The global campaign against TikTok and the resurgence of
the lab-leak theory on the origin of Covid are splendid illustrations of the
points in my last post.
Demonizing TikTok once more attributes a phenomenon to a
pole on the dimension or rather dichotomy of us the absolute good vs them the
utterly bad. It thus imposes these poles on the dimension American high-tech and
social media vs Chinese high-tech and social media.
An app which constitutes a bridge between the two sides of
the world is to be choked. From the existence and origin of TikTok people could
get the impression that the Chinese are not that different, that they have and use
things like social media just like us. This will not do. The young generation must
learn to hate the Chinese, learn to see them as weird and alien. And as such
they are of course also guilty of the Corona pandemic. Words like China-virus
and China-app have clear racist connotations.
Economic interests are never absent in God’s own country. Indeed,
killing TikTok will also liberate American social media from competition. But presently
the anti-Chinese mood in America looks like a generalized fear disorder.
In Europe and elsewhere many governments and even local administrations
follow the American line and ban TikTok on public hardware. Increasingly the premises
postulated by US politicians are believed. And from 1) Seen through the polarizing
world view China is wholly bad and 2) Spying by countries through social media
is possible, it follows logically 3) that the Chinese Communist Party does
spy on us through TikTok. As pointed out by several IT experts such activity by
TikTok has never been proven and is only a theoretical possibility. It is often
claimed that TikTok collects more data than other apps despite the fact that this
has been disproven by neutral experts. Now the Chinese company is even accused
of brainwashing Westerners, making them support Chinese and Russian views. This
despite the widespread use of TikTok against Russia by Ukrainians. The app (rather
than contagion from certain of its influencers) can even cause tics. Soon we
may again hear that IT hardware produced in China, including products from US
companies contain invisible rice-grain sized micro-chips which transmit
intelligence to the Chinese Communist Party. Even such claims will probably be
believed by some Europeans.
Politicians and the public have once more forgotten or repressed
the lessons from Snowden. These lessons showed that American espionage through
US-based social media is not only theoretically possible, but is a fact. And
what’s more serious, the US intelligence agencies are not limited to this. They
have direct trunks into the cables through which both TikTok, America-based
social media and most global and local, private and public communications run. In
addition the United States and its vassals spy directly on leading allied politicians.
Lobbying from US politicians is very successful in
convincing Europeans and others that the world only has one global dimension
and only two poles, the good democratic peaceful nations and the evil
authoritarian expansionist nations. This implies that America and Europe are equated,
and that we are told that also Russia and China are one united pole and that China
therefore has plans to deliver weapons to Putin. That Russia is coupled with China
also adds evilness to the latter in the view of the European political and
public opinion which rightly is preoccupied with the indeed condemnable
invasion in Ukraine.
And do the opponents of the West act in ways which could disprove
the Western world view? No, on the contrary. Instead they seem to work to confirm
the relevance and the poles of the dichotomous dimension. Meeting Lukashenko
instead of Zelenskyy does not look very neutral. Sending balloons over enemy territory
looks as a clumsy way to illustrate the will to spy. Calling even WWF foreign
agents or a unanimous vote by the NPC strengthening autocratic rule supports
the picture of an alien block consisting of China and Russia, a block united by
the common trait of an almost North Korean type rule. If there should exist acts
or intentions which could nuance these impressions, then they will not be
noticed.
Merkel said: “Ausspähen unter Freunden, das geht gar nicht”.
But in a world of ultimate good and evil it is perhaps okay for the Europeans that
the American friends spy on them? If the Chinese are evil spies, then the
Americans must be benevolent spies. After all, Uncle Joe Biden is a nice
elderly gentleman. But the idea of a world with two poles, a good and an evil,
is and will be challenged by facts. US subsidies for domestic production are
already now harming the EU. And because of the polarization and competition of the
American parties US politicians will increasingly demand more protectionist measures
also against America’s weak friends. The growing ruthlessness in US politics
will cause an arrogant, exploitative and coercive treatment of allied countries.
And what about a second or third Trump no matter what he is actually called and
no matter if he has a brain or not? The present phase of Europe and America united
by mutual friendship could be a short anomaly. In Washington East Europe may
soon be viewed as an appendix which in comparison with the Pacific front is of
limited interest and not worth defending for billions of dollars. Then if not
earlier the Europeans must finally realize that the World may have more than
two poles and more than one dichotomy.
