We share a lot of NMA World Edition’s ridiculously animated, absurdist news recap videos, but their latest (about world record Olympic swimmer Ye Shiwen) brings up an interesting question of how Asian and Pacific Island nations view each other, and whether or not cultural or racial prejudices get in the way of objective reporting. Well, “objective reporting” in terms of people animating a panda to burn you in the ass and stab you in the back with a huge steroid needle.
This is the blurb from the video’s YouTube description. Read it and tell me whether it sounds like a recap of what happened, or like something your cousin might say about the Olympics on your Facebook page.
When Ye Shiwen broke the world record in the women’s 400m individual medley many were shocked, and some were suspicious. Clare Balding, a British reporter, found herself in the middle of a controversy when she insinuated the possibility of doping.
The top US coach jumped in on the controversy when he said Ye’s win was not only very “suspicious” but “unbelievable” and “disturbing”.
Ye Shiwen was quick to fire back, saying “There is no problem with doping, the Chinese team has a firm policy so there is no problem with that.” The Chinese media has defended their young swimming star saying the other countries are just jealous.
Here’s the video itself, which is glorious as always. You can count on Taiwan to not only depict a teenage Chinese swimmer as the driver of a deadly bulldozer, but to make that bulldozer as bloody as possible.
I think this comment speaks for all of us:
So what do you think? Is “YEAH, F**K CHINA, DRAW THEIR OPPONENTS BEING MURDERED BY A SHARK” the best way to report the story, or should NMA stick to Tim Tebow As Jesus metaphors and leave the cultural bias out of it?
