Cultural hegemony undermines stability
‘If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.” Exchanges between different civilizations have proven to be an important driving force for the advancement of human societies, yet since it emerged as the dominant global power, the United States seems to have taken the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt to mean the establishing of its cultural hegemony.
On the one hand, the US has made it a national strategy to export its culture and values to the world. On the other hand, it has tried, by hook or by crook, to transform other countries’ values and suppress any attempts to express differing views.
The recent US decision to designate another six Chinese media outlets in the United States as “foreign missions” is the latest example of its Cold War mentality and ideological bias.
Some US politicians, out of paranoia and prejudice, have openly trumpeted a clash of civilizations and stubbornly stoked confrontation with China in the cultural arena. As a result, they hope to curtail the influence of Chinese media outlets and journalists in the US.
As a direct consequence of the US actions, the Chinese people will have less direct access to what is happening in the US, its politics, economy, society and people, and the people in the US will have fewer Chinese voices to help them understand China.
The US administration has also blatantly interfered in China-US cooperation over the Confucius Institutes and frequently conducted surveillance on and harassed Chinese students and scholars in the US. It even filed unwarranted lawsuits against them.
All these ill practices have seriously disrupted normal people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. It is only natural that they have met with strong opposition from Chinese and other people around the world, as the US has not only tried to impose its own ideologies and values upon others but also poisoned the atmosphere for normal exchanges between different civilizations.
But the world is wise to the ruinous consequences of the US practice. From Iraq, to Syria and Afghanistan, so many countries have fallen prey to chaos after the US infiltrated their cultural realm with cultural products advocating the values and ideals it supposedly upholds.
Diversity is the spice of life. Countries have different cultures, and exchanges among them are enriching. Yet the US seeks to demonize the histories, cultures and systems of other countries, especially non-Western ones, to create a cultural and public opinion space whereby it can persuade other countries to act according to its wishes.
As has been said, cultural diversity brings a collective strength that benefits all of humanity. Those who continue to seek hegemony in the cultural field will only be greeted with isolation.