Queercommie Girl
2nd August 2010, 23:27
I'm going to post it here because it's not a mainstream discussion (and it's not really that serious). I just want to highlight the "cultural differences" between Chinese and Western leftist forums.
On Western forums it is normal to insult people a bit, people don't seem to take it so seriously it seems, two people can go and get a drink after an intense session of mutual personal attacks as if not much has happened.
Yet any mention of gulags or labour camps in a relatively positive sense, any hint of potentially violating the "sacred absolute human rights of Western culture", people immediately jump on you.
On Western leftist forums, it's ok to swear, but it's not ok to act like a "little Stalin" and seriously state that labour camps can play a positive role.
It's not like this on Chinese forums. On Chinese leftist forums it is the other way around, it is considered to be very distasteful to use any explicit personal insults, but it is completely ok to attack people in a more subtle or "passive-aggressive" manner, and it is also ok to use politically extremist language, like a leftist version of Stormfront kind of thing.
Once, there was a young Chinese Trotskyist on a Chinese forum who explicitly stated that we should dig up all the corpses of every reformist traitor in history (i.e. people like Bernstein) and whip their corpses very hard for their treason. (Note that his language here is not even directed against Nazis or even capitalists, but reformist socialists - makes one wonder what he would do to the Nazis, probably skin them alive) If someone said this plainly on RevLeft I don't think people will take it well. People will probably think that the guy is insane. Yet on the Chinese forum people don't see anything wrong with this kind of political extremism at all, in fact, this young Trotskyist is actually one of the more respected members there.
I just want to mention this significant cultural gap. It is important because there is a lot of room for misunderstanding here. In this particular thread I do not wish to be judgemental, I'm not explicitly saying which cultural style is better or more progressive, but in a nutshell, the difference between Chinese and Western socialist culture is this:
In China it is not ok to explicitly swear, but it is ok to use politically extremist language (even very extremist language). It is ok to call for the massacre of one's political enemies. It is ok to apologise for gulags.
In the West it is the opposite.
Since RevLeft is a Western forum, I do not intend to impose Chinese cultural standards here. But if any of you ever happen to visit a mainland Chinese leftist forum, be aware - if you casually throw around explicit personal insults, you will be removed very quickly. But people won't even notice you for throwing around politically extremist language. It's acceptable to behave like a "little Stalin" on a Chinese socialist forum.
On Western forums it is normal to insult people a bit, people don't seem to take it so seriously it seems, two people can go and get a drink after an intense session of mutual personal attacks as if not much has happened.
Yet any mention of gulags or labour camps in a relatively positive sense, any hint of potentially violating the "sacred absolute human rights of Western culture", people immediately jump on you.
On Western leftist forums, it's ok to swear, but it's not ok to act like a "little Stalin" and seriously state that labour camps can play a positive role.
It's not like this on Chinese forums. On Chinese leftist forums it is the other way around, it is considered to be very distasteful to use any explicit personal insults, but it is completely ok to attack people in a more subtle or "passive-aggressive" manner, and it is also ok to use politically extremist language, like a leftist version of Stormfront kind of thing.
Once, there was a young Chinese Trotskyist on a Chinese forum who explicitly stated that we should dig up all the corpses of every reformist traitor in history (i.e. people like Bernstein) and whip their corpses very hard for their treason. (Note that his language here is not even directed against Nazis or even capitalists, but reformist socialists - makes one wonder what he would do to the Nazis, probably skin them alive) If someone said this plainly on RevLeft I don't think people will take it well. People will probably think that the guy is insane. Yet on the Chinese forum people don't see anything wrong with this kind of political extremism at all, in fact, this young Trotskyist is actually one of the more respected members there.
I just want to mention this significant cultural gap. It is important because there is a lot of room for misunderstanding here. In this particular thread I do not wish to be judgemental, I'm not explicitly saying which cultural style is better or more progressive, but in a nutshell, the difference between Chinese and Western socialist culture is this:
In China it is not ok to explicitly swear, but it is ok to use politically extremist language (even very extremist language). It is ok to call for the massacre of one's political enemies. It is ok to apologise for gulags.
In the West it is the opposite.
Since RevLeft is a Western forum, I do not intend to impose Chinese cultural standards here. But if any of you ever happen to visit a mainland Chinese leftist forum, be aware - if you casually throw around explicit personal insults, you will be removed very quickly. But people won't even notice you for throwing around politically extremist language. It's acceptable to behave like a "little Stalin" on a Chinese socialist forum.