Why write about 150 forced sterilizations in California prisons over four years when China's official data openly says that it performed some 196 million sterilizations on its 'free' citizens since 1971? It's a valid question. On September 21, I reported the California sterilizations and called into question the motives behind them, and did not compare the "paltry" number of sterilizations in California with the "horrendous" Chinese statistics.
True.
But it is not an oversight.
Despite myriad accusations of abuses of power and human rights, the world still believes in the United States as the gravitational center of state morality. It is a reputation well-earned though tarnished lately by abuses of its unchecked superpower status and overreaches by political extremes attempting to marginalize and de-legitimize people by state and local legislation. Despite all its faults, the United States is still the best beacon for the defense of human rights the world has ever produced, and that comes with high standards and responsibilities.
If you are snickering about the above comment on the defense of human rights, don't look at any one item, but look at the trajectory of American actions. It might help to compare to the trajectory of the stock market over the last 80 years vs. any one stock's daily performance.
China, on the other hand, has earned the reputation of a repressive, sometimes brutal, totalitarian regime. Its citizens have not been in a position to effectively demand a higher standard. Add to that, that the large number of sterilizations there are reported as part of the country's One-Child Policy, a controversial law that China touts as effective in controlling its population. Officials say that without it, its population would be some 30% higher than the current 1.3 billion. No justification, but its motives are transparent.
So, yes. Because the world believes in the U.S. in a way it does not believe in China, it is paramount to demand a higher standard. What is more, because the rest of the world tends to imitate the U.S.
, California's past flirtation with eugenics provided a degree of legitimacy to the abhorrent new ideas that led to the holocaust.
Because we believe in America, because despite flailings here and there for much of the world it is still the embodiedment of the highest ideals of the human spirit everyone has a stake in demanding a higher standard.
That said, such dehumanizing, dignity-robbing practices are as much of an individual tragedy whether they occur in a US prison or in China, and with the increasing influence of China in the world stage the world ought to be looking for a higher standard there too. To the extent that it is happening, that demand finds its greatest legitimacy when it is presented in the U.S.
