My first reaction when I read Fan Bingbing’s apology for tax evasion was to laugh. Who wouldn’t? It was so wonderfully OTT in that unmistakably communist way. ‘I have failed my nurturing country,’ declared China’s highest-earning actress, who resurfaced this week after disappearing from sight over the summer. ‘I have failed society’s trust, and I have failed the love of my fans.’
She talked of having ‘experienced pain and torture like never before’ (a figure of speech, one hopes) but ultimately she had come through her ordeal a better person, thanks to ‘the good policies of the [Communist] party and the state’. Bingbing, who has agreed to pay £100m in unpaid taxes and fines, ended her mea culpa with a reassurance that ‘after personal reflection, I feel deeply ashamed and guilty for what I’ve done.’
It was then I stopped laughing. Hang on, Bingbing’s words were familiar. A couple of minutes searching on Google and lo and behold, a myriad of apologies as grovelling as hers. Only these weren’t from the People’s Republic of China, they came from the West, extracted from the growing number of people who have displeased the People’s Republic of Social Media.
Such as Joff Powis, headmaster of Vinehall School in East Sussex, who last month begged forgiveness for his wrongdoing. ‘It was wholly misguided and should never have seen the light of day,’ he mumbled. ‘I must stress it is in no way a reflection of the ethos of our school and the worthwhile work we do here.’
Why was Powis prostrating himself? Because of a light-hearted advert for his fee-paying school about aspiring to buy one’s father a fancy car. ‘We are taking a long hard look at how it came to be created in the first place,’ continued Powis. ‘But as head, I must take full responsibility for its appearance, and can only apologise for such an unfortunate error of judgement.’
Then there was Paperchase, which was ‘truly sorry’ for advertising in the Daily Mail, and who can forget Lewis Hamilton, whose crime was to crack an online joke about his nephew wearing a princess’s dress? ‘My words were inappropriate,’ he confessed to the LGBT community, ‘my deepest apologies for my behaviour as I realise it is really not acceptable for anyone, no matter where you are from, to marginalise or stereotype anyone… I hope I can be forgiven for this lapse in judgement.’
And remember how supermodel Karlie Kloss lost society’s trust last year when she dressed as a geisha in a photoshoot for Vogue? ‘These images appropriate a culture that is not my own and I am truly sorry for participating in a shoot that was not culturally sensitive,’ wailed Kloss. ‘My goal is, and always will be, to empower and inspire women. I will ensure my future shoots and projects reflect that mission.’
But surely nothing surpasses the apology issued in 2016 by Greater Manchester Police when one of their officers shouted ‘Allahu Akbar!’ while taking part in a terror training exercise. Some members of the Islamic community were outraged that their religion could ever be portrayed as anything but peaceful, and the police were told to atone. ‘On reflection, we acknowledge that it was unacceptable to use this religious phrase immediately before the mock suicide bombing, which so vocally linked this exercise with Islam,’ they said in a statement. ‘We recognise and apologise for the offence that this has caused.’
It’s heart-warming that after a period of reflection, both the Greater Manchester Police and Fan Bingbing realised the error of their ways. And there the similarities end. She had broken the law but the police hadn’t. She had no choice but to say sorry, but the police did have a choice.
The strategy of the People’s Republic of Social Media is to humiliate their victims, to cause them so much ‘pain and torture’, that they lose their self-respect and become canine, obedient, desperate to never again feel their master’s wrath. One of their most successful projects is Benedict Cumberbatch, who was broken and rebuilt in 2015. In January the actor was publicly shamed for referring to black actors as ‘coloured’, a violation that left him ‘devastated to have caused offence by using this outmoded terminology. I offer my sincere apologies. I make no excuse for my being an idiot’. By the autumn of that year, the new Cumberbatch was on display as he vociferously championed the plight of migrants and refugees, even using curtain call at a performance of Hamlet to harangue the British government for what he regarded as their slow response to the crisis.
The People’s Republic of Social Media is staffed by sad, spiteful bullies who, a generation ago, had no outlet for their irrational anger other than the narrow reach of a poison pen letter. But the internet has given them power and they wield it as ruthlessly as any Communist politburo. To grovel before them only excites these sociopaths and encourages them to seek fresh victims.
Theresa May was right to say in her address at Conservative party conference that it’s time to fight back, to ‘rise above the abuse’. But that should include advertisers and editorial boards, who must stand up to the tyranny of Twitter and not give in to its intimidation. If we don’t, then the West will end up like China, where public figures are ranked yearly by the State on their level of social responsibility. Fan Bingbing got a 0 per cent rating this year, but who doubts she will be back at 100 per cent by next year, once she’s settled her tax bills and made a film that pleases Xi Jinping. Perhaps there’ll be a part for Benedict Cumberbatch.
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