'Crusade' against Chinese Harvard grad poisons social media

Since I have watched and/or listened to many speeches at university commencement ceremonies, I can say with certainty the one on humanity delivered by Yurong "Luanna" Jiang, a Chinese student at Harvard Kenney School, on May 29 was good.

In her speech, Jiang called on people to be compassionate despite the growing divisions, rising fear and spreading conflicts, things that have been haunting the United States and many other parts of the world for some time now. It was delivered amid the intensified confrontation between the Donald Trump administration and Harvard and several other universities, and days after the administration revoked Harvard's right to enroll international students.

It was a speech full of positive energy by an aspiring graduate in her mid-20s who has majored in international development.

The Harvard Kennedy School should be lauded for selecting the first female Chinese student for its prestigious Graduate English Address despite the growing fear-mongering against international students, especially Chinese students, by some US politicians and government officials.

However, what has followed the speech resembles a "crusade" against Jiang on social media. People have been nitpicking her speech, commenting on whether it was good, logical or politically correct, and whether her English is fluent enough to merit attention. Many have gone as far as smearing her by asking how she was able to attend a high school and later a university in the United Kingdom in the first place and then enroll in Harvard. Some have even questioned whether her father, who has been associated with an environmental NGO, helped her get admission to those schools using unfair or illicit means, while others have tried to pick faults with the NGO's work.

Having a healthy debate on Jiang's speech is fine, but it should be conducted in a fair, balanced and respectable manner, instead of launching a "crusade" against her and her family, or turning it into a "persecution". Indeed, no other public speaker, considering the many commencement speeches this season in the US and China, has received such unwanted attention and brutal treatment as Jiang.

Of course, there is room for improvement in Jiang's speech. But that's true for most speeches. Her English is good, though certainly not flawless. Those people can also pick holes in the commencement speech delivered by Harvard University President Alan Garber, who is admired by many for his principled stance at such a difficult time for the university. People can pick faults even with the greatest speeches delivered in our times.

Unless those mean critics on social media could write an eloquent, flawless and meaningful commencement speech themselves, they should not try to find fault with others' speeches.

What's equally appalling is that so few people have come forward to defend Jiang against those who have been recklessly criticizing and bullying her.

Social media can often become quite toxic. The toxicity in Jiang's case should set alarm bells ringing for all of us who could one day become the target of such vicious attacks. It's certainly not the social media environment that is required to promote harmony in global society.

A good part of Jiang's speech was on inclusiveness and tolerance, which are exactly what we need in today's social media environment. Respect and tolerance should trump bigotry and persecution.

It is our collective responsibility to help build a social media environment in which debates and critiques are welcome and conducted in a healthy way, rather than being turned into personal attacks. The latest episode should be a wake-up call for all of us to speak out against such bullying and persecution of Jiang in today's age of the internet.

The author is chief of China Daily EU Bureau based in Brussels.

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn