at least read opposing views far, far more than we Australians do.

The report the commenters were responding to, by Ben English and Gary Linnell, was provocative and inflammatory, and dripping with racial innuendo. I can only hope it didn't get circulated around the global Chinese community too widely, and i'm sorry that i didn't notice it earlier and fire a letter at the Telegraph. (Where the hell was Media Watch?)

A few highlights:
First par: "POLICE lost control of angry mobs of Chinese nationals who ran amok threatening or assaulting non-Chinese in the latter stages of the torch relay today."

So multiple mobs of Chinese ran amok, attacking not pro-Tibetan protesters, not Tibetans, not anti-Chinese protesters, but "non-Chinese"...yet only five of them were arrested for this obviously racist violence. Ah, but was it violence or not?

"Threatening or assaulting"? It's to be assumed, from the lack of attribution, that Ben English or Gary Linnell was on the scene - but you'd think they'd be able to tell whether it was threats, assaults or both that they observed occurring.

"In one incident, an Australian couple waving a Tibetan flag were mobbed by dozens of Chinese activists on Commonwealth Avenue Bridge.

The Chinese grabbed the flag, threw it off the bridge and began punching the man and woman, aged in their 20s. No police were around."

That Australian couple, surely they'd be happy to tell exactly what happened to the reporter on the scene, give 'em a quote, advance the Tibetan cause...? Not to either of these two reporters, it seems. Could it be that Ben or Gary, or both, watched a woman getting punched by "the Chinese" and did nothing about it?

Or perhaps they actually weren't on the scene after all...being non-Chinese, why would Ben English or Gary Linnell put themselves in danger of being attacked by mobs on the basis of their race, when they could just report the claims of anonymous fellow non-Chinese instead:

"Non-Chinese people in various parts of Canberra reported threatening behaviour from the pro-China crowds, with some claiming to have been spat on."

But it would have been hard to avoid "at least 15,000" Chinese. Oh that spitting, punching, flag-waving, and above all multitudinous Yellow Peril! ACT police estimated 7,500-10,000.

"Earlier up to a dozen Chinese students were arrested after clashes between Tibetan supporters and Chinese nationals."

Ahh, alright, i'll have to let them off on this one: I suppose "up to a dozen" does include 5. But i'd like to know how the intrepid pair manage to check so many people's nationality...especially given the flags were not always conclusive:



I saw this bloke Gary Linnell's TV report (web TV) from about 11 o'clock that morning and it was centred around the words "absolute chaos". Well, let's just say he scooped the rest of the media on that one. Can't blame him for a bit of sensationalism, looking for the new angle, though - he's just trying to make his way at News Corp being paid a million bucks to resign as Channel 9's director of news last year.

Incidentally, the rest of the media, while reporting no serious incidents, weren't exactly kind in their descriptions of the pro-Chinese demonstrations, e.g.:
Sydney Morning Herald: "Olympic torch relay 'thugs' blasted"
The Australian: Chinese accused of punching protesters

And one final aside: so the Chinese government orchestrated the Chinese mobs referred to above by helping organise buses and accommodation?

Big deal, according to ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope. From The Age: "if a similar event involving Australians took place overseas, he had no doubt the Australian embassy there would facilitate attendance by Australians."