China Syndrome

Was that Axl Rose Story for Real?
Chinese state media report leaves some readers bewildered
By Matthew Little

A news report in China says Axl Rose, who named his latest album Chinese Democracy, is part of a global conspiracy aimed at attacking China and securing global control.

Some readers have been a bit puzzled about a front page story we ran last week, wondering if it was for real.

“Axl Rose Leads Plot for Global Domination” by Michael Mahonen was a satirical take on a report in the Chinese state-controlled newspaper Global Times. The report alleged Rose was part of a global conspiracy aimed at attacking China and securing global control.

While Mahonen’s take on it was humourous, the report itself was all too real and not at all funny. Chinese state media are in fact alleging Axl Rose is a pawn of Western governments intent on destroying China.

Axl Rose Leads Plot for Global Domination

Readers unfamiliar with the nature of the China communist regime’s media and Internet control may find it hard to believe anyone would take such a charge seriously. Sadly, the regime’s zealous efforts to control all media within their borders have left many Chinese people vulnerable to such outlandish suggestions.

It has also left them with revisionist histories that make it difficult to accurately evaluate the regime that controls their country, or understand the difference between patriotism and misplaced nationalism.

Among the worst victims of this sorry state of affairs are China’s young people.

Growing up in the recent boom times, they’ve come to believe the government wholeheartedly, to the extent that many believe the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 is nothing more than a Western myth cooked up to defame the regime, another so called attack on China.

Kevin Yang hosts a weekly news dissection program on New Tang Dynasty Television. His show, China News Detox, evaluates stories from China’s state media and breaks down the various propaganda elements deployed within them.

Yang dissected the Global Times news article on his show last week.

“That newspaper did a very normal thing for the CCP [Chinese Communist Party],” said Yang. “It attacked all those people that care about democracy and human rights in China.”

Besides alleging Rose was a pawn of Western governments aimed at forcing democracy on China, the article also claimed celebrities like Mia Farrow and Sharon Stone were part of the same plot.

“If anyone cares about the Chinese people, human rights, or freedom, [China’s media] always say they attack China,” said Yang.

The essential tactic the regime uses is to conflate the Chinese nation and people with the Chinese communist regime, Yang explained. The effect, he added, is that if anyone criticizes the regime, Chinese people have been effectively brainwashed to believe such people are against China and the Chinese people.

“At the end of the article it’s very funny,” said Yang, referring to an interview in the article with a Chinese scholar. That scholar said people outside of China have a biased view of the country and the regime needs to strengthen its propaganda work so the whole world sees the Chinese regime “the way it is.”

“For Chinese people, they don't realize how ridiculous that statement is, but for us, it is absurd…They control all the media in China, so this statement is saying they don't just want to brainwash Chinese people, but the whole world as well.”

Epoch Times