Affect and instrumentality are also intertwined in China's "national mianzi." To the individualistic Westerner, overseas Chinese often seem overly emotional about China's national dignity. Chinese student e-mail networks in 1996 America, for instance, were filled with passionate denunciations of Bob Costas for his comments, during NBC's coverage of the Opening Ceremonies at the Atlanta Olympics, about Chinese swimmers' steroid use.(39) Even Berkeley's Lydia Liu, a respected academic, recently appeared highly irrational in labeling New York Times journalist Sheryl WuDunn a "racist" worse than nineteenth century missionaries for failing to "help" China.(40) Perhaps the most emotional of 1997's anti-American best sellers was The Plot to Demonize China. Filled with numerous ad hominem attacks on Americans seen as "enemies of China," it argues that the American media are conspiring with big business to make China look bad before the American people.