Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist, just published a piece titled, “How Elon Musk and Taylor Swift Can Resolve U.S.-China Relations.” The piece was full of contradictions, capitalist zeal, and showcased an obvious lack of understanding about China.
The clickbait title had little to do with the actual piece, where Friedman simultaneously criticized China’s nonconsumption, while declaring they want more imports from the US to make up for what they lack, like art and entertainment. Clearly, Friedman knows nothing about China if he thinks they’re lacking art and entertainment.
At the same time, Friedman refers to nonconsumption as a societal malady rather than a sign of good health. In fact, those that consume less have other more nourishing and sustainable ways to fill their souls rather than overspending that contributes to the destruction of the planet.
It’s clear that Thomas Friedman needs to learn more about China before he starts telling people what to think.
👉 Tell Thomas Friedman to Get Smarter on China and Join Our Community Calls!
Friedman has been widely criticized for his staunch support of the Iraq War, and his self-declared intellectual inefficiencies that don’t seem to stop him from sounding his opinion on topics he doesn’t know enough about. He even once said that he doesn’t bother understanding international trade agreements, which is particularly evident in his article.
Though Friedman acknowledged the importance of China providing better lives for its 1.4 billion people, he is clearly tormented by the concept of zero-sum competition, where every gain for China is a loss for everyone else — which simply isn’t true. According to him, if we don’t engage in trade war, we will be “toast.”
Meanwhile, the US government continues to layer increased tariffs on goods coming from China, including green energy tech that’s necessary for planetary survival. If we continue at the rate we’re going, we will never reach carbon neutrality by 2060, and environmental disasters will keep destroying homes and lives.
Articles like Friedman’s contribute to our country’s lack of understanding about China, and the continued manufacturing of consent for war. It’s time he joins one of our community calls to learn more about China so that he can share a more informed view with his readers.
We need peace and cooperation for the sake of the planet and all people — not combative trade policies and increased militarization of the Asia Pacific. China is not our enemy and conflict escalation needs to be avoided at all costs.
👉 Tell Thomas Friedman to Join the China Is Not Our Enemy Community Calls!
Peace and solidarity,
Megan, Jodie, and the CODEPINK Team
Read I Can’t Believe It’s the New York Times and Not Daily Mail to learn more.
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** How Elon Musk and Taylor Swift Can Resolve US-China Relations
