When I got a call from the local radio station (AM1300-KAZN)
for hosting a talk-show program in 2012, I said yes, not realizing that I was going
to get an education. Now, almost four years later, when I was fired by the
station, it is the time to recollect and reflect. So, this is my memoir.
First, the purpose for me to work for the station is to
spread certain words to the Chinese immigrants. Most of the Chinese immigrants
are from China ,
Taiwan , Hong
Kong , or some other area in Asia , where the
political systems were much more authoritarian, if not dictatorship, comparing
to the U.S. In authoritarian
systems, the people are not supposed to stand up and ask questions, let alone
their rights. They are supposed to first get on to the good sides of everyone
else, especially the politicians, and then somehow work out their issues in a
coherent manner. That philosophy produces the opaque decision-making system as
we are seeing, from under-the-table deals to outright bribery. The best could
be seen in places like Japan
and Taiwan , and
the worst, China .
On the contrary, in an open system, such as the United
States , with the protection of free speech
and free assembly, and ultimately the right to bear arms, it is the masses that
make the final decisions. In addition, the majority opinions are limited by the
fundamental beliefs codified in the constitution. After spending 30 years in
the U.S. , I
understood that the Chinese people’s shortcomings, brought about by the lack of
the tradition of openness, e.g., free speech and assembly, resulting in the
default mentality that people want to work out with the government by first
submitting to their superiority, which might have been the reason that 80% of
the Chinese people, whose medium earning is higher than the white, voted for
Obama and his big government policies, because they don’t have the concept of
weak government and a population empowered by freedom and rule of law.
Second, somehow, it is still the main stream thoughts among
many Chinese people that, since they are one of the minorities, they should vote
with the minority block for big government (less freedom), heavy regulations
(less economic vitality), and large welfare expenses (broken families), etc., not
realizing that these typical minority positions do not necessarily agree with
their best interests. The core of the problem, of course, is still that the
Chinese, throughout their history, have no experience with the free people
under limited government, living under the ruled of law. The default position
is always big government. The only issue is how to make an authoritarian
government benevolent. They never studied the nature of a monopolistic power
under either political science or economics.
Of course, a lack of the understanding of the most basic
economics principles also contribute to the lopsided voting record. People are
too busy making money for themselves to be bothered by figuring out and
understanding the best policies to the society as a whole. In fact, when I
discussed this with some professors of economics, they appeared to be so
specialized that they cannot discuss these most fundamental issues
intelligently.
The result of such lack of understanding of the American
system is that the Chinese people think that, once they voted for the big
government, the big government will do what they promised, i.e., do the best
for their interests, rather than that of the government and government
employees. They do not know that in an adversarial system like the one we have
in the U.S. ,
giving up means giving up. When the California
legislature tried to change the California
constitution to allow discrimination against the Chinese at the college
entrance (the so-called SCA5, or Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 5), the
change was proposed by no other than Ed Hernandez, who represented part of the largest
Chinese population in the country. After passage, the Chinese community
demonstrated against the constitutional change. Mr. Hernandez came out and said
that he was surprised. I take that he had thought that the Chinese people will warmly
welcome the discrimination against their children.
Whatever the problems with the Chinese people. The solution
appears to be in the effort to spread the words. It is certain problematic that
the radio station does not pay for me to do the program, which supports the
more than 20 minutes of commercials, inserted into my programs. But in any case,
I take the invitation of the radio station as an opportunity. All time spent was treated as my pro bono outlay.
As I start working on the radio. I quickly come to the
realization that the minds of the Chinese population, probably just like for
any population, change slowly. For instance, last summer (as I have told the
story in my last posting), I explained Hamlet to my children, because I could
not find any material that would do the trick. In every program throughout the
summer, I asked the local Chinese to join in, so I can answer their questions and
interact with them. In the end, not one K-12 from the radio station’s coverage
area joined. When I asked some parents about their opinions, they gave me the
widely believed myth that their children have no problems with their English,
because they speak fluently without accent. In addition, they told me that K-12
math is so simple that they don’t need to be bothered with that either.
If it is hard to convince people that English and math are
the two most important subject to the success of our children tête-à-têtes, doing
so through radio is probably hopeless. My experience proved that point. Despite
that, I had the belief that, in a non-linear system, small perturbations, over
time, could cause significant changes. That may still be true. However, my four
years of effort does not appear to create any discernible result.
My other confidence in a positive result is that each one of
these Chinese immigrant, at some point of time and for some reason, decided to
abandon his or her known world voluntarily and chose to come to a totally
strange country voluntarily. I thought that such a crowd must be open-minded
people, always ready to know more about America .
In the end, I don’t have anything to show for my confidence. I have fans, loyal
fans, but they hold similar ideas before my program. Certainly, my program has
made changes to some, but too few to make a difference.
Of course, according to the non-linear functions, a butterfly’s
disturbance could cause a tornado. According to reasons, people who voluntarily
chose to come to America
should want to know something about this country. But the work is the hard, or
not impossible. One of the reasons is that, in the Chinese community, any voice
could be easily drowned out by noises. For instance, the number of various organizations
in the Chinese community is insane, but the goal for those organizations is almost
always to help someone making money, i.e., a form of marketing, not for common
good. In fact, most of the preschools in the Chinese communities are set up as
nonprofit, but traded between “owners” just like for-profit companies. Among
this mess, many people form organizations just so they could be paid by the Chinese
consulate, since it is the policy of the Chinese government to buy out the NGOs
in the U.S.
After being paid by the Chinese government, these organizations are put under
the control of the consulate’s agent, otherwise known as the Chinese American
United General Association.
In China ,
people are brainwashed since preschool, till high school. Besides math
questions, they must be able to answer correctly questions in other field. For
instance, their opinion must be that the Chinese Communist Party is the only
solution for China ;
that the democracy must be implemented in China
gradually (i.e., not in my life time); the sole purpose of the U.S. foreign
policy toward China is to destroy China, especially its economy; Japan must be
pacified by the Chinese military; etc., etc. After giving the correct answers
for so many years, many Chinese people actually believe the communist
indoctrination. Once, the political indoctrination ends at college, but
recently, political education is strengthened in colleges where snitches on
government payroll would report those professors or students spreading “incorrect”
ideas.
An interesting thing is that many Americans, after living in
China for many
years, have no clue about the Chinese way of thinking, because they are not in
the brainwashing system. Or to put it in another way, the Chinese government
has another way to brainwash them, just like all the Confucius schools, and the
effort to control Chinese language media all over the world.
First things first, although I live in the Chinese community
for years, my employers have been the so-called main-stream companies. When I was
interviewed by the station manager, she told me that she could not pay me much.
I said that it is okay. I am willing to take the program without pay, as long
as she allows me to say my piece.
After settling in, I found that I was not at all the only one making $10 an hour. Other than the $10 per hour standard rate, there are many people in the station not paid at all. I have heard that the Chinese employers exploit the Chinese employees in the Chinese community, but seeing is believing. I never thought that the situation could be this bad. When I questioned this matter, the employees just told me that people working in the station could not find jobs outside the Chinese community so they have to accept the reality. Where is Mr. Obama's union machine at the place it is needed?
But, at least for me, I was settling down. From 9 - 10 p.m. every Wednesday, I made $10 for the
hour that I was in front of the microphone. For the time that I prepared for
the program, I got nothing.
(... to be continued)
First published on June
8, 2016
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