These two stories show the consequences of upsetting authority and insulting powerful people in China. In Saboteur, the protagonist was imprisoned for something that was not his fault. However, since the police officer had a higher societal rank than the man, he was put in jail and asked to confess to his crime, which didn’t even happen. Although the officer just spilled tea on the man, it was the officer’s fault but not worth it enough to be imprisoned for it. It’s hard to imagine being imprisoned for such a trivial mistake, even when it wasn’t the man’s fault, but I can think of some instances in the U.S. that are vaguely similar to this injustice surrounding police. We’ve seen in the past few years that police officers can get away with horrible crimes because it’s their “duty” to protect the public. However, it’s very harmful and unfair. We can’t call our country a democracy when the people who are meant to protect us harm us instead. That’s where I see some similarities between the Chinese values of authority and the U.S.’s.
The second story, Bad Joke, shows how one little harmless joke can be turned around and made into a much more serious matter. This reveals how sensitive this society is and how any kind of offense toward those in power is seen as treason. Compared to the U.S., China censors much more of its public from certain topics. I have seen countless memes and offensive posts toward American politicians and as long as they are not extremely harmful, anyone can get away with it. I took a TI called Chinese Civilization and I learned about how China censors its population by banning most American social media platforms and looking through people’s information on their cell phones. While people argue that the U.S. looks through people’s phones as well, I would say that we have a greater freedom of speech that allows us to challenge our politicians and fight for what we believe in.