Chang Ping: Freedom of Slander

( The following is translated from an article by Wen Feng.

Note:

This is an article published by Beijing Evening News (北京晚报), which is a response to Chang Ping's "Tibet: The Truth and Nationalism". The fact that it has got translated here does not in any way imply my endorsement for its opinion. In fact, I found it disgusting. I only keep it here for the sake of balance. )

Lambasted in the Cyberspace, Mr. Chang Ping might have to, once again, defend his freedom of speech. Obviously he was scared by the bogey of gag order. I am not big on BBS, but the barrage of words has somehow caught my attention. A close look into his article put his version of free speech far beyond the realm of shocking. Probably the word 'ghastly' describes it better. The point he is trying to make is that "Freedom of speech naturally grants the right to misspeak, and the right to question the authority. What could be worse than rumor is the suppression of free speech. ". And he even labeled it as a universal value. What follows is that "Freedom of Speech" gives the go-ahead on distortion and fabrication of evidence, the chance to misrepresent the history and wag the tongue as well as the green light to "free" slander, "free" smear , "free" libel and "free" name-calling. Is this really the much vaunted "freedom of speech", as best exemplified by western media's recent hysteria on Tibet? This kind of freedom of speech is on a par with verbal violence. I've never seen any single western media be able to enjoy such freedom in its own country since this type of freedom violates others' personal right, depreciate our social values, and encroaches upon the moral bottom line. The universal values that Chang Ping is seeking would only serve to debase our society.

I don't know Mr. Chang Ping personally. So I did a little digging myself. It turns out he is the star pitcher of Nanfang News Group, and this explains everything. Nang Fang Group's flagship newspaper " ??? Weekend" has been boasting itself for being the most westernized, the most audacious, the most insightful and the most incisive newspaper in China. It spares no effort to peddle the western version of "Universal Value" and "Freedom of Speech". Chang Ping's article fits that profile. But this time it backfired due to western media's slander, libel and distortion on Tibet riot. It also makes people to start questioning his real agenda other than free speech under this circumstance.

For the likes of Chang Ping, anything coming from the western world contains universal value, which should be uphold , including the right for rumor. It begs the question: In the modern history, all the colonization and wars are started by westerners, in which is there any universal value that can be found? The likes of Chang Ping and their sentiment aptly illustrates that the calling for "universal value" and "freedom" is just a way to conceal their secret agenda. But lies can not hold forever. In the face of facts and truth, they only serve to unmask hypocrisy and enable people to distance themselves from Chang Ping's universal value propaganda.
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Photocopy of the original text: