The old miserabilist has used the excuse of an animal cruelty scandal in China to brand the entire Chinese race as a "sub-species". What, even Buddhists who don't eat meat? Even the Chinese environmentalists and animal rights activists who work hard to protect pandas and tigers in their natural habitats? Even the Chinese people who are shocked and furious to find private zoos mistreating the animals they've been trusted to look after? Even the Chinese investigative team at Xinhua News Agency who uncovered the scandal of the deaths of tigers in Harbin zoo?
While he understandably described the latest scandal as "absolutely horrific", which it is, he neglected to extend his empathy to fellow human beings when he said, "You can't help but feel that the Chinese are a subspecies."
There's been a wave of anti-Chinese Yellow Peril fever whipped up coinciding with the rise of China as a superpower, surfacing in sensationalist scapegoating every time there's a disaster. They've attempted to stick us with the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in rural England, the Gulf Of Mexico BP oil leak, even climate change when the West has been belching out carbon emissions for 160 years since the industrial revolution and look set to continue doing so at four times per capita that of the Chinese.
Loved One (Jewish) just chimed in to say it's like being Jewish between the wars. "No wonder Jews are so fond of Chinese food. In New York it's practically the staple diet. Red star, yellow star, what's the difference?"
Turn to any nation and you will find a callous money-grubbing section of society which views animals and humans as objects to be stripped down and used. These are the enemy and the ignorant who need to be educated (possibly, if all else fails, with steel-toed boots). We could count the ways that this particular barbarism manifests in the West, but I respect my readers sufficiently to assume that they know what those issues are.
It was Spaniards themselves who halted bull fighting in Barcelona, but it took a long time and a hard fight. The same is happening in China. At least they don't bomb people from 30,000 ft as some civilised nations do.
I know animal rights activists who care about humans as well. Pity Morrissey isn't one of them. Fading old rock stars will do just about anything to grab a headline — and the best thing about The Smiths was always Johnny Marr's guitar-playing.
Sherlock and wily orientals. Review of "The Blind Banker", Episode 2.
BBC jumps racist shark with "Fu Manchu In Edinburgh"
Racism for fun. Fu Manchu producer pleads irony on BBC.
The Independent publishes article by Sonny Leong, Chair of Chinese For Labour, 6th October 2010, asking if the Chinese have lost face by their lack of response.
