I keep reading a lot of tweets from folks that are not much more than USA fanboys preaching the goodness of the red-blooded Yanks and how China is just a bunch of commie bastards and I’m getting pretty sick of it.
First of all, that kind of talk does nothing to help peace in the world. Shut up.
Secondly, let’s examine the country of China. China is a country full of over a billion people and thousands of ethnic tribes with thousands of dialects of thousands of languages. When you have a country where people can barely communicate with one another, how do you have a democracy? You can’t really do it, that’s how. In places where democratic-style freedoms can be enjoyed, they are (a la Shanghai and Hong Kong).
As sick as it may sound, I believe this also relates to the human rights abuses and crises that we so often pinpoint. I agree that the laws are tough and unusual, but again – with a population that could absolutely turn the entire country into a complete lawless anarchy (is that redundant?), what else do you do?
Now for protesting at the Olympics. C’mon people. Is there nothing safe? Can we not have a gathering of countries without politics and harsh words? Wait for the next WTO meeting if you want a real chance to protest. Just because the world’s eyes are on you does not mean that you have the obligation to ruin the chance for forgiveness and giving peace a chance.
I’m also trying to get my head around the idea that it’s a GOOD IDEA to go to a country like this that has laws against protesting… bucking the system and trying to do things that you get away with in the USA… and then fracking whining all of the net and other communication mechanisms when you get fracking ARRESTED. Newsflash, id10ts… this is a country with laws UNLIKE OURS. If you’re IN THEIR COUNTRY, you must FOLLOW THEIR LAWS. If I ever get my head around that mentality, I’ll let you know.
Now for the darker side of things.
Yes, I agree there are human rights abuses in China, but these are largely the part of corrupt government officials. Before you try to convince me that this is a problem only in China, you need to look no further than the current fucking morons running our country to understand that government corruption is rampant even in the good ol’ US of A.
Stop and take a look at your own country before you criticize what another country is doing – and give them the chance to explain why they’re Commies to begin with. It makes sense, trust me. The human rights abuses do not, but human rights abuses are occurring here in the USA every day as well – why is China any different?