I have a responsibility to the people I teach at #Usyd. If you’re going to run a story on the “infiltration” of my university and include a long segment on international students, you’re inviting people to think of those students as “infiltrators.” That’s extremely dangerous.
I’m sick of having to raise these things, but this just strikes me as such an obvious ethical issue. Did no one at @4corners think twice about it?
@4corners Not surprising since it opened and closed with Clive Hamilton, but the show was very much in the style of Silent Invasion - put a sensational headline on something, then mash up everything from stupol through to China's putative hostile military designs on Australia.
@4corners Also couldn't help notice - although no evidence of Chinese guilt in the ANU hack was presented, the fishing email was read out in an obvious Asian accent, accompanied by shots of Chinese-looking people sitting at computers. What was that about?
@4corners I'm all in favour of curtailing collaborations that are bad for human rights, but we have to ask: are we worried about universities developing technology that can oppress people, or are we only worried about universities developing technology that can oppress people IN CHINA?
@4corners Because while we have story after story trying to connect the dots to oppression in China, the Australian government is putting up our tax dollars to encourage researchers to collaborate with the US Defence Department. No one see an issue there? dst.defence.gov.au/publication/au…
@4corners Not to mention the local collaborations that aim to improve Australia's own surveillance and killing machines, the deep influence of multinational arms companies on our universities, etc. Are people really proposing cracking down on China ties and doing nothing about all this?
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
