10 April 2020, NIICE Commentary 4019
Dr. Rachit Murarka
All of us are well aware of China and the much talked about Covid-19. Counterknowledge, though seems a common term, many of us are unaware of what the term exactly connotes. . Damian Thompson in his book Counterknowledge has defined the term as ‘misinformation packaged to look like fact’. In his book, Thompson explains how people are attracted to conspiracy theories. He mentions a documentary Loose Change in his book. The makers of the documentary believe that the US was behind the twin tower attack. The documentary was very popular among people and in May 2006 it reached number-one slot on Google Video. Similar to the documentary, many fake news and conspiracy theories about China and its alleged role in COVID-19 crisis is circulating on social media.
Facebook and WhatsApp nowadays are infested with memes on COVID-19 and its links to China. Memes in a veiled manner blame China for this global pandemic, but generally, memes are not taken seriously so people just laugh over it and scroll down. More dangerous are the mainstream media which put the entire blame for this fiasco on China. Consider this (https://bit.ly/39Z10ME) WhatsApp forward which is also corroborated by the mainstream media, AAJ TAK of India. The forward says that Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States which are thousands of miles away are affected by COVID-19 forcing these countries to lockdown, but how come Beijing and Shanghai are not at all affected. The message also pointed out that Russia is unaffected by the virus. But as a matter of fact, it was swift action and harsh measures that controlled the spread of virus outside Hubei. China has one of the harshest lockdowns in human history, effectively more than 57 million people were under full or partial lockdown. All routes in and out of Wuhan was closed or regulated. These swift actions from the government of China did help in controlling the spread of the virus in China. Initial actions were so harsh that Amnesty International categorized lockdown measures as a violation of Human Rights. Second propaganda was that China is buying controlling stakes in European companies, because of the bearish stock market globally due to the COVID-19. However, no conclusive proof of this claim is found anywhere, and no prominent leader in Europe raised the issue of China buying controlling stakes in European companies. Moreover, the most expected point without which the propaganda would not have a logical conclusion was that this virus was made in Chinese labs, and it was because of some fault the virus escaped from the lab and spread in Wuhan, there are even accusations on China that it has already made the vaccine and is rather waiting for the right time to unveil the vaccine to the world. However, facts are far from these concoctions. If China wants to gain from this crisis then the question arises as to “Why China shared the genetic sequence of the COVID-19 on 12 January? “ and it is because of this information, many other countries develop diagnostic kits. Further, people who believe that COVID-19 is synthesised in some lab in China to be used as a biological weapon against the US, there are studies which prove that the virus has in fact developed naturally. Researchers have concluded that the COVID-19 is not a human construct and is not engineered in any lab. This incident has some uncanny similarity with ‘Operation Infektion’ a disinformation campaign by the KGB in mid 1980s to plant the idea that AIDS was engineered in the US to be used as a biological weapon.
The point of this article is not to absolve China for its mismanagement and lapses. But, rather than painting everything as black and white, we need to investigate the area of grey. In the case of news related to China’s perception plays a great role, and this (mis)perception provides the fertile ground for the counterknowledge and conspiracy theories. China has acknowledged that the local authorities in Wuhan have suppressed the news initially, and prosecuted the whistleblower doctor who first raised the alarm regarding COVID-19. Chinese authorities have formally apologized to the family of the deceased doctor, but many perceive this as another cover-up by China. China on 31 December 2019 had alerted WHO about unusual pneumonia in Wuhan city. And on 11 January 2020 only China reported its first death, so logically there was no reason to consider this as an epidemic at that point of time. Retrospectively, it is easier for other countries to find fault in China and its handling of coronavirus, but at the same time, it is imperative to acknowledge the fact that China dealt with this crisis much efficiently compared to its European counterparts, though with much brute force.
Here the question arises, ‘Can Europe and the US deal the crisis with such force as China did?’. Up until a few days back, people in the US were acting all carefree going to beaches, students were celebrating Spring break disregarding all the directives by government. Blaming China for everything is the manifestation of their lack of preparedness. China not only controlled the spread, but it is helping other countries as well. When the EU did not help Italy, China came to its rescue, but, instead, what made headlines was China sold faulty testing kits to Spain. What was missed in the headline was that it was a Spanish company that procured kits from the unlicensed manufacturer from China. Similarly, China offered help to India, sent kits and protective gears to Nepal, and even to the US, but what made headlines is that Trump termed COVID-19 as Chinese virus.
Perception towards China plays a great role in the spread of conspiracy theories, and reinforcement of counterknowledege. However, if we counter conspiracy theories with facts and logical question, they will fall flat. We should investigate mishandling of the situation by China initially, but at the same time we should be ready to hear the narrative of another side as well, and last, but not the least, acknowledge Chinese effort in flattening the curve, and extending help to other countries in this time of distress.
