Chapter 492: 479 Public Intellectuals: Impossible, America Cannot Be So Chaotic!

At this time, an editor raised a different view: "Our magazine cannot always report on foreign countries. At present, domestic society is at a critical period of transition, people's lives have changed greatly, and I think we can choose some articles focusing on ordinary people's persistence and growth in the tide of the times."

"Like in Shenzhen, countless people with dreams have invested in the stock market, some have become rich overnight, some have lost everything, behind which are the struggles and hopes of small people in economic reform..."

Once these words were spoken, several editors directly refuted.

"What's there to write about these domestic things? There are problems everywhere. Look at foreign countries, how good their social welfare is, and how comfortable people's lives are. For example, in some European countries, people work easily, have many holidays, and their quality of life is much higher than ours."

"We should show more advanced foreign lifestyle models, let readers know the gap, and also have a direction to work hard."

Opening eyes to see the world is beneficial, knowing the gap, to catch up, to learn from.

However, opening eyes to see the ass is not desirable.

An editor thought that always blowing up foreign countries was too one-sided and said: "International investigation teams have recently confirmed the existence of a nomadic Silk Road. We can take this opportunity to select some articles about cultural exchanges and the integration of different ethnic groups on the ancient Silk Road... to enhance our national pride."

But those few editors with a tendency to fawn over foreign countries said disdainfully: "No matter what, the ancient Silk Road is a thing of the past. Now we must look at the present. Modern foreign culture and technological development are the mainstream. We should pay more attention to these, introduce more related articles, and let readers feel the most cutting-edge culture in the world."

The editor-in-chief listened carefully to everyone's speech, nodding and recording from time to time.

After everyone finished expressing their views, he summarized:

"Everyone's ideas are great. We must continue to uphold the style of the magazine. Advanced foreign experience and beautiful things are indeed worth showing more, allowing readers to open their eyes."

"In terms of layout, put more of those wonderful foreign contents in prominent positions, introduce more foreign social systems and cultural life, let readers deeply recognize the advantages of foreign countries, and also inspire domestic continuous progress."

"Alright!"

The editor-in-chief finally made the decision,

"Next, everyone should screen and determine the articles according to this discussion direction as soon as possible, and strive to create a wonderful new issue. Strive to break our sales of 2.5 million copies!"

After speaking,

Everyone was solemn: "Yes!!"

No matter how the debate went, as long as the editor-in-chief set the framework, everyone would work together!

In a flash,

It was night.

The newspaper office continued to fight through the night, some people called friends who immigrated abroad to chat about the situation there, and some contacted those well-known authors...

At 20:05,

Ring ring ring~~~

A phone call was made to the editor-in-chief.

"Quickly watch CCTV's *Observation and Thinking*, it reported a special report on the United States..."

After the editor-in-chief hung up the phone, he hurriedly turned on the television in the office.

The *Observation and Thinking* program was being broadcast, and the sound came out:

"This Los Angeles riot caused a total loss of over 1 billion US dollars, with a large number of houses burned and destroyed..."

"This program will focus on in-depth excavation of complex issues such as racial conflict, social class conflict, and police law enforcement fairness behind the riots in Los Angeles and San Francisco..."

Los Angeles, riots... and other words,

Immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Although CCTV news reported on this Los Angeles riot, it was only a brief mention, because there was not much data, so the whole nation knew that Los Angeles had a riot, but to what extent, there was not much footage or photos, and no basic concept was formed...

And the newspaper office, it's not that they didn't call friends who immigrated abroad to ask,

But friends who immigrated abroad said lightly: "What riots, just a little bit, the country is much more chaotic..."

They just refused to admit it.

After all, they immigrated out, they want face, they must blow up the United States, only then can they prove that their choice was not wrong.

Even washing dishes is more noble than in the country!

Therefore, the many editors in the newspaper office were not that familiar with this Los Angeles riot.

"Everyone come over."

"This is an opportunity for us to understand the United States."

Soon,

Many editors gathered around the television screen, some sitting on chairs, some sitting on tables, some watching.

Watching the television screen intently.

"March 3, 1991, early morning, Los Angeles African American youth Rodney King was driving..."

"And this year, July 26, 1992, morning, the jury made a not-guilty verdict for four white police officers accused of beating African American youth Rodney King..."

"Once the news spread, Los Angeles African Americans directly rioted..."

"At first, the protesting crowd just shouted slogans and expressed dissatisfaction on the street; by night, violent acts of smashing, looting, and burning began to appear in some blocks of Los Angeles

At this moment,

The television screen was playing scene after scene of burning and looting: raging fires illuminated the night sky, buildings were being razed to the ground, and countless Black people were frantically grabbing things...

"According to statistics, there were over 500 fires on the first night alone."

The numerous editors at the newspaper office were stunned.

During the last news report, CCTV hadn't released this much material.

These images,

were shocking just to look at.

"Subsequently, Koreatown was attacked..."

"Los Angeles Tang Renjie was attacked..."

"And the police and fire departments didn't show up; instead, they went to the wealthy districts. Clearly, they couldn't care less about the crises in Koreatown and Tang Renjie..."

Hearing this,

several editors exclaimed:

"Impossible! How could their police not protect the citizens?"

"CCTV's reporting is too biased!"

"Right!"

This CCTV report severely violated their stereotype of the United States—that Americans are the most excellent and high-quality people.

Program host: "Subsequently, in areas like New York, San Francisco, and Washington, large numbers of African Americans and Latinos... rioted..."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"This news must be fake!"

"How could the US be this chaotic!"

"It must be selective editing!"

The editors who had "opened their eyes to see the world" found it hard to accept in their hearts.

By this point in the program, over 10 minutes had passed.

Next,

the host began to analyze:

"The root cause of this riot is the deep-seated racial conflict that has existed in American society for a long time."

"First, the beating during the arrest of Rodney King reflects the fact that because African Americans have long engaged in high rates of crime and drug use, white police officers have always been quite harsh in their enforcement methods against them..."

"And the media's unfair reporting, which cuts off the beginning and the end, omits the many provocations by African Americans against the police... This fully demonstrates that the American media is overly free and deliberately stirs up conflict for the sake of ratings..."

"Secondly, analyzing this unrest, African Americans and Latinos have always been poor and less educated, living in the poorest and most chaotic neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Schools are often underfunded with weak teaching staff, and children are influenced by gang culture from a young age; nearly 90% continue to join gangs, while women become sex workers..."

Photo of African American district·jpg

Photo of Latino district·jpg

Gang members shooting chaotically·jpg

Streetwalker·jpg

Several editors were shocked once again:

"Impossible! Impossible!"

"The US should be providing equal and perfect education to everyone!"

"And the women..."

"This isn't the America we know!"

"Fake, it must be fake!"

One by one, their minds were dealt a heavy blow!

The host continued to output:

"Therefore, the job opportunities they obtain are fewer than those of whites and Asians, so they are full of hatred toward whites and Asians..."

The streets were full of destroyed items, burnt cars and buildings, and there were even bloodstains on the ground...

It was practically like an apocalyptic scene.

"This Los Angeles riot lasted for many days and caused immense destruction to the local society."

"According to statistics, the total loss exceeded 1 billion USD, and a large number of houses were burnt and destroyed..."

"Besides Los Angeles, there were also San Francisco, New York, and other places..."

San Francisco chaos video... New York chaos video...

Mental blow +1+1+1+1...

"This is not just a violent incident, but a concentrated explosion of long-term racial conflicts and social class problems in American society."

"In the next episode, we will obtain more materials to conduct a more precise analysis of this Los Angeles riot, allowing everyone to understand foreign countries."

At this point,

the program "Los Angeles Chaos (Part 1)" ended!

In front of the TV, several editors who fawned over foreign countries felt as if they had been struck by lightning several times.

The beautiful descriptions they heard from immigrant friends formed a huge contrast with the cruel reality presented on the TV before them.

Unbelievable!

Hard to accept!

!

Their mental world had collapsed!

"How is this possible, ahhhhhh!"

When "Observation and Reflection" aired "Los Angeles Chaos (Part 1)", it stirred up huge waves nationwide.

In a courtyard house in Beijing, a certain director, Chen Zheng, was discussing new film plans with his crew.

Since "The Yellow" and "The Hegemon", he had become one of the most famous directors in the country.

During a break, everyone sat around the TV to watch the program.

Seeing the chaotic scenes on the streets of Los Angeles on the screen, the great Director Chen looked shocked, forgetting to smoke the cigarette in his hand.

The assistant director beside him looked equally shocked.

Other staff members were also incredibly shocked.

"My god, why is the US so chaotic? This is so different from the America we imagined before. I always thought it was paved with gold, orderly, where everyone was a good person, living and working in peace... Good heavens, it's actually more chaotic than us!"

"Damn, those newspapers, magazines, and news reports—none of them can be trusted."

"Simply outrageous~~~"

At the same time, on the other side, the future famous great director, Director Jia, was still working hard to prepare for the Beijing Film Academy entrance exams.

He had always held foreign countries in high regard and was full of dissatisfaction with the backwardness of his own country.

In the future, he would like to use his lens to film things that dug into domestic poverty and backwardness to please the West.

At this moment, he originally wanted to watch the news during a break, but accidentally tuned into the "Observation and Reflection" report on the Los Angeles chaos.

As the program deepened, Jia Zhangke's expression gradually turned to astonishment and shock.

When he saw those scenes of fire and chaos, and heard the host's analysis of the event.

He couldn't help but blurt out:

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"How could the US be like this?"

"This report must have problems!"

At the Writers Association office in Shanghai, a group of writers was also watching the program.

"Los Angeles Chaos (Part 1)" directly silenced these writers with advanced ideas.

"In the past, when we wrote things, influenced by Western literature, we always felt that life abroad was full of poetry. But this program lets us see that American society also has so many conflicts and problems."

In a garment factory in Guangzhou, workers finished dinner in the cafeteria and gathered in front of the TV to watch the program.

A young female worker widened her eyes and said:

"I always wanted to go to the US to work; I heard it's easy to make money there, but looking at the way it is on TV, it's messy everywhere, it looks too scary."

"Yeah, it's too chaotic, really frightening."

On university campuses,

the news kept spreading throughout the campus.

As universities at the forefront of knowledge in this era, many students yearned for foreign countries; studying abroad and immigrating abroad were the topics they discussed the most.

Many students who were about to graduate and prepare to study abroad were a bit incredulous.

What?

The US is also this chaotic?

No way, right?

The halo of charm dissipated directly.

The airing of "Los Angeles Chaos (Part 1)" shattered many people's beautiful fantasies about the United States.

The goddess,

actually poops, and it's such smelly poop!

Of course, there were also many people who felt:

The poop the goddess poops is also fragrant, and they want to eat it too!

The hutongs of Beijing were filled with the unique smoke and fire of old Beijing.

In one of the courtyard houses,

Li Jiaoshou's family sat around the dining table in the living room. Under the light, several home-cooked dishes were placed on the table: mustard greens, braised pork knuckle, stir-fried mixed vegetables, casserole white meat, and shredded pork in sweet bean sauce.

Li Jiaoshou was an economics professor at a well-known domestic university, usually focused on academics, and was quite famous in the circle.

"Come, eat more."

Li Jiaoshou's wife's face was filled with irrepressible joy.

"Thinking that we are about to go to the US, my heart is like it's blooming."

Li Jiaoshou's daughter, Shu Ping, who had just started university, excitedly put down her chopsticks and said: "I've long heard that American universities are very free, with super many course choices and various rich and colorful club activities. When I immigrate to the US, I can study with the most excellent people in the world."

Her eyes were full of longing for the future.

Li Jiaoshou pushed his glasses, picked up his teacup, took a light sip, and said with a smile: "In terms of academic research, the US has far more resources and opportunities than domestic ones, and we can live a good life in the future."

The family chatted while eating, talking enthusiastically.

They felt that a beautiful future was beckoning to them.

Now was the time for the domestic immigration craze, and many people with the conditions were going abroad through various channels.

And this family of theirs,

the father was an economics professor at Peking University, and the mother was a middle-level manager at a state-owned enterprise; they should be able to find a good job abroad.

As for money,

their family had been allocated a part of a courtyard house in Beijing due to work, and they were preparing to sell it now, take the money to the US, and never come back.

Shu Ping suddenly asked: "Dad, Mom, I heard that houses in the US all have big gardens; we'll be able to live in a house like that too, right?"

Li Jiaoshou nodded: "For sure, we'll sell the courtyard house, and the money on hand will allow us to live a very good life in the US."

Shu Ping: "That's good, I really don't want to live in this courtyard house anymore, a bunch of people living together, and there's a public toilet, it's so dirty... I want to live in a big house, with my own toilet..."

(End of chapter)