The Red Scare Never Really Ended

The transcript discusses the fear of communism in the United States and its impact on the Asian American community. It explores the origins of these fears, the discrimination faced by Chinese immigrants, and the current fear of China as a global power. It also examines how the media perpetuates anti-communist ideals and encourages racism and xenophobia towards Chinese and East Asian people. The transcript highlights examples of misinformation spread by politicians and popular news media outlets, such as Fox News. Overall, it raises questions about the consequences of these beliefs and the need for critical thinking and accurate information. I would like to provide a trigger warning for talk of discrimination and racism. If this is upsetting to you, please skip the section where I talk about how this affects the Asian American community. Hello everyone and welcome. My name is Marissa and I will be your host today. In case you haven't read the title, today we will be discussing a topic that I don't think is talked about enough. The United States' extreme fear of communism. More specifically, where did those fears originate, how were they perpetuated, and what are the after effects? So, this is going to be a nice long discussion. It's cold out, so get comfy, get something to drink, get a snack, and let's get right into it. The thing that really got me to start thinking about this was one time in a government class I'm in, we were doing a group project about political parties. And I asked someone in my group who identified as a Republican, I'm genuinely wondering what's so bad about communism? And he responded laughing, what do you mean? It's communism. I found it particularly interesting that no further explanation seemed necessary. So, let me say something here. What is the first thing you think of when you imagine communism? Take a second and think. Now, let me guess what came to your mind. China? Russia? Maybe you went a little deeper and you were thinking famine, war, or oppression. What I'm trying to figure out is why we immediately associate China with communism and communism with suffering and corruption. And what the consequences are to spreading these beliefs. So, why is Chinese communism considered a threat to the United States? Let's go back in time a little bit, to the Red Scare. When the Bolshevik revolution in Russia led Americans to believe that communist Russians and other Eastern European immigrants were coming to our country to overthrow it due to a perceived threat in the wake of World War I. These fears were enormously overblown and resulted in the unlawful detainment of Chinese immigrants on Angel Island, the separation of families, and rampant racism facing Chinese immigrants who simply immigrated to the United States in search of a better life in the midst of a dangerous conflict with Japan. This is clearly depicted in Shanghai Girls, a novel by Lisa See, in which the main characters Pearl and May and their family struggle to even make it out of Angel Island, and once they do, are faced with discrimination and poverty. Later, as a response to the growing communist movement in China, the U.S. grows suspicious of all Chinese people living in the U.S., leading to the family being evicted from their home. This was a very real situation that thousands of Chinese people living in the United States faced in the mid-20th century, especially during World War II. More recently, Trump started a trade war with China as a result of the American exceptionalist mindset, after witnessing the success of China as a, quote, leader in certain technology. Basically, this means that our government believes that our nation is the best, rivaled by none, and views any other powerful nation as a threat to our superiority. Today, there is a widespread fear that China is going to surpass the United States in power, economics, and military strength, and that it threatens the world's stability. It is clear that world power is shifting to Asia, something that the U.S. views as a major personal threat. Another fear that the Americans, especially the U.S. government, have of China is their ability to exert soft power over people, to spread their ideals and become more powerful than the United States. According to the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka, hard power is a means and ability to force people or groups to do things they would otherwise not do, and soft power is a means and ability to coerce people or groups to do something. A great example of the fear of China's soft power is the United States government's extreme fear of TikTok. Ever since the explosion of popularity of TikTok in the U.S., Democrats and Republicans alike have questioned the intentions of the Chinese-owned company. In an NPR article by Dara Kerr, quote, To the American people watching today, hear this. TikTok is a weapon by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on you and manipulate what you see and exploit for future generations, said committee chair Kathy McMorris-Rogers, end quote. This is a blatant form of fear-mongering intended to plant the seeds of anti-communism into young American minds. What is never mentioned is the fact that every social media site and Internet platform collects data from users in order to improve app performance and to advertise certain products to certain people. This fear of TikTok has sparked the proposal of a nationwide ban of the app altogether. This is not to say that ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is a good company, but it is interesting and necessary to ask why we are taking action against a Chinese platform and not the American websites that are also collecting and using users' information. And we will get more into this later. It's more than clear that the United States government is afraid of China, and they have been for a while. But let's look at the fear the general public has of China and communism and how these fears are presented in the media. So, how does the popular news media fear-monger and use anti-communist ideals to encourage racism and xenophobia against Chinese and East Asian people? It is very important to note here that the views and actions of the Chinese Communist Party, a corrupt party, are not representative of the views of the Chinese population as a whole. So recently, conservative Americans have been throwing around the word indoctrination, left and right, saying that teachers are indoctrinating students into being transgender, and that the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP for short, is infiltrating our society to indoctrinate Americans and convert them to communism. So I did a little research, and according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to indoctrinate is to, quote, In my hours of searching online articles, tweets, TikToks, and YouTube videos to see what Americans were saying about China and communism, I saw two things. One, China is never mentioned without the word communist. They go hand in hand. And two, that China is sending members of the CCP to America to indoctrinate our youth and get rid of our rightfully earned American freedom. Let's take a little trip together, shall we? We're going to look through a series of examples, ranging from Fox News articles to Reddit posts to the U.S. Senator for Idaho, Jim Risch. The reason I am using such varying media sources is to show how misinformation spreads and the real grave effects it has, especially on a community that is already disadvantaged. Let's start off strong with the man himself, Jim Risch, Republican Senator from Idaho. One would think that our senators, the people who represent us, would be reliable, informed, and giving a voice to the communities they represent. In an article posted to his official website, titled, TikTok, China's influence is right at our fingertips. Risch makes a lot of bold claims about China, saying that the Chinese government has all of TikTok users' personal information on hand and ready to be used against the U.S. What is never mentioned, however, is, as I mentioned previously, the fact that almost every website on the Internet collects user data and uses it. According to an article by GCF Global, websites will use cookies to track what users click on or what products they spend a lot of time looking at online. In the same way Amazon collects user data to personalize the shopping experience, TikTok collects user data to improve their algorithm. This article also states that, notably, quote, generally speaking, cookies don't pose a serious risk to your online security. You're unlikely to acquire malware or expose sensitive financial information by using cookies. All of these websites and apps openly admit that user data is collected and used to improve the experience of using their service, and TikTok does, too. What's ironic is that Senator Risch writes, quote, Unfortunately, given Chinese management and manipulation of the algorithm, this app has created an echo chamber of misinformation that goes unchallenged, end quote. So, if we know that the U.S. is afraid of Chinese influence, and we have already gone as far as to falsely imprison, interrogate, and discriminate against people who are Chinese, is it really a surprise that it didn't just magically end after the Cold War? That sort of thing doesn't go away overnight. With our own senators perpetuating these anti-Chinese beliefs, it really is no surprise to me. Moving on to some popular news media, Fox News is a well-known popular news source for American conservatives and makes no effort to hide this. Fox News is also, notably, the most watched cable television network as of October 2023, as reported by the network themselves, receiving more views in a single day than CNN and MSNBC combined. Fox News takes what government officials say and other news reports to spread a message that caters to their viewers, becoming a source of muddy details and misinformation that have proved dangerous. For example, according to a Fox News article written by Brian Flood, titled, quote, Alarming Evidence Links China's Communist Party to American K-12 Schools, Anti-Indoctrination Group Claims, end quote. An organization called Parents Defending Education says that Confucius classrooms are being used in schools to spread Chinese Communist influence. With one simple Google search, I was able to find, in less than a minute might I add, that Confucius classrooms are, according to Pacific Lutheran University, quote, local institutions which simulate and support innovative teaching and learning of Chinese language and culture, end quote. This article and many others, however, are saying that this is the Chinese government's way of infiltrating American classrooms to instill Communist ideals into young minds. The Fox News article states that, quote, the fact that the Chinese government had so much access to American classrooms, students, and curriculums should worry families, end quote. This quote, and honestly the entire article, is intended to incite fear in Americans of China and the people of China. Now, going down the chain of misinformation one last time, let's look at a Reddit post from two years ago on the China subreddit, asking, quote, do Chinese citizens realize how poorly their country is viewed by the world, end quote? Here are a few of the responses. Quote, self-reflection isn't Chinese people's strong point, end quote. Quote, they think they are the best nation in the world, end quote. And most notably, quote, I hate when China as a whole is labeled as a bad place. It's really the government and the propaganda that makes its citizens believe the way they do, end quote, which is a great point. With such an oppressive government, Chinese citizens are manipulated into believing certain things. By no means am I saying that China is an amazing country and that their Communist Party is flawless, but it speaks volumes that people from all over the world associate the Chinese government with its citizens. It is also kind of hypocritical to criticize China for enforcing patriotism and nationalism. Meanwhile, American children are required to stand, face the American flag, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school. My point is, the way that China has been portrayed by government officials, news media, and on social media, opens the floodgates for discrimination and racism against Chinese people. Most importantly, though, how is this affecting the Chinese population living in the United States? Ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Asian Americans, especially those who are Chinese, have been facing a new wave of racism and discrimination. Upon looking into a study published in April 2021 by Pew Research Center, I saw that a whopping 81% of Asian American adults say that violence against them has increased recently with the pandemic. Further, 45% of Asian American adults have reported having faced an offensive incident since the start of the pandemic. Unfortunately, this has resulted in many assaults, including the fatal shooting of six Asian women in Atlanta in March of 2021. What starts as a perceived threat of a dominant nation can quickly become a nationwide movement against an entire community, leaving millions feeling unsafe in their own homes in the country that is supposed to protect them. It is absolutely essential that we do our part and protect the Asian American community from violence and hate. In the Pew Research Center study, only 32% of Asian American adults reported that someone expressed support to them. In no way is it fair to villainize and hate a group of people because our country doesn't like theirs. While the Chinese Exclusion Act is in the past, the nationwide fear and hatred of Chinese Americans is far from over, and it should never be tolerated. Thank you all so much for tuning in. I hope that you enjoyed our discussion, and I especially hope that it sparks some deeper thought about China. Stay safe, and happy holidays to you all.