Serpentza first crossed my radar several years ago.
I am in that category of people who found his early videos vaguely interesting, before they:
(a) degenerated into full-blown anti-China hatemongering.
…OR
(b) started to become a bit more negative.
(Take your pick!)
Just to be be clear, at the outset. I fully recognise that there are valid criticisms to be made against the Chinese government. Bring it on! The more the merrier!
However, something about this guy just seemed “off” from the getgo.
Weirdly, his accent was what first pricked my ears (innocuous, I know). It was recognisably South African, but with this hard, North American “r” (for some words, but not others?!).
OK. So no big deal. Yet, somehow, this niggling little inconsistancy stuck in my mind.
Then was his insistence that he is not merely “South African”, but “A British South African”. It was such an odd distinction to repeatedly insist upon. He is not a dual citizen, (born and reared in SA, as far as I know?) He was instead referring to his British ancestry. Was he deliberately trying to elevate/distinguish himself from his fellow South Africans? A cut above the rest? Perhaps our man had a complicated relationship with his own identity? But let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.
Then there’s The Suit… Just downright bizarre! He (helpfully) makes a whole video explaining why he wears a suit all the time. But his: “well… once upon a time this thing happened! and now I’m trapped in my suit!” story is just fucking ridiculous. He’d obviously been sporting this getup for too long to backout of it with his dignity intact. So he contrives some dubious backstory to justify it?
Again, it suggests someone so insecure about his identity he feels the need to present himself as a person of high status. He figures his Chinese neighbours will see him walking around in a suit and assume he must be someone important.
Whatever floats your boat…
I think what really confirmed to me that this guy is flat-out full of shit was when he started to claim that he “trains doctors,” when in reality he taught English to medical staff. I mean it’s so wilfully misleading. Implying that he has medical expertise in order to (you guessed it!) inflate his social status.
His incessant reminders (so frequent that it is now a running joke) that “my wife is a doctor” is just more of the same.
He criticised Chinese people for travelling to America to have children there in order to get a green card. Then what does he himself do? Five minutes after touching down on US soil? Are you kidding me?
Other “shills” (AKA youtubers, AKA “people”) have discussed how he romanticizes apartheid South Africa. I don’t know if I’d go that far, but there is a distinct whiff of colonialism here. His documentary series is called: “Conquering Northern Southern China” FFS! A clumsy, unfortunate choice of words? No. It’s an “in joke” wink, wink…
The same passive aggressive undertone pervades his videos, like he’s frustrated because he can’t say what he really really wants to, dammit, for fear of being deplatfrormed.
He and his little sidekick go on and on about how the “shills” are Chinese government-funded mouthpieces. In fact, many of the so-called “shills” (Matt from Jayoe Nation/nuance being a prime example) are actually very transparent about how they are (or are not) being funded. They share their personal observations and freely express their own opinions.
Which they are perfectly entitled to do.
( I am NOT for one second suggesting that the “shills” are beyond criticism! They run the gamut. There’s a whole spectrum. Some are more reputable/objective than others.)
Like many youtubers, Serpentza/Laowhy receive funding through patreon. It is no secret that there’s a lot of anti-China sentiment in the West. (Indeed, this is the very audience they are courting!) It seems entirely plausible to me that individuals or groups who have a vested interest in pushing the anti-China narrative could quite easily funnel a few dollars their way via patreon. My point being that: if there is any “shilling” it most likely isn’t a one-way street.
From what I gather, these two specimens have left, in their wake, a pretty bad reputation (among locals and expats alike) in China. I sometimes wonder how this affects their wives and their families. (I mean how would you feel if your daughter/sister/cousin absconded with some foreigner who makes a living by figuratively crapping on your country?)
I’m sure that some of what Serpentza says is true. I’m sure he has some redeemable qualities like the rest of us.
But this constant, barely concealed negativity is so distasteful.
He has carved out a good living by stirring up hatred between the West and China.
I wonder at what cost?
What really needs to happen is an open, online debate. “Shills v Haters”. (It certainly wouldn’t hurt their views(!) and we all might come out of it having learnt something.)
Let’s make it happen!
Poor Richard Hammond, took the punishment that laowhy deserves.
