I’m gone for four days…

… and the world explodes.

Currently on ye olde radar:

- The Clinton-Obama-never-ending-contest-of-doom. At this point, dudes. It’s redundant to say anything. Mostly what can be said has already been spewed out there. My adding some verbal diarrhea to this subject doesn’t do anything…

- Montreal people rioting over their home team’s win. Get this. Their hockey team wins, after a lot of tension as to whether they’ll beat the Boston Bruins, and what do they do? They torch cars, beat up police, and scare lots of people on Ste. Catherine’s. Good going, drunken hockey fans. I knew I could count on you for a good, sensible time.

- And J.K. Rowling decides that the HP Lexicon is debasing, pilfered, and badly put-together. Plus, she’s suing Steve Vander Ark for copyright infringement, among other things. I think most of this was Warner’s doing - because which super-popular fantasy series hasn’t sprung more than a few encyclopedic compilations by fans? Admittedly Tolkien is dead and Gaiman is flattered, but how much richer than disgustingly rich do you want to be? Yes, it’s her baby. But she’s used it herself to keep the facts straight during writing - which she has admitted to. I have zero use for the Lexicon, having long stepped out of that particular fandom, but if she honestly thinks fans are out to rip Harry Potter off and make money, she’s going to lose a lot of fans. (Plus, SVA has lots of loyal fanboys, as evidenced by the showing at Prophecy. Just a warning.)

And you may have noticed that the layout has changed… I got tired of the comment thread running waaaaaaaaaaay down where the sidebar ends, so I did a bit of switching around. Am self-professedly bad at this whole CSS/html thing, so it’s pretty much the original layout provided.

Exams. Ha. Do not study the night before. That is all I’m saying.

Sevenses

Don’t be too CNN

I AM LOLLING. SO MUCH LOL.

Lyrics in the original Chinese and translation below:

做人别太CNN

那天上网猛然看见了一张照片
描述的是发生在西藏的打砸事件
CNN信誓旦旦，一切真相都在里面
而我渐渐却发现，这竟是欺骗
不管世事如何变迁，沧海变桑田
周老虎和这样的照片， 我一样的讨厌
不要以为重复千遍，谎话就会成箴言
黑夜给了我黑色眼睛，我却用它寻找光明
何苦挖空心思，想要弄假成真， 做人别太CNN
你又怎么可能，让周杰伦变成李宇春？
何苦挖空心思，想要弄假成真， 做人千万别CNN
我宁愿你们， 只是很傻很天真

Don’t be too CNN

One day I saw a photo on the internet
Describing Lhasa’s violent incident in Tibet
CNN swore that the truth was all there
But I gradually found, that this was a lie
No matter how things change, and oceans may recede to reveal land
The incident of the Zhou Tiger* and this photo are equally despicable
Don’t think that lies become truth if they are repeated a thousand times
The night gave me black eyes, but I will use them to find light
Why spend so much time trying to make false things true? Don’t be too CNN
How can you turn Jay Chou into Li Yuchun**?
Why spend so much time trying to make false things true? Never be like CNN
I would prefer if you were stupid and naive…

* The incident of the Zhou Tiger refers to one hunter’s miraculous ‘discovery’ of a tiger in a forest. The local officials took this at face value and used it to get a large grant from the central government to designate that area a protected park - but in fact the photo of the miracle tiger was actually a life-size calendar of a reclining tiger taken in the woods. The local government colluded with the ‘hunter’ (actually a local farmer) to get money. Very infamous incident of 2007, at least in China.

** Li Yuchun is a super girl idol, also of 2007, I think.

I wonder how this would address the one-sided media report on all sides of the debate? Interesting and funny, but stupid people exist all over the world, unfortunately.

Anyway, this tidbit was for you, before I go off into the deep end of scholastic hell. Hopefully I’ll re-emerge.

Thanks to Pris to pointing this article out, which led me to the song. Haven’t lolled like this in a while.

And on that note, about the issues the article addresses, vigilantism is always always bad. It’s right up there with terrorism. If you have something to say, keep it civil. Don’t toss rocks at houses. The house (or the human) can’t fight back if you toss rocks…

Love,

Sevenses

Petition

Here is what the letter says:

To: CNN and Situation Room

We are truly stunned and shocked by a recent racist and hatred remark on the Chinese people by your news commentator Jack Cafferty. In Situation Room aired on April 9th, Cafferty charged the Chinese people with a highly despicable assault by saying, “They (Chinese) are basically the same bunch goons and thugs they have been in the past fifty years.” (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/09/sitroom.03.html)

It’s not common to witness such a blatant discrimination against an ethnic group of people with such a derogatory connotation in a national TV program. We believe his remark clearly exposed his hatred and bigotry against Chinese people as a whole. Without doubt, many people feel hurt, especially, the Chinese people, by this shameless assault.

Cafferty’s hatred speech has been recorded and uploaded to Youtube. So far the click rate is approaching ten thousand. People from around the world have left comments condemning his vile remark.

As a leading organization of legal immigrants mainly comprised of people from China, we strongly condemn Jack Cafferty’s racist remarks and urge CNN to take immediate action against him. We also demand an official apology from CNN to all Chinese people. We would reserve our right to take further actions on this matter.

Click here to sign.

I stopped watching CNN after I realized the media was just one facet of the government (see: fourth estate), but really, this level of unprofessionalism surprises me.

Sevenses

P.S. Thanks Jess for giving me more examples of public figures making a fool of themselves by jumping onto the bandwagon.

Well said, Joan

A rational voice in the media about the Tibet issue, finally!

Joan Chen wrote in the Washington Post’s online issue:

In a resolution criticizing China, Chris Daly, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said that demonstrating against the torch relay would “provide the people of San Francisco with a lifetime opportunity to help 1.3 billion Chinese people gain more freedom and rights.” To his credit, Mayor Gavin Newsom did not sign Daly’s resolution.

This statement could not be further from reality. For one thing, the Chinese are a proud people. They want freedom and greater rights, but they know they must fight for them from within. They know that no one can grant them freedom and rights from afar. The stigma of Western imperialism and the Opium Wars also remains a strong reminder of the past, and Chinese people do not want their domestic policies to be dictated by outside powers. They also do not want the United States to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Games. The U.S. boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow and the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles accomplished nothing. A U.S. boycott of the opening ceremonies in Beijing would be counterproductive for relations between the two countries.

For decades, anti-China human rights groups in Washington have spent millions of dollars denouncing China. To many Chinese, it seems that this lobby is the only voice that’s acceptable or newsworthy in the U.S. media and to the U.S. government. But times are changing. We need to be open-minded and farsighted. We need to make more friends than enemies. Remember what a little ping-pong game did for Sino-U.S. relations in the 1970s? Let’s celebrate the Olympics for what the Games are meant to be — a bridge for friendship, not a playground for politics.

For the complete article, go here.

Isn’t that more logical and to the point (not to mention less hysterical)? Snaps for Joan.

Sevenses

Tibet ramblings

Having found myself getting involved in myriad debates and emails and discussions about this storm of controversy and mainly condemnation of China, I figured I might as well as unite everything I’ve been saying - it could fill reams of pages, but I’ll try to keep this one short. (Lol, and coherent.)

A month ago, nothing much was happening on this front… and the US economy continued its flailings, Obama and Clinton were busy throwing mud at each other, McCain was doing his thing, Harper added to the amount of carbon dioxide and other noxious gases spewing out of Canada, Dion went on being useless, Putin goes on with his agenda, and so on …

And then Tibetan teens and other angry people throw rocks and attack the Han Chinese, and bam! The media explodes all over how Oppressed The People Are.

The problem is that as long as people hear what they want to, they won’t stop. Especially if they’re not too smart and easily led (read: more than half the world’s population, unfortunately.)

What I’m getting worried about is the backlash from self-righteous ‘westerners’ who think they’ve got something to say to every Chinese person, now that they are confirmed in their superiority… this will give every supremacist bigot another reason to pick on Chinese people. (As evidenced by a very loud, very rude and very dim person on the bus this morning. Up yours, jerk.)

My biggest issue is the utmost hypocrisy the media is indulging in - by presenting themselves as the most impartial, unbiased human rights lovers ever, they somehow carefully ignore the other side of the story - and the other side isn’t a small minority, it’s a rather large country with some very vocal and (increasingly) angry people.

Tibetan protesters assert their independence by snatching the Olympic torch - they get kudos. Chinese people who try to protect a paraplegic girl who had the torch in hand? Arrested or labeled as violent oppressing Communists. Go media. I wave my flag at you. (Unfortunately my flag says ‘fuck you’.)

Vatican worried that Muslims are outnumbering Catholics

According to statistics, right now, Muslims make up 19.2% of the worlds population, beating the Catholic 17.4%.

A high ranking church official commented, “While it is known that Muslim families continue to have many children, Christian families are having fewer.” (He also said, “For the first time in history, we are no longer on top.”)

Source: The Guardian Weekly. Vol 178 No 16.

Well. That clears up a few things, don’t you think?

a) That pesky birth control issue, in which the church has always maintained a firm stance.

b) Climate change! Let’s all have babies and use up the world’s limited resources! Because, as we all know, potential Catholics deserve to be consumers just as much as potential Muslims.

c) Lalala, what xenophobia? Next thing you know, they might do population analyses based on nationality, and we all know who would win, right?

d) HIV doesn’t happen to good Catholics. God takes care of that.

Okay, enough of this concern for fellow humans. Take me to someplace where I don’t have to worry about concern. Yay for dramaland.

Love,

Sevenses

Uncle Sam need YOU to free Tibet!

I know I’ve stayed away from being personal, political, or otherwise in-your-face about the world we live in and the absolute messes we create. We have political blogs for that, thankfully.

Unfortunately, the furor over recent events in Tibet (please tell me you know what’s going on, unless you’re a) imprisoned, b) recovering from a coma, c) been sleeping this weekend) has reached even my cosy little isle of dramas and the daily struggle to maintain a 4.0 average. People - and by people I mean outraged junior human rights activists who demand that China pull out of their cruel ‘occupation’ of Tibet immediately - have been pestering me for my opinion, as a Chinese citizen, on the events.

Cool your jets, people, and take a look at the facts. Two main arguments against Chinese presence in Tibet:

1. Tibet is not a part of China: Tibet, territorially and legally speaking, has been a part of China since the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty (1271 AD). They were a monarchical society with their own monastic beliefs, and had submitted to become a vassal province under the combined military power of the Mongolians (who took over the rest of China too). Since then, with each successive dynasty and government, Tibet has agreed to be included as part of China - where were the protesters for justice and liberation in 1598 AD? 1845 AD? (Picking random dates out of a hat here. Of course, we are also not forgetting that at least 7 Western nations tried to colonialize parts of China concurrently in the 18-19th centuries and wrought massive damages on the people - but that’s a post for another day.)
2. Cruelty, unfairness, oppression of the Tibetan people: Take the spate of attacks this weekend - they were violent, aimed at the vulnerable, and clearly trying to hurt. The irony is, most of the victims were Han Chinese. Those were the people all this deployed army and police personnel were supposed to protect (doesn’t say much for military efficiency, but then not all of us can afford to pour $180 per capita into defense spending). Historically speaking? Taking a broader look, the Tibetans before 1950s were ruled by an elite society led by the Dalai Lama (not the current one). So in the 1950s, the Communists come and set up a regional government, effectively marginalizing the Dalai Lama’s sphere of influence. After a failed rebellion, the retainers of the then youthful Dalai Lama escaped to India. Human rights under a monarchical system, I believe I do not need to expand on. Yes, there is a lack of human rights, but that applies to China in general. And I do know that the government is pouring millions, if not billions of dollars into regional development.

My biggest problem with this whole issue is that NO ONE KNOWS WHAT’S GOING ON. The Western media have one story, the Chinese one another, the Tibetans maybe a third. None of them tell the full truth, but neither is willing to concede the veracity of their account. Okay, so the Chinese state media lies. Is the Western media (the so-called fourth estate) then completely unbiased and independent from their governments and thus a model for information diffusion? I doubt it.

Quite frankly, I have little to no patience for idiots who shout freedom, but intelligent, well-reasoned debate is welcome. Goodness knows we need to change this world of ours.

Respectfully,

Sevenses

If ever you’re bored…

I was browsing around theonion.com, a site I haven’t visited in a while, and I rediscovered its Our Dumb World Map. It’s quite fun, and the tongue-in-cheek segments about Iran, China, Russia and lots of other countries are really very funny.

When you have lots of spare time and need to have some politically incorrect giggles, take a look.

There’s also a funky site that lets you splotch colour all over your screen.

Ta,

Sevenses

Barefaced hypocrisy

It’s strong language to use, language usually suited to the condemnation of brazen idiots who expect the world to believe whatever lies they spew.

And I know that talking about unpleasant things, besides getting the other party uncomfortable and maybe angry, rarely has any concrete effect on the matter in discussion. But I can no longer remain silent as a whole nation of people are suppressed and segregated into misery. I fully concede your right to an opinion differing from mine, of course.

Yes, violent attacks that result in deaths of Israelis are wrong. But does it make the Israelis right to bulldoze Palestinian homes? Does it make them right to deny innocent citizens tax money they’ve paid, supplies of food and drink? Does it make them right to take life after life in an attempt to assuage the wrongs? Are people’s lives somehow worth less if they are Palestinian, in a region where power, money and advanced weapons remain with the Israelis?

I understand the purpose and use of economic sanctions, of course. That apparently allows you to withhold government funding, to build whole walls that separate a cohesive nationality into little pockets of outraged humanity, to ignore United Nations decrees by the tanker truck, to refuse treaty agreements until people are desperate enough to blow themselves up.

To assassinate your own prime minister who had the gall to propose peace.

Never mind the flagrant human rights abuses (present and past) that the US and Canada are usually so happy to chastise. Never mind a whole generation of children on both sides who will grow up with memories of hate and violence, who will not know the feeling of living in a peaceful atmosphere. Never mind that one day even the people in your pocket will be forced to admit that perhaps it was going too far.

I ask of you: is this the action of any reasonable adult?

Of course, these current tactics are working wonderfully. No, they really are. Once you clean out the bodies of the Palestinians, the entire area would belong to Israel. Congratulations.

I am just not sure it was worth the price.

Respectfully yours,

Sevenses