The coronavirus has created a weird narrative regarding the eternal battle of West vs. East.
China continues to be framed as evil for being authoritarian by a media that is promoting the most authoritarian regimes that have ever existed on earth.
Despite the fact that the coronavirus measures have gone beyond anything that the government of China would ever imagine doing to its people, in terms of taking away basic freedoms, the narrative remains what it was in the 1990s.
Probably, at some point, people are going to have to ask: is Chinese authoritarianism, which is aimed at bettering Chinese society, worse than Western authoritarianism, which is aimed at destroying all life on earth?
Xi Jinping’s war on waste is set to be enshrined in law, with the submission of draft legislation to China’s highest legal committee recommending large fines for businesses that enable or promote wasting food.
In August the Chinese leader said the amount of food wasted nationally was shocking and distressing, declaring in a speech that: “waste is shameful and thriftiness is honourable”.
Under the campaign “Operation empty plate”, local authorities quickly embarked on programs to reduce waste and encourage food outlets to limit orders to one less dish than the number of diners in a group. The popular phenomenon of mukbang videos – performative eating videos which originated in Korea and often feature excessive binge eating – were also banned.
Under the draft law submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Tuesday, food service operators face penalties if they induce or mislead consumers to “order excessive meals and cause obvious waste”. Offenders would be given a warning by local authorities, and face fines of up to 10,000 yuan (£1,140) if they fail to comply.
It also would allow restaurants to charge patrons for excessive amounts of leftovers.
The draft law also stipulated potential fines for a broadcaster – radio, TV, or online – which produces publishes or disseminates the promotion of food waste, including overeating. Failing to heed a formal warning by government authorities could result in penalties of up to 100,000 yuan, and the suspension of business “for rectification”.
Is saving food and promoting healthy eating habits evil?
I don’t really personally think this is the government’s business, but that has become a moot point.
The Guardian supports a regime that shuts down restaurants completely, for no reason, and totally destroys the business.
How are they in a position to judge the Chinese for threatening to shut down businesses for wasting food?
(Furthermore, there is a total misunderstanding about how Asian law actually works. It’s more of a suggestion and a guideline. Cops are not actually going to go into restaurants and fine them or shut them down. As a rule, cops in China aren’t ever going to do anything, other than stand around.)
Basing our concept of moral superiority on the idea that we have some kind of extreme freedom in the West was a stupid plan. We should have done something like: “we hate the Chinese because they’re small, and they have stupid little small eyes! They’re loud and annoying and they spit in elevators!”
Of course, that wasn’t possible, because we’re an “anti-racist” empire. So we had to do some kind of “ideological conflict,” and we ended up in a mind-pretzel.
Point being: there is a helluva lot more freedom in China than there is in the West, and someone just has to say it. I’m sick of being accused of being a Chinese shill. This is stupid and childish. All I am doing is telling the basic truth: the West is now the most restricted, authoritarian, oppressive and bizarre society that has ever existed on earth, and nothing the Chinese do could ever compare to what we are doing now as routine.
I’m tired of hearing this nonsense about China. It’s dumb. We need to talk about our own problems, none of which come from this stupid boogieman. Frankly, our problems come from Jews.