Dealing With the Scourge of “Schadenfreude” in Foreign Reporting on China

对中国新闻的“幸灾乐祸”式报导

Stephen Harner, Former US State Department Official
October 3, 2014
Stephen Harner，
前美国国务院官员

Stephen-HarnerWhy are we so often disturbed by Western media reporting and analysis of China? Why does reading commentary of China’s economy, foreign relations, politics, and society leave us feeling emotionally abused, injured, or even angry and resentful?
Stephen Harner

为什么我们常常在西方媒体关于中国的报道和分析中感到困惑？为什么关于中国的经济、外交、政治和社会的评论总是让我们感到被欺负、伤害，甚至是愤怒与仇恨？

I believe our reactions are a response to the pervasive, ugly, and malevolent, but largely unnoticed element of schadenfreude in this commentary.  It is our natural revulsion to writing and thinking that is anti-humanistic, hostile, and harmful.

我认为我们的感觉是对文章中普遍存在的、泼脏水式和恶意的，但是却很大程度上被忽视的幸灾乐祸式的评论的一种自然而然的反应。这种我们写作上和思考上天然的反对立场，是反人类的、敌视的，而且是有害的。

Schadenfreude is a German-origin term defined by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as  “a feeling of pleasure at the bad things that happen to other people.”  Schadenfreude is rarely expressed plainly, or in relation to a specific event or situation.  Rather, it is an attitude and bias that disparages achievements, discredits sincerity, and hopes for failure.

“Schadenfreude”是一个源于德语的词汇，根据《牛津高阶英语词典》，它的意思是“对他人遇上坏事感到的一种愉悦”。“Schadenfreude”这个词很少被清楚地表达出来，或者联系到特定的事件或者场合上。相反，这是一种态度与偏见，它贬低对方成就、诋毁对方诚意，并且满心希望对方失败。

【***本文中“Schadenfreude”译为“幸灾乐祸”。】

We see this vile sentiment often in Western media coverage of news events, in reporting on Chinese business, and particularly in analysis and commentary on policies, plans, and initiatives of the government and the Communist Party.

我们经常在西方媒体关于中国事物的报道中见到这种卑鄙的情绪，尤其是在对中国政府和中共的政策、计划和举措的分析和评论上。

It is not just reporting mainly “bad news,” like tainted milk powder or cooking oil scandals, although this feature is common too, particularly in blogs and the popular press. Rather, it is reporting only of the facts that support a narrative of endemic amorality or immorality and government social irresponsibility, with a subliminal message that the Chinese people or system are immoral, corrupt, and will or should fail.

它不只是主要报告一下“坏新闻”，像是毒奶粉或者地沟油，尽管这种事情也的确常见，尤其是在博客和大众媒体上；相反的，它只报道那些地方性的不道德事件，或者关于政府不负责任的叙述，其潜台词就是中国人或者中国的体制就是不道德的、腐败的，是即将或者应该失败的。

The commentator most identified with schadenfreude in writing on China is Gordon G. Chang.  Chang, author of The Coming Collapse of China, released in 2001, has turned apocalyptic predictions and ill-wishing into a best-selling “brand.”

在报道中国事物方面，这种幸灾乐祸式评论的典型就是章家敦（Gordon G. Chang）。他是2001年出版的《中国即将崩溃》一书的作者；这本书已经变成世界末日式的预言，并有望成为畅销书的品牌。

On cue, writing on Forbes.com after Alibaba’s world-beating IPO in New York, Chang was quick to predict, and seemingly to hope, that the company’s ambition to surpass Walmart as the world’s largest retailer would be unrealized.

正巧，在阿里巴巴震惊世界的纽约IPO时间后，章家敦很快在福布斯网站上预测，貌似也是希望，该公司“超过沃尔玛，成为全球最大的零售商”的壮志将无法实现。

Indeed, at every major juncture on economic and social China’s development path, from WTO accession, to coping with the global financial crisis, to economic and financial system reform, to the current anti-corruption campaign, Chang has been predicting, and seemingly hoping for, massive failure and systematic collapse.

事实上，在中国发展道路上的每一个重大关头，比如加入世界贸易组织（WTO）、应对国际金融危机、对经济和金融系统的改革、当前的反腐运动等，章家敦每每预测，并且似乎希望（中国迎来）大规模的失败和系统性崩溃。

Chang has been consistently wrong on matters large and small.  Instead of failure and collapse China was achieved successes, advancing to a new, higher level of development and prosperity. Chang’s errors reflect a fundamental incapacity, and psychological unwillingness, to understand China and its people, their feelings, aspirations, and loyalties.

（但是）章家敦在大大小小的事务上一贯错误。中国并没有失败或者崩溃，相反的，它反而取得了成功，走向了一个新的、更高的、更繁荣的发展水平。在理解中国与中国人民，以及他们的感情、愿景与忠诚上，章家敦的错误反映了一种根本上的失能与心理上的不愿意。

Chang has been consistently wrong on matters large and small.  Instead of failure and collapse China was achieved successes, advancing to a new, higher level of development and prosperity. Chang’s errors reflect a fundamental incapacity, and psychological unwillingness, to understand China and its people, their feelings, aspirations, and loyalties.

（但是）章家敦在大大小小的事务上一贯错误。中国并没有失败或者崩溃，相反的，它反而取得了成功，走向了一个新的、更高的、更繁荣的发展水平。在理解中国与中国人民，以及他们的感情、愿景与忠诚上，章家敦的错误反映了一种根本上的失能与心理上的不愿意。

Chang’s brand is emblematic of the negative bias toward China, tinged with schadenfreude,that is more common than uncommon in the Western press.

章家敦就是带点幸灾乐祸地看衰中国的媒体形象代言人，而这种现象在西方媒体中是更为常见的。

Today this bias informs reporting and commentary on China’s top leadership’s two towering visions and initiatives: realizing a “China Dream” and rooting out endemic corruption. Both visions, and the actions being pursued toward their realization, typically receive cynical, unsympathetic, skeptical, or derisive treatment in the Western media.

如今这种偏见性的报道和评论集中在了中国最高领导人的两个宏伟目标和计划上：实现“中国梦”与铲除腐败。这两个愿景与他们根据认识所采取的行动，毫无例外地受到了西方媒体戏谑、无情、怀疑或者嘲讽的对待。

The success of the anti–corruption campaign is of existential importance to China’s future, which is to say to the safety, security, and prosperity of the Chinese people. So is the vision of the “China Dream.” Yet in publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal, the sincerity, or even the moral authority, of China’s leaders in pursuing these visions is regularly impugned or denied. Some reporting has seemingly aimed to undermine the authority of leaders, so as to complicate or derail related initiatives.

反腐败斗争的胜利对中国的未来具有现实的重要性，这对中国人的财产安全、生命安全和经济繁荣具有重要意义。“中国梦”也一样。但是在像是纽约时报、华盛顿邮报、彭博社与华尔街日报等出版物中，中国领导人追求这些愿景的诚意，甚至道德威信，总是被不时不时地责难或者否定。一些报道似乎旨在破坏领袖权威，从而搅浑水或者破坏相关举措。

The government of China has felt obliged to protect the people’s vital interests by blocking publications like The New York Times that had acted as though its purpose was to sabotage those interests. This point was made by former Shanghai mayor, and now deputy head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Xu Kuangdi, in answering a member of the America Chamber of Commerce after the speech by former president Jimmy Carter in Shanghai on September 9.

中国政府已经感到有必要屏蔽类似纽约时报这样的出版物来保护人民切身利益，但是这看起来又像是为了损害这些出版物的利益。这一观点在9月9日接待前美国总统吉米·卡特后对美国商会成员的演讲中，被前任上海市长、现任中国人民政治协商会议副主席徐匡迪提出。

That the government of China should take measures is understandable. That China has blocked such internet search portals as Google (while affording open internet access to its citizens through portals like Sohu.com) is also understandable and justifiable from the standpoint of the interests of the Chinese people.

因此中国政府采取的行动是可以理解的。中国屏蔽互联网搜索门户网站谷歌（同时开放门户网站比如搜狐等供公民接入互联网）同样是可以理解的，也是正当的——从中国人民的立场看来。

China’s citizens nevertheless enjoy essential access to a range of domestic and foreign media that has not adopted an anti-China bias.  Such unbalanced reporting is itself a expression of a biased, schadenfreude media mindset.

尽管如此（屏蔽了谷歌），中国公民依旧可以访问大量未采用反中偏见的国内外媒体。这种不平衡的报道本身就是一种戴有色眼镜的、幸灾乐祸式心态的体现。

A pervasively biased Western media unfortunately plays into the hands of persons seeking to characterize China as posing a security “threat” to its neighbors or to the United States. Possessing an attitude of schadenfreude, the media not only dismiss, but would seek to impugn and deny China’s leaders’ sincerity when they express the Chinese people’s vital need for and yearning for peace and harmony with their Asian neighbors and with the United States.

很不幸地，在西方媒体手中，一个普遍的偏见就是寻求将中国打扮成“威胁”邻国或者美国安全的坏蛋。持有这种幸灾乐祸的态度，媒体不仅会被驳回，而且会寻求抨击和否定中国领导人诚意——当他们表达中国人民对与亚洲邻国和美国的构建和平与和谐关系的迫切需要和向往的时候。

China’s actions, often in reaction to provocations of other countries (notably with Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, and with Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea) are described as “aggressive”–therefore requiring counterforce–when in fact they are defensive. The reality of China’s long-standing policy of patience, restraint, and dispute resolution through bi-lateral negotiations is never mentioned.

中国的行动，经常是对其他国家挑衅的一种反应（尤其是与日本关于尖阁/钓鱼岛及其附属岛屿、与越南和菲律宾关于南海诸岛的冲突），但是它们被描述为“侵略性的”——因此需要被平衡的——而事实上他们是被动防御性的。中国在长期采用的忍耐与克制政策，以及通过双边谈判解决争端的事实，却从未被提及。

What to do about foreign media schadenfreude toward China?  It is too serious, malevolent, and potentially harmful a problem to ignore.

对于外国媒体总是对中国采用幸灾乐祸式的态度该怎么处理？这是一个相当严肃的问题，因为当前的媒体环境充满恶意，故意忽视具有潜在危害的问题。

The most important counter-measure is to shine a light on this vile attitude, to sharpen readers’ and listeners’ perception of its presence. The second is to call out and condemn instances (and their authors) that are clearly malevolent in intent or effect.

最重要的应对措施就是曝光这些卑鄙的行为，提高在读者与听众中的存在感。第二就是调查并谴责在意图和效果上带有明显恶意的报道（以及他们的作者）。

The third is to join with and to support, through loyalty and goodwill, the efforts of persons in China and the United States, within and without government, working to further peace, harmony, mutual respect between our countries, and better lives for both our citizens.

第三就是通过忠诚和善意，加入与支持中美两国为致力于持久和平与和谐、互相尊重与奔向更好明天的政府与民间交流而努力。

Stephen M. Harner is a former Foreign Service Officer (U.S. Department of State), international banker, and consultant in Japan and China.  He is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Stephen M. Harner 是美国国务院前外交事务主任，国际银行家，中日问题顾问。他毕业于约翰·霍普金斯大学高级国际关系研究学院（SAIS）。

--------评论--------

Ray October 4th, 2014 at 12:02 | #1 Reply | Quote
Unfortunately, if article such as this is to appear in the mainstream western press mentioned, the comment section would be filled with how this author has been paid by the evil CCP. The self-righteous cultural revolution style attack again opponents are not uniquely Chinese at all, it is alive and well. Just go to the comment section of any western articles that include any semblance of neutrality when dealing with China.
A very refreshing read, a big thank to Zach and Allen again.

不幸的是，假如类似的文章如果出现在西方主流媒体上，下面的评论栏肯定会充满了“作者是如何如何被万恶的中国共（产）党收买”的言论。这些自以为义的文化革命式的攻击根本不是中国人特有的，随便你去任何西方发表的文章留言区看看，只要文章涉及与中国有关的类似中立的言论，你就能看出来在我们中就一直存在那种攻击。

很不错的文章，再次感谢Zack 和Allen tc

October 4th, 2014 at 13:18 | #2 Reply | Quote
I thought only ethnic Chinese who have been living in the western world for decades were able to see the “negative bias”, the “vile attitude” of the western media toward China. Apparently I have been wrong.
Mr. Harner is a very sharp, very fair American.

我以为只有长年生活在西方的华裔才能看到西方媒体对中国所持的偏见和龌龊心态，显然我错了。 Harner 确实是一个见解独到而又不失公平的美国人。

Mister Unknown
October 4th, 2014 at 16:55 | #3 Reply | Quote
Quite surprised that this article came out of someone who used to work for the State Dept. I interacted with a lot of those people over this summer, & I found them to be rigid, out of touch, insulated, arrogant, & (surprisingly) socially awkward.

让人吃惊的是作者居然在美国国务院任职过。这个夏天我与许多那儿的人打交道，我发现他们死板、与社会隔绝、封闭还很傲慢，更让人惊奇的是他们并不善于交际。

raffiaflower
October 7th, 2014 at 20:36 | #4 Reply | Quote
The rule of thumb for Western media in its foreign – especially China – coverage is simple: never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Fabricate, spin, omit, slant and always “quote” an anonymous party who refuses to be named from fear of persecution – which heightens the impression of omnipresent, ruthless Big Brother who control every aspect of life. Misrepresentation can be lucrative. The likes of Gordon Chang, with no discernible talent, become `experts’ about China and mint it from speaking engagements, talks, etc, no doubt.

西方媒体对于国外（尤其是中国）的报道总是遵循一个简单的经验法则：千万别把一个事实往好的方向带。编造、扭曲、选择性忽视、带偏见地进行报道，再“引用”某位因担心被迫害而匿名政党成员的一家之言，就给读者塑造了一个对社会生活方方面面管控、无处不在、惨无人道的独裁者形象。媒体的歪曲报道是因为这是有利可图的。诸如章家敦之流，没看出有什么本事还能成为中国问题砖家，靠演讲和参加讨论敛财，毫无疑问这么做是为了利益。

Zack
October 8th, 2014 at 05:56 | #5 Reply | Quote
@raffiaflower
and when these same western media are taken to task for failing to maintain journalistic integrity, they cite having to pander to ‘the market’ or some bullshit

当没验证信息完整性时，这些西方媒体就全盘接受，这只证明他们是为了迎合“市场需求“或某些狗屎。

raffiaflower
October 9th, 2014 at 09:46 | #6 Reply | Quote
Western corporate media has given a human `face’ to Hong Kong protests, to tell the story of their courageous fight for democracy.
Joshua Wong (described as a `jumped-up urchin with serious delusions’ by a non-fan on TE – or Guardian) is on the Time cover. NYT features a `handsome lifeguard’ and a tattoo’d hipster who hates Transformers 4 because it features “China rescuing Hong Kong’!
Could they also `humanize’ the children of Gaza soon? Or put a face to the victims of Ukrainian strife, dug up from mass graves?
It isn’t all bad, Zack.
One must be grateful for small mercies. Occasionally, little voices are allowed, that tell the other side of the story. Cnbc featured a piece by Dan Steinbock (10/6) which probes The Real Issues Behind the HK protests. (It ain’t all democracy!)
The National, a Dubai paper, has a piece bylined Sholto Brynes that tells London to shove off, over the HK issue. Even CNN – surprise! – has an op-ed by Robert Chow, the former producer of the long-running Enjoy Yourself Tonight, putting the case for 1.7million Hong Kongers against the protests.

西方社会媒体给香港抗议画了一张“面孔”，即他们为了民主在进行勇敢无畏的战斗。
Joshua Wong（被不是他粉丝的诸如《卫报》这样的媒体描绘为一个满脑子自大妄想的熊孩子式的家伙）登上了时代周刊封面。纽约时报描述为“一个英俊的救生员，一个有纹身的讨厌电影《变形金刚4》的时髦青年，因为其中描述了中国大陆拯救香港的情景。”
他们也能这么迅速“人性化”加沙袭击事件中的那个孩子吗？或者将乌克兰冲突中众多受害者从集体坟墓中发掘出来，赋予一张“脸孔”吗？
西方媒体并不全都是坏的，Zack。
应该庆幸，有时候允许那些小声音，就足以展示故事的另一面。美国全国广播公司财经频道（CNBC）的 Dan Steinbock向我们展现了“香港抗议背后真正的问题”的一个片段，那可不全是为了民主。
在一家迪拜的报纸《国民》上，Sholto Brynes发表文章说“让伦敦离开，结束香港问题”。甚至CNN，惊讶吧，也都发表由Robert Chow（前“享受今宵”的制片人）撰写的专栏“170万香港人反对占中的抗议。”

dcl7851
November 15th, 2014 at 11:44 | #7 Reply | Quote
The exact and real reason why the Western media are behaving in such manner; if you care to read the articles the links I provided below:

想知道西方媒体如此做派的确切原因，请看我下面的链接：
http://orientalreview.org/2014/1 ... ans-are-us-puppets/

It is not hard to conclude that every allies of USA have been imposed on to have all mainstream television, newspapers, magazines, and online essays to be crafted in favour US view – because Uncle Sam told them to.

显而易见，美国盟友们的媒体：主流电视媒体，报纸，杂志还有线上媒体——都被设计来为大美利坚背书——谨遵“汤姆大叔”的懿旨。http://www.counterpunch.org/2013 ... cist-fear-of-china/

There are people who work for Western media related organisation are more or less stupid about their perspectives on China, there are people who despise China just because based on what they’ve been told, or that people hate/dislike China due to their insecurity, inferiority, jealousy, racism, and the various lot. Sometimes, you’ll find people facing the reality of China is just too much for them to cope, to the extent they ludicrously instil their own perceived vision of China to automatically feel comfortable of themselves. At the same time they are not incapable of writing balanced, analytical and fair view point – the Western media have no intention in writing anything serious about China – the Western media’s job is, in most areas, to do what the US them to do: to write in favour of US and to write bad things on non-US allied countries most namely China, Russia, North Korea, and some South American States.

那些在美国媒体及其附属部门工作的人都或多或少对中国有着一种偏见，尽管这可能仅仅来自西方媒体单方面的抹黑宣传，或者出于疑心病，种族主义，羡慕嫉妒恨等等许多。许多时候，当外国人面对中国纷繁复杂的情况时他们只能将自己的偏见带入其中以免被弄得晕头转向。这种时候又要公正，又要全面、客观就成为一种奢侈。当然西方媒体不会为此做什么严肃的调查写作——西方媒体在大部分领域里坚持为美国说话：一边为美国唱赞歌，一边诋毁那些非“盟国”，譬如中国，俄罗斯，北韩还有那些南美小国。

原文链接 http://blog.hiddenharmonies.org/2014/10/04/western-medias-pervasive-bias-against-china-today/

翻译http://www.ltaaa.com