Tom’s post below reminded me of an article that got buried unread in my stack. China’s PEOPLE’S DAILY’s Washington correspondent interview Washington Post’s Managing Editor Philip Bennett. The following excerpts are from the interview that ran in China on 3/10.
Yong Tang: Do you think America should be the leader of the world?
Bennett: No, I don't think US should be the leader of the world. My job is helping my readers trying to understand what is happening now. What is happening now is very difficult to understand. The world is very complex. There are various complex forces occurring in it. I don't think you can imagine a world where one country or one group of people could lead everybody else. I can't imagine that could happen. I also think it is unhealthy to have one country as the leader of the world.
That is also a sort of colonial question. The world has gone through colonialism and imperialism. We have seen the danger and shortcomings of those systems. If we are heading into another period of imperialism where the US thinks itself as the leader of the area and its interest should prevail over all other interests of its neighbors and others, then I think the world will be in an unhappy period.
Yong Tang: So the world order should be democratic?
Bennett: Democracy means many things. How do you define democracy? As a Chinese journalist, you may have your own definition of democracy which corresponds to your history and your way of seeing the world. I may have another definition. Someone else may have their own definitions. Democracy means a lot of different things. As UK late Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, democracy is the least bad system that we have ever thought of. So democracy is never perfect. It always has problems. Our democracy here in the US has many contradictions, problems and challenges. So democracy is not a cure that could turn everything bad into good. It has its own advantages and its disadvantages.
Yong Tang: How do you think of the roles American mainstream media play in American foreign policy?
Bennett: We don't have any political point of view that we are trying to advance. We don't represent any political parties. We are not tied to any political movement. On the news side of the paper we try not to give opinions. So I think the role the Washington Post should play is to hold the government accountable for decisions made by it.
So you see it is all very complex, very complicated. It’s nuanced. And I am glad I have the Washington Post to sort it out for me in a straightforward, pro-America, unbiased manner.
2 comments:
I had forgotten about this too. I wonder if the "citizen of the world" nonsense didn't start when we allowed the rich kids of the world to be educated in the United States. Places like Harvard give one the feel that they're extra special and when you go to class with the future leaders of other countries I suppose it's natural to understand them better than your own fellow citizens. Just like in the Renoir classic, Grand Illusion, the warriors had trouble being at war with their fellow aristocrats.
The elite would no doubt eat us all for supper with their foriegn pals if it weren't for the fact that no one would be left to serve the supper.
I had forgotten about this too. I wonder if the "citizen of the world" nonsense didn't start when we allowed the rich kids of the world to be educated in the United States. Places like Harvard gives one the feel that they're extra special and when you go to class with the future leaders of other countries I suppose it's natural to understand them better than your own fellow citizens. Just like in the Renoir classic, Grand Illusion, the warriors had trouble being at war with their fellow aristocrats.
The elite would no doubt eat us all for supper with their foriegn pals if it weren't for the fact that no one would be left to serve the supper.
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