this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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[–] DaDaDrood@feddit.nl 74 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I read this ‘article’. There are zero references towards the so called ‘China Bashing’. If it is so rampant, how hard can it be to just link to a few mainstream offenders? It alludes towards a deliberate bashing, once again without any links or merit. I am fully aware that news is hardly unbiased but come on, this is ridiculous.

[–] sludge 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

like, just off the top of my head there's that whole "spy balloon" thing.

[–] cnnrduncan 21 points 1 year ago

A Chinese corporation openly tested those spy balloons over my country a decade ago (allegedly just for monitoring livestock), why is it so unbelievable that they'd use a more polished version on their biggest geopolitical rival?

[–] DaDaDrood@feddit.nl 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Give me a source that shows the blatant and deliberate anti China rhetoric about the ‘spy balloon’.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

U.S. president Biden ... however stated that it was "not a major breach", and that he also believed that the Chinese leadership wasn't even aware of the balloon. ... On September 17, 2023, in an interview with CBS news, General Mark Milley, the retiring 20th US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated “I would say it was a spy balloon that we know with high degree of certainty got no intelligence, and didn't transmit any intelligence back to China." Technical experts had also found that the balloon's sensors had never been activated while it was travelling over the Continental United States. The general also touched on a leading theory that the reason that it was flying over the United States, was probably because it was blown off-track, where the balloon had been heading towards Hawaii however winds at 60,000 feet simply came into the equation. Miley said, "those winds are very high.. the particular motor on that aircraft can't go against those winds at that altitude." c

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Chinese_balloon_incident

TLDR: Unbeknownst to China's leadership, one of their balloons blew off-track (hardly a rare occurence). It didn't collect or transmit any intelligence.

But if you watched the media coverage of that incident, you'd likely come to a different conclusion. For example:

Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/china-spy-balloon-collected-intelligence-us-military-bases-rcna77155

[–] SugarApplePie 2 points 1 year ago

So funny how that all got memory holed and now you have people who genuinely still think it was a spy balloon of some kind (even in these very replies!) because they just never read anything past the headlines and never followed up on it after. Just completely lacking any curiosity or news literacy but will still scoff at the thought of them being victims of very obvious propaganda haha

[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Have you been following media recently or have you been living under a rock?

[–] GammaGames 54 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s not a defense. Opinion pieces can be fine, but if you’re claiming that something is off the charts you should probably have some charts (or any points of data) to prove the claim.

[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Then... Disprove it? If there's such distinct evidence that counters the article, might as well use it in your argument lol

[–] FaceDeer@kbin.social 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's not how the burden of proof goes. The article is making a claim. It's on the article's authors to prove it.

[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Again, if you have such a strong argument, why don't you use it?

[–] SuperPillowFishRoe 40 points 1 year ago

The person is saying the article doesn't prove their claim at all; they're not necessarily saying the article is wrong

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[–] cnnrduncan 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can you prove that China isn't an oppressive authoritarian capitalist state?

[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Do I need to? I haven't had a visceral reaction to the article.

For what it's worth, China's affirmative action policies for minority groups put the US to shame. Significantly easier college admissions (despite using a standardized process), extremely generous business loans, proportional ethnic representation in government, vast infrastructure projects to bridge the salary gap, and celebrations of different cultures across the country. Not very capitalist of them, given that these infrastructure projects (while very beneficial to the endpoints) are not profitable.

[–] GammaGames 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Nobody else has had a visceral reaction, we’ve just pointed out bad journalism 🙂 Using big negative words might make you feel better, but it doesn’t make them accurate. You’re using them to be dismissive of our points

[–] cnnrduncan 26 points 1 year ago

Treating minorities better than the USA isn't exactly a high bar.

My country also treats minorities better than the USA, it's easy to get into uni, celebrates diversity, has an alright social welfare system and socialised healthcare, does the occasional infrastructure project etc.

Thanks for teaching me that I'm actually living in a socialist paradise rather than a poor, neoliberal capitalist, physically isolated island where private corporations are free to wreck the environment for profit!

[–] SugarApplePie 1 points 1 year ago

Significantly easier college admissions (despite using a standardized process), extremely generous business loans, proportional ethnic representation in government, vast infrastructure projects to bridge the salary gap, and celebrations of different cultures across the country. Not very capitalist of them

Sorry OP but basically none of this has anything to do with not being capitalist. I don't even doubt that China is doing better in those departments than America, but that has more to do with how utterly shit America is at most things outside of building bombs than how communist China is. They should get some kudos for executing a couple billionaires, though, gotta at least give 'em that.

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[–] DaDaDrood@feddit.nl 47 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have been following media intensively. I am not saying that news about China is unbiased in the western media. I am calling out the lack of any sources in this weak ‘article’

[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
  1. As far as news outlets go, The Diplomat is rather well-regarded

  2. As an opinion piece, sources are usually implicit (since opinion pieces use the reader's own knowledge of current events as the context)

  3. The article points to this article for more context: https://hbr.org/2021/05/what-the-west-gets-wrong-about-china

[–] DaDaDrood@feddit.nl 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

1 I don’t know this outlet, nor am inclined to use perceived pedigree to determine the quality of news. I’d like to see sources, not news dresses as opinions. 2 Opinion pieces that try to be credible need sources or else I will disregard them as petty trolling. The title makes a bold claim, I want sources backing up that claim. 3 that ‘source’ is also an opinion peace without any sources.

Just show me where mainstream media is deliberately bashing China. If it’s that rampant it can’t be that hard right?

[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Again, have you been living under a rock for the past few years? You can even look at the top posts of this community.

[–] DaDaDrood@feddit.nl 35 points 1 year ago

I’m not the one making bald claims. The onus is on the one with the claims. Just show me some sources!

[–] h3mlocke@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The evidence is right in front of you, yet you refuse to see it

[–] sparkl_motion 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Then link the supposed data points backing up this claim.

You’ve refused to do so within this thread, only using “You don’t know!” as a reply.

Link the supposed data or GTFO. That’s what every person has stated and you’ve refused to comply.

[–] zephyreks@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Everyone says they have data that disproves it

And nobody's provided any because they can't find it

[–] tombuben 8 points 1 year ago

No one here says they have data that disproves it though?

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[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

that ‘source’ is also an opinion peace without any sources.

?

The source of that article are the authors. One a professor at Oxford, the other a lecturer at MIT. The professor's also written a book about China which is mentioned at the bottom of the article. Pretty weak argument to say that isn't a valid source. A bit like an anti-vaxxer saying an article about vaccination written by a doctor isn't a valid source in an internet argument.

Just show me where mainstream media is deliberately bashing China. If it’s that rampant it can’t be that hard right?

I googled myself, because I was curious. Not necessarily bashing, but plenty of sensationalism. For example, NBC at the time of the balloon incident:

Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it

Fox:

Spy balloon likely sent extensive intelligence to China, experts say. The Pentagon said Thursday it 'acted immediately' to counter a collection of sensitive information

Guardian:

China ‘spy balloon’ wakes up world to new era of war at edge of space

CNN:

Why the Chinese balloon crisis could be a defining moment in the new Cold War

Wikipedia:

U.S. president Biden ... however stated that it was "not a major breach", and that he also believed that the Chinese leadership wasn't even aware of the balloon. ... On September 17, 2023, in an interview with CBS news, General Mark Milley, the retiring 20th US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated “I would say it was a spy balloon that we know with high degree of certainty got no intelligence, and didn't transmit any intelligence back to China." Technical experts had also found that the balloon's sensors had never been activated while it was travelling over the Continental United States. The general also touched on a leading theory that the reason that it was flying over the United States, was probably because it was blown off-track, where the balloon had been heading towards Hawaii however winds at 60,000 feet simply came into the equation. Miley said, "those winds are very high.. the particular motor on that aircraft can't go against those winds at that altitude."

Media: the Chinese are spying on us. Are you ready for WAR?

Reality: the wind blew a balloon of course and by now most of us have already forgotten what turned out to be a nothing burger of a story.

[–] Karzyn 2 points 1 year ago

I think that the concern was not that the articles like the ones you link to do not exist. Instead the complaint is that the posted piece did not itself link to them to back up the claim. These were likely quite easy for you to find and it's poor journalism that the author did not put in the same effort.