I wish to raise a very intense,upset, and loud complaint about a column published in the Oxford Leader for April Fools? Day.
This article was discussing a joke about Oxford “selling out” to China. The selling out quote was not what I had a problem with though.
What I had a problem with was the disgusting appropriation of honest Chinese people’s problems with in their government in order to make a joke.
For some bizarre reason you viewed it as appropriate to publish things like Chinese propaganda (Freedom is slavery), and make jokes about killing people in the night if they do not subscribe to the publication.
How this was ever viewed as okay I do not understand and I do not wish to understand.
What was written was disgusting and extremely offensive, making a joke out of serious problems is not okay in any form of the imagination.
It demeans and belittles what is actually occurring within the Chinese Republic.
The Chinese government actively kills people and publishes horrible propaganda in order to keep their people complacent and you viewed it as okay to use that as a joke?
Thousands of people and families are destroyed because of what you considered to be funny enough to be applied to a newspaper publication.
How absolutely dare you believe such things are all right and I wish for you and any other writers and editors of this paper to learn from this disgusting display and to not write such horrendous things about honest issues.
Stephanie White
Oxford
Editor’s Note: ‘Freedom is slavery? is not a piece of Chinese propaganda. It is one of the fictional Big Brother’s three slogans in George Orwell’s classic book ?1984.?
The other two slogans are ‘War is peace? and ‘Ignorance is strength.?
Thank you to all the readers who did get the joke and enjoyed a good laugh. It’s tough to go through life without a sense of humor.