By Ngo Ngu
Journalism Correspondent
Having just finished reading Radio Free Asia’s story on the endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, commonly known as the pink dolphin (Sousa chinensis), alert Reddit user, CatLover3421, scoffed and shook their head, dismissing the story in its entirety.
“What a load of bullshit. The CIA really thinks it can brainwash me with this stupid article?” the user said. “No way, I’m too smart for that.”
CatLover accused RFA of exploiting sympathy for the pink dolphin, whose population near Northern Lantau Island has plummeted from 188 in 2003 to just 3 or 4 individuals in the most recent census by the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Project, a local advocacy group. Expressing skepticism about the methods used to estimate their numbers, the reddit user dismissed concerns over habitat destruction, water pollution, coastal development, overfishing, and rising marine traffic, arguing that RFA was exaggerating the species’ decline for political reasons.
Despite there being decades of records tracking the population decline and related habitat destruction of the pink dolphin, the user was able to push all that aside to identify the real conspiracy happening in front of everyone. “You really can’t trust a US propaganda outlet like RFA to give the real news about stuff that’s happening in China. The CIA and other deep state agencies want to warp our understanding of communism and stuff.”
CatLover, who considers themselves highly informed regarding the latest conspiracies trending on social media, and admitted to never having read Das Kapital, Mao’s writings, or any serious analysis of communism’s history, confidently dismissed RFA’s claims as part of a deep state plot meant to stir anti-Chinese sentiment throughout the Western World.
“I can’t read Chinese, but I bet if I could I’d find a dozen news stories in Chinese media discussing how the species is thriving,” said the user, who couldn’t even be bothered to search the archive of the South China Morning Post, an English daily, whose most recent article about the pink dolphin dates from 2020.
CatLover continued their in-depth media critique of the article, which highlighted the status of the dolphin species as vulnerable as classified by the independent International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an organisation based in Europe and not controlled by the United States government.
“The CIA wants me to get mad at Hong Kong for normal economic activity as they build out their infrastructure,” the user declared, skimming the piece, prepared to refute every point made by the allegedly CIA-influenced journalist. “Seems like the city needed a third runway for their airport, and locals wanted a bridge to get from Hong Kong to Macao faster.”
“I’d have to question whether the pink dolphin was ever real to begin with, to be honest. I mean, isn’t it a little too convenient that suddenly there are none left just as this article comes out? Why didn’t I hear about them being endangered before if it was such a big deal, huh?” Scoffed CatLover3421, convinced they had solved a pretty big conspiracy the CIA had undoubtedly spent months or even years building up only for the perpetually online user to poke holes in it mere minutes after learning about the issue.
“I’ll post a TikTok on r/China detailing how I quickly unraveled this poorly-conceived attempt at getting me to hate China. I know I’ll get a lot of upvotes, too.”
At press time, the very last Lantau Island pink dolphin was saved from choking to death on a piece of plastic they had mistaken for a fish as a metal pylon meant to delineate the borders of the newly established marine reserve was rammed through its skull and into the seabed below.
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