China's Propaganda Video Is So Weird It's Frightening
President Trump has been doing everything in his power to place the blame of coronavirus and its subsequent effects on China, opting, for example, to refer to SARS-CoV-2 as "the Chinese virus." On Friday, China looked to counter that narrative by releasing this:
No, that's not a promotional video for an upcoming LEGO WWIII play-set. It's a bizarre propaganda video (and we've seen our fair share) that uses LEGO stylings of a Terracotta Warrior and the Statue of Liberty arguing to escalate the most childish, yet dangerous battle of words in the history of the world.
The video is titled "Once Upon A Virus" as if to frame the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people around the world as some sort of nursery rhyme. And while the title could be taken facetiously, we can't help but wonder if the Chinese Government is self-aware enough to be in on the joke. It's no secret that Trump has greatly mismanaged the virus, as the United States leads the world in COVID-19 deaths, but it's also well documented that China silenced the initial whistleblower. The video makes no mention of that fact but instead takes the time to create a LEGO rendering of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which leans so dramatically that we can't help but feel it's a random dig at Italy for some reason.
So shots fired, America and shots fired, Italy because China's coming at you and they're coming at you hard with plastic bricks and high-pitched computer-generated audio. Up next will be a "Kinects" version of The Great Wall talking smack to Mount Rushmore, followed by a "Bionicle" panda kicking a bald eagle in the crotch, before out of nowhere proclaiming that spaghetti was invented in China and that Italy can go suck it.
It's a truly weird video befitting of our truly weird times. And while it's funny to imagine what LEGO must be thinking, as this video has looked to truly test the maxim of "no press is bad press," you can't help but feel terrified of China striking a more serious tone. Anyway, congrats to LEGO because if Trump and China choose to keep escalating this conflict, you might just get to be the unofficial sponsors for the end of humanity.
Dan is on Twitter @realdanduddy, and he also hosts The Bachelor Zone Podcast, where you can hear him give a sports-style breakdown of all things happening on The Bachelor.
Top Image: New China TV/ YouTube
