CCTV FOLLIES 5.2 Universities get the word
And the word is Xi -Ideological campaign force-fed to colleges -Beida & Tsinghua lead the way -There's oil in them thar' Xinjiang hills -May flowers -CCTV covers a demonstration!
CCTV’s coverage of the latest bout of enforced Xi-study jump-starts with Tsinghua, which is a reflection of their tendency to present things in what they take to be rank order, but of course it’s also a nod to Xi Jinping himself since he got some kind of degree at Tsinghua after emerging from his stint as a rusticated youth in the countryside. A deputy party secretary at Tsinghua stresses the importance of Xi’s New Era thought in educational matters, but his writing on diverse matters such as food security are also shown as part of the push. The virtual inculcation tour gets simultaneously kick-started at Beida, Beishida, Beihang, Shanghai Jiaotong, Zhongshan University and other “key” schools.
The captive audiences in the campus auditoriums look less star-struck than the faces you see at party meetings, which of late have had the look of fervent religious revivals, and the body language is less erect and disciplined than you see in similar military study meetings.
Is there some passive-aggressive resistance to this nonsense going on?
Freedom of thought is essential to academics. It is sad to see some of the best minds in the country have to subject themselves to such drivel-driven indoctrination sessions. Increasingly academics will fall under pressure to put real science and real liberal arts learning in the back seat and focus on Xi Jinping in driver’s seat up front.
Chinese academics are no strangers to the whiplash of political campaigns, and they can memorize what they have to and shrug off the rest, but if the Xi personality cult continues to metastasize out of control, it’s not just colleges, but the whole country that’s in trouble.