This happens when elites define news

Conservatives in the US have been frustrated for years by the Western media or "mainstream media" who find it necessary to inject their own political viewpoint into the news. The news is no longer news, but only the politics of the "intellectual elite".

As an American writer researching topics for articles I am authoring about Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, I am fascinated by the large numbers of similarities I find in daily life in China and the US. Most people would be surprised at all that we have things in common. The Western media would like to drive a wedge between our cultures and focus people's attention on what they perceive as all of our differences.

In my home, 85 percent of everything we own has the "made in China" label on it. Chinese hands have built and created so much of what is found in an American household. Americans should have an accurate understanding of what the daily lives of those Chinese are really like. We cannot depend on the mainstream media to bring us the whole story.

As the Olympic torch continues its journey, we can only hope that someone in the Western media remembers the spirit of the Olympic Games and the pride of the Chinese people as they host this great event.

In the meantime, just know that conservatives in the US feel your pain and disappointment in the coverage that is so inaccurate in its conclusions.

K Richard Douglas

via e-mail

I want to express my best wishes for a wonderful Games ahead.

Obviously, the current anti-China farce is pre-planned and a coordinated attempt to sabotage Beijing Olympics.

Having grown up in China and now living in Australia for nearly 20 years, I have had a chance to evaluate both systems. I have come to the inevitable conclusion that the Chinese government is facing a daunting task but I believe that no other government can do any better.

A Chinese in Australia

via e-mail

I belong to the generation of Germans that spent the first years of their lives in air raid shelters during the US/British bombings.

One can clearly see the real game behind the riots in Tibet. What actually was engineered has nothing to do with religious and ethnic oppression; they were just one of the strategies to contain China.

Some Westerners are ignorant about China and are easily swayed by manipulated information. Living for nearly 5 years in China, I am deeply ashamed of the biased German media and politicians.

W.E. Brunne from Jiangsu province

via e-mail

Some Western countries, instead of blaming the separatists for inciting the violent riots in Lhasa, blamed China and asked the Chinese central government to hold direct talks with the Dalai Lama.

This is hypocrisy when the leaders of these countries would simply invade Iraq instead of initiating any kind of talk. Overseas Chinese are not protesting against Western people but against these errant and hypocritical ones.

Concerned

On China Daily website

Most of the people in the West who speak about Tibet do not know the region and have never been there to witness the enormous development and better living that China has brought to the Tibetans during the last 20 years.

It is unfair to China that some people use the Olympics to push forward their own political agenda. Let the Beijing Olympic Games be a moment for world peace and for unity of all the peace-loving people around the world.

Michel

On China Daily website

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(China Daily 04/29/2008 page9)