I always knew social workers were evil

The Official Blog Wife is a social worker by training.  The next time she eyeballs me the wrong way, I might have to see if she’s an agent of the Chinese government:  Six weeks after China’s devastating earthquake in May, a group of volunteer social workers arrived in the rubble of Fuxin Number Two Primary ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

The Official Blog Wife is a social worker by training.  The next time she eyeballs me the wrong way, I might have to see if she's an agent of the Chinese government:  Six weeks after China’s devastating earthquake in May, a group of volunteer social workers arrived in the rubble of Fuxin Number Two Primary School and started meeting parents of children killed when the school collapsed in the tremor. At first they seemed like any of the other 1.3m Chinese citizens who rushed to the quake zone in the immediate aftermath in an unprecedented outpouring of civic involvement. But some parents quickly decided something was wrong with this latest group of “volunteers”. “We asked to see their identification, but they wouldn’t show it to us and although they were quite nice they kept telling us not to make trouble,” said one parent, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. He said the five volunteers repeatedly urged parents to stop demanding an investigation into why the school was so poorly built and why it collapsed in the May 12 quake when most of the buildings around it remained standing. Many other parents were also suspicious of the opinionated social workers. “They were definitely sent by the government to keep an eye on us and identify the troublemakers,” said one parent, who also asked not to be named.

The Official Blog Wife is a social worker by training.  The next time she eyeballs me the wrong way, I might have to see if she’s an agent of the Chinese government

Six weeks after China’s devastating earthquake in May, a group of volunteer social workers arrived in the rubble of Fuxin Number Two Primary School and started meeting parents of children killed when the school collapsed in the tremor. At first they seemed like any of the other 1.3m Chinese citizens who rushed to the quake zone in the immediate aftermath in an unprecedented outpouring of civic involvement. But some parents quickly decided something was wrong with this latest group of “volunteers”. “We asked to see their identification, but they wouldn’t show it to us and although they were quite nice they kept telling us not to make trouble,” said one parent, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. He said the five volunteers repeatedly urged parents to stop demanding an investigation into why the school was so poorly built and why it collapsed in the May 12 quake when most of the buildings around it remained standing. Many other parents were also suspicious of the opinionated social workers. “They were definitely sent by the government to keep an eye on us and identify the troublemakers,” said one parent, who also asked not to be named.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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