Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Some comments on the 'Cult of China Experts' #China

[–]throwaway13375934 19 points  
Last, we have legions of lesser, disposable China watchers. Few of them enjoy fat expat packages, bigwig relatives in the media, or peddling political influence. Unable to find proper jobs and secure a future in China - apart from becoming activists, bloggers, or English teachers- they are recruited easily and radicalize quickly. Everyone has met those frustrated Westerners who once believed in their entitlement, got disillusioned, and found a way to spend their days: to patronize and correct the Chinese.
So everyone on /m/China?
[–]Rampaging_BunnyUnited States 2 points  
I think this is a bit unfair of the article to assume that's the only way these people can cope- to "patronize and correct" the chinese. What about the so-called disillusioned ones or the teachers who truly do try and integrate, make friends, learn to cook chinese food, marry/date, etc. This article was FULL of holes and shoddy uncited statements.
[–]TheDark1Australia 1 point  
Clearly the lesson to be learned is that we should be more like Pattberg - write bizarre gobbldygook praising the party and criticize our home countries and get fat on the paid appearances, articles and book sales that follow. He sure found a "proper job" in China, right?
[–]TheDark1Australia 0 points  
那么勇敢!
[–]boobweiner69 7 points  
"Americans finance Taiwan separatists"
Seriously? Even if you think that Taiwan belongs to China, any one who looks into the situation for more than five minutes will see it's more complicated than that.
[–]TheDark1Australia -3 points  
The entire article, Pattberg's entire world view is unbelievably batshit insane. Look how he throws out these massive claims without backing them up every few seconds. It's an opinion piece so it's not like he should be giving citations, but you can't just say something like:
China isn't the only victim. All other six non-Western civilizations are feeling the whip of Western imperialism. The West claims it is "universal" and that is does not (and cannot) take responsibility for any of its abusive individuals in foreign lands since they are all free agents. It's the same old excuse since the age of colonialism
or
In the West, foreign extremist groups, left or right, are monitored and tightly controlled. But no-one controls these Western imperialists. Germans finance Xinjiang separatists, Americans finance Taiwan separatists, British finance Tibetan separatist. US journalism even dispatches tactical troops to Hong Kong determined on bringing down Xi Jinping, the president, and his family.
Without somewhat qualifying the bizarre claims you make.
Also, I love the idea that this guy thinks he is more of a "China expert" than Henry Kissinger.
Final note: If you ever feel down and need a good belly laugh, just do an image search for this turkey. Hours of fun for the whole family!
I love the one where he's superimposed a picture of the dictionary entry for "language" onto the picture.
[–]thoreaupoeUnited States[S] 7 points  
Europe Needs Its Own Confucianism
LMBO
[–]tabitha777 5 points  
I find it funny that you're slandering this guy's character and appearance as if you're more attractive or qualified than he is.
pattberg has accomplished more than you ever will in your lifetime, so while you neckbeard on reddit, and live in a place you hate, he's gaining worldwide recognition.
But please, continue hating, because that's all you have.
[–]Kooglemoore 5 points  
Nice try, Pattberg.
[–]movingon11United States 1 point  
Patberg has accomplished being a shitstain far more than most, certainly. Similarly, so have you, it would seem. You two must have so much in common. Must be cute to see you two get chatty.
[–]TheDark1Australia 0 points  
He's gaining world recognition as a bizarre maniacal shill.
[–]tabitha777 5 points  
He's gaining world recognition as a bizarre maniacal shill.
Haha haha the irony is beyond epic!
[–]Kooglemoore -1 points  
Interesting word choice. What exactly does it mean for irony to be "beyond epic?"
[–]tabitha777 5 points  
Because thedark1 is a maniacal shill - not original enough to be bizarre though. ;)
[–]perihelion86United States 1 point  
I am new here, but how is this guy a moderator? I perused his comments and saw multiple violations of the posted rules.
[–]Rampaging_BunnyUnited States -1 points  
Haha. You read into his words too much. Get off reddit its affecting you too much!
[–]elcerodeluz 10 points  
The cult's a lot older than you think.
Look up the tale of the Chinapol email listserv out of UCLA:
China studies, since 1990, has become an ideological battleground way out of touch with reality in China. It's been dominated by the ideology of confronting the CCP rather than the ideology of analyzing China's situation. Even academic pieces that start off as analysis inevitably get tinted into evaluating the impact of that analysis on the CCP's continuing ability to rule (or put in polite academic-speak, "political stability").
You would probably learn more about "the real China / the Chinese status quo and likeliest sociopolitical outcome" taking a developmental economics and policy and industrial organization courseload than you would taking a Chinese culture/politics courseload.
Now, what is doubly interesting is that even as so much US/Canadian/Australian academic research focuses on various things in China vis a vis political stability (e.g. how things help or hurt the CCP's ability to rule), there is precious little research that actually wonders what a post-CCP China would actually look like. It reminds me of the analytical mistakes the US intelligence and Middle Eastern research community made in the decade prior to Iraq 03 - so much time spent figuring the how of not strengthening/weakening and killing Saddam's regime, but precious little time spent figuring out what comes after...
[–]nojusticenpeace 2 points  
maybe some people are just tired of the bullshit in China. Something gets stolen? you're fucked. get hit by a car? fucked
there's so little rule of law here. There's so many idiot drivers in part because most drivers ever take a test or learn how to drive, they just merely pay a bribe.
Even in the nicest of neighborhoods, it's fucking dirty unless every neighbor is worth $10 million. Check into a nice hotel? some dumb fuck is gonna smoke in the elevator...
wy the fuck do people romanticize it here when there's so much that is just fucking stupid?!?! It's not that it's 'not western,' it's that it's just fucked up. HK, TAiwan, Philippines, Vietnam... the list goes on of countries that are far poorer but not so fucked up.
sorry guys I'm fucking grumpy after people almost running me over at Metro, my parents and I almost getting hit by a BMW, and showing up to the beach and it's fucking disgusting and dirty because people are so selfish and lazy and throw their fucking shit everywhere. even at the 5 star hotel there's shit on the beach
[–]brahswell 2 points  
because people are so selfish and lazy and throw their fucking shit everywhere. even at the 5 star hotel there's shit on the beach
takes 20 years for this type of culture to change, see 1950's America
[–]nojusticenpeace 1 point  
20 years? why 20 years? and when are we gonna start counting in China? just curious
[–]justpin 1 point  
It's generational. Those who are children now in 20 years will be the core of society. It is their values ethics and behaviour which determines what society will be like in 20 years time.
In the western world we split society into distinct groups:
WWII veterans who rebuilt Europe born around 1920-1930,
Post war baby boomers. 1950-1970
Generation X 1970-1985
Generation Y 1986-1999
Right now we are in the last 6-10 years of the millennials.
[–]nojusticenpeace 1 point  
I see. I don't think this generation will be the one to change, maybe the next one. I live next to the beach and that beach is next to a 5 star restaurant. There have been beach clean days and some volunteers even put trash cans on the beach... it's just as dirty as ever, it's really sad.
[–]canuckupyTO 5 points  
I can't speak for other disciplines, but as a political scientist I can confirm that this article is a hysterical misrepresentation of the academic study of China.
[–]TheDark1Australia -4 points  
You can relax. Only someone with the reasoning skills of a child and the anger of a ex- German army officer and art school dropout could take this kind of invective seriously.
[–]TheDark1Australia 4 points  
By Thorsten Pattberg
DIS GON BE GOOOOOOOD
[–]3llt33 1 point  
Barely readable crazy talk. Who wrote this...
Oh.
[–]AgentCC 1 point  
Germans fund Xinjiang separatists? I know there are a lot of Turks living in Germany who are supposed to be ethnically related to the Uiyghurs. Does that have anything to do with the conclusions he's drawing?
[–]goin_dangUnited States 1 point  
Cult? Experts? Why am I not on board? I declare such cult non-existent!

Monday, November 3, 2014

The Perils of Being Associated with China


The battle for racial and cultural equality seems (almost) lost in China where white privilege, brain drain, Chinese corruption, total westernization, and a permanent identity crisis have all led to the Chinese worship of all things Western. If the Chinese do not respect themselves, why should foreigners respect China?
This take-no-prisoners polemic was first syndicated by The Korea Times on May 1, 2014. It was written during a two-days thunderstorm and heavy rainfall in Tokyo, so I tried to convey that atmosphere in this video.

Go to The Korea Times:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/...
About the author:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thorstenp...
Blog:
http://thorstenpattberg.blogspot.jp/

Saturday, November 1, 2014

William Deresiewicz writes 'Don't Send Your Kids to the Ivy League' and says elite education is "overrated"


The world is increasingly suspicious of the 1% of humankind who seem to have a blast in life, while the rest 99% of human beings live and endure, well, mainly to feature the 1%. 
Read Full Article At Linkedin.

植根西方学府和媒体的反华邪教

Riot police fire several tear bombs to the Pro-Democracy Protesters
(c) Lamuel Chung, Flickr
   数年前我在哈佛遇见一个德国人,他向我夸示他的政治赏金,即将到来的纽约演说,
以及他如何致力于解放西藏和肢解中国。同时他也自承中国没有人权问题。我在表示艳
羡的同时,亦警告他不要在对待德国政府上如法炮制以免因叛国罪而受牢狱之灾。他不
以为然悻悻离去。

   此人此事绝非个案。时下西方正如邪教一样狂热追棒“西方福音救世主义者”和“
西方十字军征讨。”总体而言,此两种人定意要摧折和颠覆任何非西方体系的国家和政
府。
  
   到了中国,这些人相信他们是化外之人,不受当地法律约束。他们相信中国政府非
民选,信奉共产主义,贪腐,从而不正当亦不合法。因而,有什么理由在乎中国政府的
立场和评判呢? 由此,这些西方福音救世主义者相信西方人可以在中国为所欲为。一旦
西方人在中国惹祸,美国政府和西方的宣传机器会尽快“捞人”从而使他们化险为夷。 

   这些所谓的中国问题专家目下是反对中国共产党的急先锋。他们有组织细胞和网络
交通,并严格遵循其权力层级和伦理守则。他们一边在推特网上互相揄扬,犒赏粉丝追
捧者,一边从社交媒体上搜寻揪斗“变节者”或如他们所称的“中国辩护士。”

   当中国央视主播杨锐 (音译)谴责驻京的外国鼓动家时,他的形象立即遭受暗杀。那
些中国问题专家们将他拽到国际媒体上游街示众,以警示任何胆敢偏离西方调门的中国
人。 [...]
来源: http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/Military/42681347.html

Friday, October 31, 2014

Vulcanhammer: The "Cult" of China Experts is hardly new

The Cat 'Buff' of Vulcanhammer (c) Vulcanhammer
Quick shoutout and thanks to Vulcanhammer for this kind endorsement:
"It also puts a new twist on this “white privilege” meme that we hear so much of these days.  Most propagators of that meme would like us to think that such is a purely right-wing phenomenon.  But this is not the case, as the list of experts Pattberg reels off shows.  It’s one thing to mouth a multicultural agenda; it’s quite another to actually do it successfully.  In the case of China, we’re nowhere near that point, and I’m not holding my breath on that changing any time soon." -- @Vulcanhammer

I agree. US-journalists acting as social justice warriors or, worse, para-political units, won't stop their smear-campaigns against China until the nation finally disintegrates. This could happen any time, any year soon. There's malevolence in the air. On a bad day in Europe, you can smell the pure hatred and witness the blaming of Asians for all the problems in the world. As one German farmer once explained the silliness and dangerous simplicity of Western propaganda: "Even our cattle now believe the West is our savior and that the East is evil." The situation is that toxic.

READ HERE THE ARTICLE AT ASIA TIMES WE ARE REFERRING TO.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Pattberg: The War on the War on English (Video)



"Chinese authorities are waging a war on American culture and the use of English." --Dexter Roberts

If there's a war on language, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is the English one against all others! 

It has been shown -over and over again- how European translations of all things Asian have directly misinterpreted those other civilizations, and robbed the Asians of their originality, their inventiveness, and their intellectual property rights. This great destruction of foreign words follows the history of the Europeans like genocide, colonialism, and orientalism. [...]

See article 'China's War on English' by Dexter Roberts:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-22/china-moves-to-protect-its-language-from-english
Read War Against 'The War On English' at Big Think:
http://bigthink.com/dragons-and-pandas/war-against-the-war-on-english
Watch Video 'Knowledge is a Polyglot' by T Pattberg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPDKQw6wfvA
Website:
http://www.east-west-dichotomy.com/about-the-author/

Twitter: @worldethics

Monday, October 27, 2014

The End of Sagehood and the Last Sage of Europe (Video)


In this essay, Dr. Thorsten J. Pattberg discusses the difference between sages and philosophers and saints. He compares the sage cultures of the East with the philosopher culture of the West, and calls Jesus Christ 'the last sage of Europe' because the "messiah" cunningly deprived human beings of their highest wisdom and delegate it all to God.

Monday, October 20, 2014

New Pattberg Video Library at WeToldYouSo1 - Have a click!

The famed essay "Diary of a Mad Imperialist - Why Nations stay in abusive relationships" is now available in video format! Read about how German Orientalism is alive and kicking in Shanghai.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Chinese Students at Harvard and Cambridge (Video)


There is the joke that Xi Jinping's "Chinese Dream" was really about being able to send all your kid to a US Ivy League school, such as he sent his daughter to Harvard. Bo Xilai sent his son to Harvard, too. In fact, in China everyone knows someone who has a son or daughter in America. China has a massive brain drain problem.

Yale, Princeton, Harvard, or even Cambridge University in England, are considered the ultimate upgrade for the taizidang, the spoilt and well-to-do sons and daughters of China's elites. It is estimated that 85% of the rich are planning on leaving China, or sending a kid to a Western top university. Rich Chinese entrepreneurs are donating millions of dollars to US institutions just to boast with their affiliation.

Meanwhile, Peking and Tsinghua envisioned their universities to be world class and are investing millions of rmb in prestige projects. Will their efforts be enough to stem against the massive Chinese brain drain?

Thursday, October 16, 2014

NEW: WeToldYouSo1 is an Educational and Activism Channel - Plz Subscribe!

WeToldYouSo1 is an educational and activism channel. As of Oct 31, 2014, we became the media library for 'East-West Dichotomy' (website) and 'You've Heard About It' (blog). 

Our main focus is on language, empire, political theory, philosophy of history, and East-Asian thought. The channel's admin is Mya.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Den Konfuzianismus nach Deutschland bringen

BERLIN - Die ewige Wiederkehr. Ich besuchte die Realschule Bockum-Hövel, und lernte den Beruf des Justizangestellten beim Amtsgericht Hamm. In 2001 verließ ich Deutschland -mit dem Abitur vom Abendgymnasium Hamm in der Tasche- und ging nach Schottland. Seither studierte ich Sanskrit, Chinesisch, Philosophie, und Geschichte an den Universitäten Edinburgh, Fudan, Tokyo, Harvard, und Peking. Ich hatte immer Glück unter großen Namen zu studierte, wie z. B. unter dem Indologen Michael Witzel in Harvard, unter dem Philologen Ji Xianlin, unter dem Taoisten Gu Zhengkun, und, später, unter dem Neukonfuzianer Tu Weiming. Ich erhielt als erster Deutscher den Doktorgrad von der Peking Universität. Seither publiziere ich in Asien und Amerika. Die Rechte auf meine bisherigen Hauptwerke, The East-West Dichotomy und Knowledge is a Polyglot, wurden von China’s Foreign Language Press erworben. Der Verlag druckt u. a. die Werke Maos und Lenins. Ich besuche Deutschland und meine Familie alle zwei Jahre, aber hier als Philosoph und Schriftsteller zu leben und zu schaffen, das stelle ich mir schwierig vor. Einen "deutschen Konfuzianismus" gibt es (noch) nicht. In diesem Sommer schauten wir uns Berlin an. Berlin, das wär schon was...

Friday, September 26, 2014

World Community Agog Over China Resurrecting Confucianism


BEIJING - About 2,565 years ago a wise and aristocratic Kong Qiu came to the world, 551 years before a certain Jesus of Nazareth, nutcase and son of a penniless carpenter, was born to a virgin. The reason why we all live in the year 2014 of our Lord Christ today is because Jesus declared himself the son of the Jewish God, and the king of Jews on top of that, which got him nailed to a cross by an angry mob of Romans and Jews. To get back at them, he resurrected. The rest is advanced political sciences.
Others don’t equal Confucius to a religion at all. He never called himself son of God. Instead, he got himself an education and a real job. Since he was an academic, historians would compare him to Plato, the Greek philosopher. Either way, Confucius probably is to East Asia what Jesus Christ and Plato are to the West: the spiritual and the ideological master source. [...]
Read full article at China Daily on how Xi Jinping, China's president, aims at resurrecting Confucianism.
Jesus Christ, Confucius (Image credits: Jtonystl/Flickr; STATIC6/Flickr)

Monday, September 22, 2014

Diario de un imperialista demente: Por qué los países mantienen relaciones abusivas

No podemos ni debemos convertirnos en chinos, y de corazón tampoco lo queremos. No debemos buscar un sentido ideal o superior de la vida en China o en ninguna otra cosa del pasado; de otra manera nos perdemos y nos adherimos a un fetiche.  (Hermann Hesse, 1921)

Hace unos 111 años, el emperador alemán Guillermo II, despidió el Cuerpo de Expedición Oriente-Asiático desde el puerto de Bremen a China, enviado a fin de reprimir la resistencia de China al imperialismo europeo. Sus órdenes eran inequívocas: llevar la civilización a China, no mostrar piedad ante los reaccionarios y dar a China una lección memorable para que ningún chino se atreviera a mirar con recelo a alguno de nosotros. Por cierto las cosas han cambiado desde entonces.

Han inventado aviones. La ministra federal de Educación e Investigación y su delegación de altos funcionarios volvió a aterrizar en Shanghái. La megalópolis china del delta del río Yangtsé es más populosa que la capital alemana, Berlín, Hamburgo, Múnich, Colonia, Frankfurt, Stuttgart y las siguientes mayores ciudades alemanas en conjunto. Es impresionante. [...]

From the English 'Diary of a Mad Imperialist', translated by Rebelion.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Pattberg: Deutscher Justizangestellter ging zum Philosophieren nach Schottland (June 2001)

Aus dem Archiv (6/2001): Thorsten Pattberg beginnt im Oktober ein Studium an der Universität in Edinburgh. Justizangestellter machte Abitur am Abendgymnasium in Hamm:
This was featured in our local newspaper, WA, back in June 2001 upon my departure from Hamm, heading for gorgeous Scotland and the University of Edinburgh. What a great adventure and journey into the unknown... but also... at the age of 24: so much loss (job, car, house) and separation from life-long friends and my dear family. My ultimate goal, then as now: To become the next Hegel, or at least a better Schopenhauer, no kidding! :-D