<iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-K3L4M3" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden">

Flat White

It’s acceptable to protest Covid measures – but only in China

2 December 2022

6:00 AM

2 December 2022

6:00 AM

And just like that, in case you missed the headlines, protesting against Covid measures has become acceptable. Heroic, even – if you’re going by the words of the mainstream media.

What else can we learn from their strangely offbeat portrayal of China’s anti-lockdown unrest, besides the fact that Australians did it first and were unfairly smeared for it?

For starters, the far-Left journalists permeating mainstream media have finally come to accept that locking an entire population inside their homes is a disproportionate response to a virus. Who knew?

It only took them three years to realise that there are more important matters than protecting the elderly and infirm from reckless schoolchildren who just want to go outside again. Finally, they’re on board with the right to work, travel, and lead a dignified existence outside of the confines of overbearing public health policies, as long as such endeavours are only pursued in China.

Spectacularly, these are the same outlets that celebrated the teargas and rubber bullets used on Australian anti-lockdown protesters, wholly convinced that every and any government measure should be accepted in order to ‘flatten the curve’.

In an impressive change of pace, even our own ABC supports protesting against the gospel of public health officials. For years, they shamelessly censored anyone who dared question whether we really need military convoys to enforce health measures. Today, they claim to stand with the Chinese students fighting against oppressive Covid mandates; their coverage vastly different to the divisive rhetoric they spewed when Australians did the same thing.


You see, the Chinese protesters aren’t racist, selfish, anti-vax conspiracy theorists who don’t understand science. The ABC prefers to call them:

A rare and creative public expression of discontent at the Chinese government’s strict COVID-19 policies.’

Yikes, that’s quite the journey from their choice of words used to describe Australia’s freedom movement.

They go on to explain, with a heroic pretext:

[The demonstrators] have said no to censorship, no to daily PCR tests…and no to China’s ubiquitous surveillance.’

That’s borderline satire. Here I was thinking that a degree in journalism would at least touch on the basics of irony.

And what justification do they cite for this creative act of government defiance? As they explain:

The far-western region of Xinjiang was in lockdown for three months.’

Three months, you say? As opposed to the three years Australians copped in the name of the same nonsense?

The irony seems hopelessly lost on the journalists bankrolled by our public purse. Their entire coverage of overseas anti-lockdown protests is a dog whistle for the very same sentiment they spent years labeling as dangerous misinformation. It’s as if they’re more sympathetic to the struggles of Chinese taxpayers than those of their fellow citizens.

To the ABC’s credit, they do an impressively good job of promoting the importance of social freedom and the dangers of government overreach. It’s just a shame they’re three years too late.

Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.


Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator Australia readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Close