Bad Assumptions

Endless Thread

WBUR

Reddit, Technology

4.2 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A blurry video surfaces on the r/trashy subreddit of what appears to be a work dispute in an unspecified African country. A Chinese man slaps a clipboard out of a Black worker's hands, then leaves the frame for a moment, before coming back with a large metal pole. There's no context provided with the video, but most of the commenters seem to know what's happening — seem being the operative word. They're just making assumptions, grounded in a complicated geopolitical relationship that's changing everyday life all across the African continent.

In pursuit of context for this video, Endless Thread explores the sweeping geopolitical relationship between China and Africa, and hears from Henry Mhango, a Malawian journalist who hunted down the context for another viral video, exposing racism and exploitation in the process.

Show notes:

"Racism for Sale" (BBC Africa Eye)
"Sierra Leonean Miner vs Chinese Miner: Company PRO Breaks Down What Transpired" (News Central TV)
"Why China Is in Africa - If You Don’t Know, Now You Know" (The Daily Show)
"How China Sees itself in Africa" (The Global Jigsaw)
"Chinese companies in Africa can be flexible and adaptive in their employment strategies." (The Washington Post)

Credits: This episode was written and produced by Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus. It was hosted by Amory Sivertson and Ben Brock Johnson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Funding for this podcast comes from Math Works, creators of Mat Lab and Simulink software,
0:06.0	accelerating the pace of engineering and science. Learn more at Math Works.
0:11.0	com.
0:12.0	W-B-U-R- Podcast. Work's
0:15.0	B-U-R Podcasts, Boston.
0:20.0	Emory, normally I spare you from the darkest corners
0:25.0	that I encounter while I scroll Reddit.
0:27.0	I appreciate that, Ben.
0:29.0	I do.
0:30.0	I'm pretty good at avoiding them myself too, I will say.
0:32.0	Well, today I do want to go there for a second I
0:36.9	want to talk about the video. The video the one from R slash trashy the
0:41.8	subreddit for all things trashy yes from R slash Trashy, the Sub- Credit for All Things. Trashy.
0:44.4	Yes, our Trashy is not a place I spend a lot of time. I try to live my trashy truth in real life.
0:50.7	It is a Sub-reddit with a a mix of things but it's generally about kind of
0:55.4	like looking down on the behavior of others I guess and sometimes that's
0:59.0	delicious I suppose but this video didn't quite feel like the usual fair let's watch it together it is
1:06.6	not pleasant but I think it's important.
1:10.3	Okay so it starts with a seemingly Chinese man whacking a
1:17.2	clipboard out of a construction worker is a black man a construction worker's
1:21.0	hands. The construction worker starts to like slap back. He throws his
1:25.2	arms out. The guy in blue, the Chinese man sort of like runs away and then he sort of runs back and he's carrying a pole.
	...

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