Chinese Scholar in New York Warns U.S. Left That Their Political Correctness Smacks of the Cultural Revolution

June 19, 2020 (EIRNS)—Rong Xiaoqing, a Chinese citizen living in New York on an Alicia Patterson Foundation scholarship for journalists, addressed the incredible extent of “political correctness” that has swept the U.S. in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. Writing in Global Times, she notes that many events,

“including a series of firings and forced apologies in the news media and academia—have startled many Chinese in the U.S. who thought that freedom of speech is being infringed upon. Some articles and comments circulating on WeChat even suggested that the Cultural Revolution, a socio-political movement between 1966 and 1976 in China, has been reincarnated in the U.S. For many older Chinese, that period was a nightmare.”

She doesn’t think it is as bad as the Cultural Revolution, since “when the left are smashing the statues, the right are not being locked in reeducation camps.” But, she warns,

“there should be some concern among liberals that the tactics the left are adopting are too zealous,” and that “the ramped-up culture wars may be pushing a legitimate cause to dangerous extremes. The left are overstretching by attacking an increasingly large number of historical and more modern elements of culture. They are also too ready to shoot the ‘racism’ bullet at anyone who dares to say anything they don’t like, or dares to reveal their doubts, hesitations, or confusions about the movement.”

She concludes that their tactics may well drive more moderates into Trump’s camp.