Media Commentary On Mass Incidents: Masses ‘Out Of Touch With The Facts’ Is Official Dereliction Of Duty

Reporter Huang Huo (黄豁) of Beijing based Observer (Liaowang) Magazine published the following article on recent “mass incidents.” Thanks to Dr. David Kelly for the translation:

“A small group of people with ulterior motives,” “masses out of touch with the facts” and “evil forces plotting behind the scenes,” ……in recent times, at the start of some quite large mass incidents, local government have been constantly rushing to make these sorts of statements. Such “self-fulfilling definitions” were in evidence at the beginning of the “Weng’an incident” in Guizhou, the “Menglian incident” in Yunnan and, more recently the “Longnan incident” in Gansu.

“Masses out of touch with the facts” seems to regard the masses as “idiots” lacking independent personality or freedom of thought, or as “obedient citizens” able just to grin and bear it; their discontents can only be due to their having been deceived, misled, and incitement. By contrast, government officials and policy makers understand the facts, grasp the truth, and never get things wrong.

http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/12/media-commentary-on-mass-incidents-masses-out-of-touch-with-the-facts-is-official-dereliction-of-duty/