Statistical Verification

How Do You Solve a Problem Like China?

And for all those hysterical one-world radicals, I’m referring not to the mainly fine and resolute yet supressed and lied to people of that ancient land, but the PRC, CCP and any flavour you like of its totalitarian criminality.

The free pass a craven majority of Western media seems to give their abhorrent regime is frightening.

Thankfully there are those who speak the truth. Of many aspects, not least like I see whilst blogging here, on the despicable Chinese cover-up.

In an attempt to contribute my tiny bit of re-balance, here’s also the final paragraph from a column this week in London’s Telegraph broadsheet showing underlying despotic mentality. The chilling opinion of Sherelle Jacobs (registration req’d link).

My favourite Chinese legend is that of Duke Huan of Qi, who lived in the 7th century BC. To conquer the neighbouring merchant states of Lu and Liang, which specialised in brocade weaving, Huan made brocade his land’s official dress. Lu and Liang stopped making all other things to meet the orders, including grain. One day, the Duke banned brocade clothes, in favour of silk. With no export revenue and no grain to feed their people, Lu and Liang collapsed. The story speaks to CCP’s belief in self-sufficiency, and the vulnerability of those who prize fantasy riches over internal strength. It is a lesson the West must learn fast.

Given China’s endemic state sponsored disinformation, which even relentlessly attacks far flung individuals, you sense all recollection of even this folk-story of yore has been systematically exorcised from the English-language web with its vast terracotta keyboard army.

As I blog here, what every sane Sinologist – sadly the new kremlinology – has said for all of this year has come to pass. Wuhan deaths are suddenly fifty percent higher than previously reported. The truth we suspect is far worse still. And they disappear the brave sounding alarms and cover-up biolab mishaps.

Throughout all of human history, when has there ever been a despotic, tyrannical, one-party, dictator regime that has told the truth? China is in absolutely no danger of being the trailblazer to first buck this trend.

Their propaganda at the outbreak epicentre is a classic of its truth-subverting newspeak genre.

Such revisions, we are told, are standard international practice. The odd few fatalities given preoccupation with saving lives, bound to be ‘delayed, missed, allocated elsewhere and generally underreported’. Future spokespeople will no doubt tread their much furrowed save-face-at-all-costs and sew chaos path of pointing towards the plethora of Free World recording differences. Disgrace.

Although diversionary sleight-of-hand, debate control and divide-and-rule are longstanding tools of the autocrat handbook.

Yet let’s pause and assess their phrase de jour on this.

They play down this whole increased victims saga as mere “statistical verification”.

Nothing to see here. Move along now. Everything’s under control.

It strangely reminded me of receiving figures from prospects which did not seem fully credible.

Whether by accident or design, they achieved the twin poisoned fangs of being pulled out of the thin air that didn’t seem to correspond with the reality as you thought it and stubbornly failing to reinforce the remedy you propose.

You may naturally decline to suggest your prospect is the local buyer version of a mendacious Chinese Communist Party official.

Yet you may be able to adapt their opacity and subterfuge to a positive cause. Could you gently ask your prospect for a spot of statistical verification of their own;

  • What may have been omitted?
  • What could be understandably tricky to get to the bottom of?
  • What numbers may be mistakenly conflated?
  • What could have been put in the wrong bucket?
  • What might be forgotten, sitting shut away in a dusty set of drawers?

Let’s get something to help selling humanity out of this Chinese coronavirus cover-up at least.