Deconstructing “Little Pink” - The Shortest Joke On Earth
Published: 15th Oct 2019, 09:35pm The Stand News
During the five consecutive months of the Anti-extradition Bill movement, Hong Kong people abroad have rallied together and held protests in various countries to support the city. Wherever you are does not really matter. And, intimidation from (a group of “Little Pink”) is always present. Singing the song of "March of the Volunteers", views of "I Love China" are blatantly expressed while the complementary line "Hong Kong is Part of China Not One Less" is something we are familiar with as well. Being away from the "walls" in the lands of freedom, there are some who never failed to swear allegiance to their homeland. Here is why.
First, we have to revisit the Century of Humiliation. In order to restabilise the state and divert people's attention from a corrupted central government and brutal crackdown since 1989 democracy movement, Chinese Communist Party has wittedly employed a strategy which stresses on "The Century of Humiliation". How does it operate? Whenever the recent history of China is mentioned, the Opium War has already become an inevitable start of the entire conversation. The fact that Hong Kong was ceded to the British has started to lay down the seeds of humiliation and indelible scars to billions of readers in China. The overarching theme of "the Imperialists' everlasting will to destroy us" is of pivotal importance for the strategy. As a result, with the identity as a British colony, Hong Kong has long been bearing hostility from people in China. Since the Handover, hearts of people in Hong Kong have yet to return to the country and once again, it is seen as politically unacceptable.
The second reason is related to the self-contained comfort zone theory. As mentioned above, the ‘Little Pink’ are still plagued with nationalism and national sentiment even if they are living in foreign countries. Their reading platforms are mostly WeChat or a few regular forums, which means that sources of information received are inadequate. They also tend to be restricted to their echo chambers when they join a discussion group. As a result, it is hard for them to obtain and understand other information. I have once tried to persuade some students to read more Western publications and to appreciate different perspectives. However, this well-meaning suggestion was retorted with, “the Imperialists' will to destroy us is everlasting ” and “foreign powers are interfering in Hong Kong’s internal affairs”. The famous Chinese idiom, “A scholar is always wrong when he is in front of a gunman”, perfectly explains such situation. Instead, some students have even advised me not to read too much news as they claimed that I would be biased and brainwashed by other news. In fact, it is common that the media have diverse viewpoints and standpoints. Citizens are usually encouraged to read various news in order to judge the truth from the false, but not to solely trust one of them. Yet, what the ‘Little Pink’ suggest that the news are “poisonous” and need to be avoided are inconceivable.
Hence the street interview videos uploaded on YouTube by an Australian journalist, Avi Yemini, have gone viral on the internet. Several Chinese interviewees did speak English and seemed to have received local higher education. Nevertheless, they simply believe Hong Kongers are just fighting for independence. They are even unable to point out one of the catchy “Five Demands” that Hong Kongers are actually striving for.
These kinds of frivolous “patriotic” and nationalistic sentiments have always been tools employed by the state. The state tells you when to be patriotic, but when the state wants to call it off, even the boycott of NBA has to take an awkward U-turn.
No wonder my friend recently told me the shortest joke on earth:
“Patriotism ”.
Source: https://thestandnews.com/politics/解構小粉紅-最短的笑話/