Showing posts with label olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label olympics. Show all posts
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Pro Olympics Rally in NYC
This Sunday, May 4, Chinese and Chinese Americans hit the streets of New York City, continuing a tradition of demonstrating on May 4. I heard it was a success, but I only found one article about it.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Olympics and Tibet
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Olympics
Warning: this post is probably offensive unless you're mainland Chinese.
The ultimate Olympic sport is how much humiliation can China take? Don't worry. It's lots.
Actually, in 1989 (?) Wang Shuo 王朔, wrote a book with this premise called Please Don't Call Me Human 千万别把我当人.
I've had it with the protesters, though. For a while, I've been trying to be like, oh well, it's a good way to publicize issues and for people to put pressure on the Chinese government. But you know what? No. It's offensive, it's ignorant, it's pretentious, it's bullshit. Most of the protesters don't know what they're talking about; they just want to feel good about themselves by ragging on a country that everyone hates anyways.
What bothers me the most is the hypocrisy of it all. People are just so used to the idea of China abusing human rights that China is practically synonymous with human rights abuse at this point. Of course, Western opinion isn't biased at all given that China has been an enemy for the greater part of the previous century. I'm not saying there aren't problems, but how can you say that China is the biggest human rights abuser and it doesn't deserve to host Olympics and it really 'challenges the conscience of the world.' What about IRAQ? Hello? That sure challenges my conscience. The US just invaded that 5 years ago to "liberate" Iraqis, and I'd even venture to say that they've fucked them up way more than the Han Chinese fucked up Tibetans. What about Guantanamo? Overthrowing governments in Latin America? Plight of Native Americans? Violence and oppression in Africa, which of course has nothing to do with the fact that the 'enlightened' Western nations enslaved and colonized black people. And of course, what about Israel? If people care about human rights so much, why the hell are people not more concerned about Palestinians? But no, they're Muslim and terrorists, and we don't negotiate with terrorists. Oh wait, didn't the US create Al Qaeda in Afghanistan to fight the Russians? SHHHHHH America is a beacon of hope, freedom, and democracy, you unpatriotic communist heathen. Behold, our fair and unbiased media, and our democracy which elected George W Bush, TWICE.
Many of the people who protest think they're being sooo brave. Mouthing off about a country across the ocean that everyone already doesn't like is not courageous! Give me a break. Protesting and working to change things that are wrong in your own community is much more difficult, although perhaps less glorious. For example, calling for the US to close bases it doesn't need. VERY complicated. Calling for Israel to compromise to create a Palestinian state already. Suddenly, you're a Nazi. Working to fix a lame system and oil barons for sustainable energy! Working on climate change issues is human rights!
People think that Chinese people all hate the Chinese government. They're right and wrong. In America, if you complain a lot, people think it means you're unpatriotic. In contrast, Chinese people love to complain about their government. But they are still proud that it's come a long way, and they don't want to see China fall. They still get offended if Westerners criticize China and demand things aggressively. It comes off as being hostile to China's security and economic interests. They all saw how happy the US was when the USSR fell. Chinese people don't want China to become like how Russia is today. The US is already in Japan, Korea, and Afghanistan, and they regularly do reconnaissance tours off the southern coast of China. And of course, the US just invaded Iraq. Chinese people would be hopelessly naive if they weren't worried about US aggression. Hello, during the so-called "Cold War" China fought the US in Viet Nam, Korea, and the KMT during the Communist Revolution. Also, China just went through a century of being too weak to stand up to Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and the US so naturally, they are sensitive to complaints and demands from the West. When the Chinese complain about US meddling, the context is that the US was the main supplier of weapons, money, and even food to the KMT during the Communist Revolution, who subsequently got their asses handed to them anyway, and ran away to Taiwan. America, land of the free, home of the brave rich people, was committed to keeping the KMT in power. If either the Democratic or Republican Parties were strongly supported by a foreign country, say Saudi Arabia, Americans would surely object to how much control that country has over American politics.
I'm JUST SAYING
The ultimate Olympic sport is how much humiliation can China take? Don't worry. It's lots.
Actually, in 1989 (?) Wang Shuo 王朔, wrote a book with this premise called Please Don't Call Me Human 千万别把我当人.
I've had it with the protesters, though. For a while, I've been trying to be like, oh well, it's a good way to publicize issues and for people to put pressure on the Chinese government. But you know what? No. It's offensive, it's ignorant, it's pretentious, it's bullshit. Most of the protesters don't know what they're talking about; they just want to feel good about themselves by ragging on a country that everyone hates anyways.
What bothers me the most is the hypocrisy of it all. People are just so used to the idea of China abusing human rights that China is practically synonymous with human rights abuse at this point. Of course, Western opinion isn't biased at all given that China has been an enemy for the greater part of the previous century. I'm not saying there aren't problems, but how can you say that China is the biggest human rights abuser and it doesn't deserve to host Olympics and it really 'challenges the conscience of the world.' What about IRAQ? Hello? That sure challenges my conscience. The US just invaded that 5 years ago to "liberate" Iraqis, and I'd even venture to say that they've fucked them up way more than the Han Chinese fucked up Tibetans. What about Guantanamo? Overthrowing governments in Latin America? Plight of Native Americans? Violence and oppression in Africa, which of course has nothing to do with the fact that the 'enlightened' Western nations enslaved and colonized black people. And of course, what about Israel? If people care about human rights so much, why the hell are people not more concerned about Palestinians? But no, they're Muslim and terrorists, and we don't negotiate with terrorists. Oh wait, didn't the US create Al Qaeda in Afghanistan to fight the Russians? SHHHHHH America is a beacon of hope, freedom, and democracy, you unpatriotic communist heathen. Behold, our fair and unbiased media, and our democracy which elected George W Bush, TWICE.
Many of the people who protest think they're being sooo brave. Mouthing off about a country across the ocean that everyone already doesn't like is not courageous! Give me a break. Protesting and working to change things that are wrong in your own community is much more difficult, although perhaps less glorious. For example, calling for the US to close bases it doesn't need. VERY complicated. Calling for Israel to compromise to create a Palestinian state already. Suddenly, you're a Nazi. Working to fix a lame system and oil barons for sustainable energy! Working on climate change issues is human rights!
People think that Chinese people all hate the Chinese government. They're right and wrong. In America, if you complain a lot, people think it means you're unpatriotic. In contrast, Chinese people love to complain about their government. But they are still proud that it's come a long way, and they don't want to see China fall. They still get offended if Westerners criticize China and demand things aggressively. It comes off as being hostile to China's security and economic interests. They all saw how happy the US was when the USSR fell. Chinese people don't want China to become like how Russia is today. The US is already in Japan, Korea, and Afghanistan, and they regularly do reconnaissance tours off the southern coast of China. And of course, the US just invaded Iraq. Chinese people would be hopelessly naive if they weren't worried about US aggression. Hello, during the so-called "Cold War" China fought the US in Viet Nam, Korea, and the KMT during the Communist Revolution. Also, China just went through a century of being too weak to stand up to Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and the US so naturally, they are sensitive to complaints and demands from the West. When the Chinese complain about US meddling, the context is that the US was the main supplier of weapons, money, and even food to the KMT during the Communist Revolution, who subsequently got their asses handed to them anyway, and ran away to Taiwan. America, land of the free, home of the brave rich people, was committed to keeping the KMT in power. If either the Democratic or Republican Parties were strongly supported by a foreign country, say Saudi Arabia, Americans would surely object to how much control that country has over American politics.
I'm JUST SAYING
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