"Come on in!" my foot.
There's this ad on some of the tvs at Walmart (and perhaps elsewhere, but WM's the only place I've seen much tv lately) for the Olympics this year. This ad comments that for thousands of years China has held the world out and now the world will finally be invited in. There was no note for where to send comments or questions, so I just have to put them on the blog.
First of all, I'd like to point out that the current tendency of China to be hostile to outsiders has nothing to do with China's traditional and ancient appraisal of itself as better off kept to itself and everything to do with it being a no-good communist state.
Next, allow me to ask, was there no point when China was coming ino contact with he almost-modern world and hadn't yet had its communist revolution at which it allowed in the world in any meaningful sense? I don't honestly know, so I'm curious whether the impression given by the ad that this is the first time we're al invited to China is actually accurate or not.
Then, allow me to object that it is a very fake, done-up sort of company parlor invitation we're getting when the world will be shown to their Olympic arenas and never told how many and how large are the human rights violations that went into the making of those arenas. Granted it's possible there were none, but with modern China's history, I wouldn't be surprised if the people I've read claiming their inside sources tell of horrors are correct.
Finally (and more relevant if not more shocking), I hear (or rather read) from sources I believe to be reliable (although for absolute proof we'll just wait and see, right?) that while the world will be bodily invited in, its opinions will still be shut out by China's anti-free-speech laws. Aren't the Olympics supposed to be about sharing of cultures as well as coming together above our cultural differences? Or am I remembering the point all wrong?
First of all, I'd like to point out that the current tendency of China to be hostile to outsiders has nothing to do with China's traditional and ancient appraisal of itself as better off kept to itself and everything to do with it being a no-good communist state.
Next, allow me to ask, was there no point when China was coming ino contact with he almost-modern world and hadn't yet had its communist revolution at which it allowed in the world in any meaningful sense? I don't honestly know, so I'm curious whether the impression given by the ad that this is the first time we're al invited to China is actually accurate or not.
Then, allow me to object that it is a very fake, done-up sort of company parlor invitation we're getting when the world will be shown to their Olympic arenas and never told how many and how large are the human rights violations that went into the making of those arenas. Granted it's possible there were none, but with modern China's history, I wouldn't be surprised if the people I've read claiming their inside sources tell of horrors are correct.
Finally (and more relevant if not more shocking), I hear (or rather read) from sources I believe to be reliable (although for absolute proof we'll just wait and see, right?) that while the world will be bodily invited in, its opinions will still be shut out by China's anti-free-speech laws. Aren't the Olympics supposed to be about sharing of cultures as well as coming together above our cultural differences? Or am I remembering the point all wrong?
Labels: Darkness be Gone, Good Grief, In the News, Liberty, Musings, Threatening the Culture of Life
posted by Shakespeare's Cobbler at 7/02/2008 11:56:00 PM
2 Comments:
A relevant bit of information: One of the members of The Last Alliance (a strategy gaming website) is from China. He named a dragon that he used in combat King Mao. A genuinely uninformed british student who also used the site asked if Mao was, in fact, the Chinese dictator. 45 seconds later a reply was made, from the account of the Chinese individual, but more likely from a censor, that Mao was the greatest leader in history.
No, we're not getting into China. China is trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
We're getting into China like we're getting into a crocodile's mouth propped open with a chopstick.
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