gizmodo takes a punch at china, like everyone else
China has had a difficult time dealing with the criticism of their definitely-could-be-improved foreign policy. But arrogant and misguided attacks directed towards the Chinese people are never justified. The Chinese people are constantly berated and patronised for the Chinese government’s actions. China won’t pull out of Tibet, though they should, sure; but, when will the US pull out of Iraq? We don’t hear the Chinese constantly attacking US citizens with critical remarks.
Gizmodo recently published a post on Chinese farmers erecting a 1:200 replica of the Beijing Olympic “Bird’s Nest” out of bamboo. Definitely a huge artistic feat. Gizmodo reports:
“the Herzog & de Meuron structure was just too darn far away… so in a fit of DIY ingenuity, they built their own replica out of bamboo. Steel’s apparently kind of hard to get when you’re living on a couple of dollars a day.”
To Gizmodo: was this last sentence really necessary? Considering that bamboo is used in the construct of most Chinese buildings, including the “rich skyscrapers” in Shanghai and Beijing, bamboo is cheaper and easier to work with. Just let the Chinese celebrate China’s new country icon. No one makes remarks when someone constructs the Statue of Liberty out of cake; copper’s apparently kind of hard to get when you live on when the average American lives on 106 USD a day.
But Gizmodo’s kind comments consist only the frosting. Browsing the interwebs quickly results in arrogant, uninformed, attacks against the Chinese citizenry:
“lame and who cares what you where, when we hosted the games in Salt Lake, City we did not have half the rules China does, look at the muder that just happen. Safety is not the number one thing on there minds”
“the chinese Deserved the sichuan earthquake. living under the communist regime the people obviously can’t think for themselvs. When the cheap buildings collapsed they didnt know they had to run”
“I’ll give china a chance when the people polish up their act”
“the government forcing the chinese will do the chinese some good, they need to learn how to live in the real world. They dont understand what they do and how they act, there like north koreans completely brainwahsed by the goverment.”
And let’s not forget NBC’s comparison of the Opening Ceremony’s taichi act as “doing karate around a group of kids”, and the transfer of the flag from the Chinese children to the soldiers as a demonstration of the Chinese attitude towards war, power and control, and what they expect from their children.
Attack the government all you want. But don’t insult the people.
