Rogin: Many in Corporate World, Some in Media ‘Don’t Care’ about China’s Abuses, ‘Our Elites Are Often up for Bribery’

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” author, Washington Post columnist, and CNN political analyst Josh Rogin said that Golden State Warriors part-owner Chamath Palihapitiya has a point when he says people don’t care about China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and that “reveals an ugly truth about our society, which is that our elites are often up for bribery, that they’re often easily corrupted, even in the face of the world’s worst atrocities.” And that there are “a lot of people in Silicon Valley and in the corporate world who don’t care, some in the media, actually.”

Rogin stated, “I don’t think he’s right. I think he’s just more right than wrong. Because if you look at these corporations that we’re talking about, the International Olympic Committee. We’re talking about Airbnb, we’re talking about the German insurance company Allianz. We’re talking about all of the sponsors. They’ve made a financial calculation. They’ve decided, apparently, that not enough people care that the shame of them paying for and endorsing a genocide Olympics is greater than the benefits that they’re going to get from it financially, and those benefits could be access to the Chinese market, the benefits could just be whatever they think they’re going to get out of participating. And it’s — it reveals an ugly truth about our society, which is that our elites are often up for bribery, that they’re often easily corrupted, even in the face of the world’s worst atrocities.”

He continued, “And that, of course, is what the Chinese Communist Party thinks of us, that we can all be bought off, that all of our morals are just happy talk, and that we don’t really believe them when push comes to shove. But I’m here to tell you, Brianna, that actually a lot more people, especially because of these atrocities and how horrible they are, are now starting to care. And we have more activism and more groups and more calls for justice and for attention to the suffering of not just Uyghurs, but Tibetans and Hong Kongers and lots of other Chinese dissidents and other people who are suffering greatly under the repression of the Chinese Communist Party right now. So, yeah, there’s a lot of people in Silicon Valley and in the corporate world who don’t care, some in the media, actually. But Americans do care. Americans are actually — and people around the world are actually awakening to the reality of these mass atrocities. And I think the Olympics has actually contributed to that.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett