Comments on: Red Guards Against Rednecks http://calpolymbatrip.com/2009/china/red-guards-vs-rednecks/ The MBA Graduate Program at Cal Poly Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:56:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Kirk Story http://calpolymbatrip.com/2009/china/red-guards-vs-rednecks/#comment-17181 Kirk Story Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:42:38 +0000 http://calpolymbatrip.com/?p=2136#comment-17181 Thank you for this post. To date, I have only heard fragments of this issue. I recall a friend showing me that if you google search “I hate _______” the top two blanks are #1 “the United States,” and #2 “China.” Kaiser Kuo’s talk underscores an alarming new dynamic in China/US relations catalyzed by the internet and resulting in “a decline at the people to people level.” In other words, it is not the bilateral state-to-state relations that are breaking down between China and the US, it is a virtual clash amongst nationalists from these nations that are fueling populist animosity. Kuo notes that at this time in national politics, both China and the US are substantially impacted by populism and often times unsophisticated value systems. The Chinese government has to respond to public opinion despite the fact that the West portrays it as a ‘repressive totalitarian regime.’ The fact that a considerable portion of the internet using populations of both countries are confirming the respective extremist positions of the ‘radical right,’ and therefore influencing a bottom-up distrust for the opposing nation, is frightening when peering into the 21st century. Kuo postulates from a corner that sees two sets of understandable people with uninterpreted worldviews. In his book he aims to give the American intellectual layman a sense of “why there is merit to the way the Chinese approach issues given the set of assumptions they are approaching them from.” I find hope in Kuo’s statement that when 'travelling in Europe, he sees a group of Chinese tourists and a group of American tourists, and is equally ashamed.' It appears that the most promising solution lies in this context. I contend that positive interpersonal contact is the surest way to bridge the gap in person-to-person Chinese/US relations. It is important for both populations to uncover the decency in one another as opposed a bludgeoning their counterparts with the radical right’s insecurity-turned-aggression nonsense. I commend the steps that Cal Poly’s GSB has made in facilitating interpersonal contact by sending its students to the Far East on an annual basis. This sort of forward looking action is our best shot at cultivating a bipolar or mulitpolar world order where powers cooperate and compromise instead of paying credence to the naysayers of their respective societies. Thank you for this post. To date, I have only heard fragments of this issue. I recall a friend showing me that if you google search “I hate _______” the top two blanks are #1 “the United States,” and #2 “China.” Kaiser Kuo’s talk underscores an alarming new dynamic in China/US relations catalyzed by the internet and resulting in “a decline at the people to people level.” In other words, it is not the bilateral state-to-state relations that are breaking down between China and the US, it is a virtual clash amongst nationalists from these nations that are fueling populist animosity. Kuo notes that at this time in national politics, both China and the US are substantially impacted by populism and often times unsophisticated value systems. The Chinese government has to respond to public opinion despite the fact that the West portrays it as a ‘repressive totalitarian regime.’ The fact that a considerable portion of the internet using populations of both countries are confirming the respective extremist positions of the ‘radical right,’ and therefore influencing a bottom-up distrust for the opposing nation, is frightening when peering into the 21st century.

Kuo postulates from a corner that sees two sets of understandable people with uninterpreted worldviews. In his book he aims to give the American intellectual layman a sense of “why there is merit to the way the Chinese approach issues given the set of assumptions they are approaching them from.” I find hope in Kuo’s statement that when ‘travelling in Europe, he sees a group of Chinese tourists and a group of American tourists, and is equally ashamed.’ It appears that the most promising solution lies in this context. I contend that positive interpersonal contact is the surest way to bridge the gap in person-to-person Chinese/US relations. It is important for both populations to uncover the decency in one another as opposed a bludgeoning their counterparts with the radical right’s insecurity-turned-aggression nonsense. I commend the steps that Cal Poly’s GSB has made in facilitating interpersonal contact by sending its students to the Far East on an annual basis. This sort of forward looking action is our best shot at cultivating a bipolar or mulitpolar world order where powers cooperate and compromise instead of paying credence to the naysayers of their respective societies.

]]> By: Hemanth Kundeti http://calpolymbatrip.com/2009/china/red-guards-vs-rednecks/#comment-17078 Hemanth Kundeti Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:51:47 +0000 http://calpolymbatrip.com/?p=2136#comment-17078 Dr. Carr, thank you for a very interesting podcast. I can understand and relate to where Kaiser Kuo is coming from. It is unfortunate that people fight wars instead of finding common ground on Internet. The internet is the only window of communication between China and the rest of the world (even if limited). If the Chinese netizens continue to see aggressive posturing of the other global netizens, it would only confirm their worst fears and would breed antagonism, as they see it through their lens mired with the scars of the past. The scars that were made in the past to a nation's psyche cannot be erased in a matter of a few years. Sometimes the scars last decades. To understand a nation, we should try to understand the history of the nation. Communist government of China would not have succeeded in implementing widespread economic reforms, if not for the popular public support for opening up their markets to the developed world especially America. If petty wars like the one on internet continue, China will not be able to justify its economic cooperation with America. Subsequently if their only eye is poked time and again, that eye might turn sore. Dr. Carr, thank you for a very interesting podcast. I can understand and relate to where Kaiser Kuo is coming from. It is unfortunate that people fight wars instead of finding common ground on Internet. The internet is the only window of communication between China and the rest of the world (even if limited). If the Chinese netizens continue to see aggressive posturing of the other global netizens, it would only confirm their worst fears and would breed antagonism, as they see it through their lens mired with the scars of the past. The scars that were made in the past to a nation’s psyche cannot be erased in a matter of a few years. Sometimes the scars last decades. To understand a nation, we should try to understand the history of the nation.
Communist government of China would not have succeeded in implementing widespread economic reforms, if not for the popular public support for opening up their markets to the developed world especially America. If petty wars like the one on internet continue, China will not be able to justify its economic cooperation with America. Subsequently if their only eye is poked time and again, that eye might turn sore.

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