Wednesday, 20 August 2008

• Real Talk

  Some intellectually nutritious readings I've stumbled upon this week-
  
  Angry Youth
  The new generation's neo-con nationalists
  By Evan Osnos
  The New Yorker
  Note: One of the most thorough and thought-provoking articles I ever read on the thoughts and feelings of colelge students in China.
  Excerpts:
  Young patriots are so polarizing in China that some people, by changing the intonation in Chinese, pronounce “angry youth” as “s*** youth.”

  “How can our national self-respect be so fragile and shallow?” Han Han, one of China’s most popular young writers, wrote on his blog, in an essay about nationalism. “Somebody says you’re a mob, so you curse him, even want to beat him, and then you say, We’re not a mob. This is as if someone said you were a fool, so you held up a big sign in front of his girlfriend’s brother’s dog, saying ‘I Am Not a Fool.’ The message will get to him, but he’ll still think you’re a fool.”

  

  This renewed pride has also affected the way Tang and his peers view the economy. They took to a theory that the world profits from China but blocks its attempts to invest abroad. Tang’s friend Zeng smiled disdainfully as he ticked off examples of Chinese companies that have tried to invest in America.

  “Huawei’s bid to buy 3Com was rejected,” he said. “C.N.O.O.C.’s bid to buy into Unocal and Lenovo’s purchase of part of I.B.M. caused political repercussions. If it’s not a market argument, it’s a political argument. We think the world is a free market—”

  Before he could finish, Tang jumped in. “This is what you—America—taught us,” he said. “We opened our market, but when we try to buy your companies we hit political obstacles. It’s not fair.”

  Their view, which is popular in China across ideological lines, has validity: American politicians have invoked national-security concerns, with varying degrees of credibility, to oppose Chinese direct investment. But Tang’s view, infused with a sense of victimhood, also obscures some evidence to the contrary: China has succeeded in other deals abroad (its sovereign-wealth fund has stakes in the Blackstone Group and in Morgan Stanley), and though China has taken steps to open its markets to foreigners, it remains equally inclined to reject an American attempt to buy an asset as sensitive as a Chinese oil company.

  
  

  China's hero, its DiMaggio, falls before race even begins
  By Luke Cyphers
  ESPN The Magazine
  
  
  
  Note: I took the above picture this summer in a Nike Store in Chengdu. He was frozen in a pose of perfect kinetic energy- Nike's take on socialist realism. In this article, Luke Cyphers puts to words the complexity of Liu Xiang in the eyes of the Chinese people.
  
  Excerpt:
  Yes, Yao Ming is celebrated here. But in China, "Liu is like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods," says his international manager, Mark Wetmore of Global Athletics. "Somebody who is recognized and admired by people who aren't even sports fans." His face and physique adorn monstrous billboards across the country, and the state TV stations have been running hour-long documentaries about him throughout the Olympics.

  And because of his connection with a generation of youth that is changing China's perception in the world, he might be something even more iconic -- its Joe DiMaggio.

  

  "He has had great achievements," Feng said. "But it has been difficult for him, too. Even though he does not go out often, wherever he goes, he sees his own picture in the streets. There is great pressure. He withstands psychological pressure no other athlete can withstand."

  The day afterwards, Nike China put out an ad that reads as follows:

  Love competition.

  Love risking your pride.

  Love winning it back.

  Love giving it everything you've got.

  Love the glory. Love the pain.

  Love sport even when it breaks your heart.

  

  
  

  Commentary: Is McCain another George W. Bush?
  By Jack Cafferty
  CNN
  
  Note: A hilarious article by CNN's Jack Cafferty about how much we DON'T need a McCain presidency.
  
  Excerpts:
  Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation.

  His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans.

  Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.

  

  He was asked "if evil exists." His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to "the gates of hell." That was it.

  He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich.

  One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.
  

  Extra Note: And here's the kicker...
  

  I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladamir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.

  George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.

  He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.

  I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.

  

  The Olympics are almost over, but the Real Games have yet to begun!
  

  • 7:53 PM
  • 91 Views
  • 2 eProps
  • 2 Comments