Where's Captain Obvious?!

Reading through something on Yahoo earlier today had me wondering if someone had forgotten to reference Captain Obvious. Yes, the headline of the article was "TV Executives Admit in Taped Interviews That Hollywood Pushes a Liberal Agenda". It was all I could do stop myself from uttering out loud, "Oh really?!"

Yes, someone actually got a bunch of Hollywood writers, producers, execs and who knows who else to admit on camera that they were biased, happily so, and would just as soon see anyone who isn't of the same opinion as they go unemployed (at least in Hollywood). Now, I'm sure that some of these people who were interviewed will then cry foul that their tapes were released (exactly what would make them think that TAPED INTERVIEWS would not be used at some point in a public forum?) and others will freely continue to admit that they are better than their non-conservative peers with no public recrimination. And in Hollywood, it does not seem that recriminations from their many like-minded peers will be forthcoming, so that does not seem to be a deterrent to spouting forth their points of view. But I wonder if they will be at all more hesitant to express such views if no one watched their shows and they suddenly find themselves unable to earn an income? (Not that I think that likely; that is more of a wandering thought meandering through the vast desert of empty space in my head.)

And I do not begrudge them their views even if I do not necessarily agree with all of them. No, I think what gets me is the arrogance they show in their superior beliefs and the disdain that they hold for any who do not believe as they do. It is surely an open secret (if "secret" be the right term) that Hollywood has a liberal bias and that is not so much an issue. If you do not like what Hollywood produces, then go create your own or find your entertainment elsewhere. But to assert the rightness of your beliefs and then to deny others who might disagree with you the opportunity to work for/with you would find you in front of a courtroom in almost any other line of business. Heck, Target was recently targeted (no pun intended) for protests when it was learned that the company had donated money to anti-gay politicians. They then backtracked and offered to compensate the opposite side in order to avoid any controversy. Yet the Hollywood elite (and even the not-so-elite) boast of their narrow-minded views and the retribution they deliver to those who don't agree and no one says anything. While they claim to hold tolerant views, it is clear from their words and actions that they are extraordinarily intolerant - while accusing anyone who disagrees with them as being such.

In the world in which I live, this is called hypocrisy. And, anywhere outside of Hollywood, it would not only be frowned upon but likely means of all kinds of not-so-positive things to happen. However, in Hollywood, it appears to be the standard. But I guess that shouldn't be so surprising for an industry that is based on escaping reality.

More political demonization thoughts

Sometimes, it amazes me how people see each other, particularly when it comes to politics. And, I will preface before I go further that I am absolutely certain this is nothing new but the speed with which things are spread via the internet simply allows this sort of vitriol and negative stereotypes to perpetrate themselves with lightning speed. And, for the purpose of this post, I will limit myself to US politics as that is what I am most familiar with. The general stereotype is that Republicans are social and fiscal conservatives, often deeply religious and strongly supportive of the military and financial responsibility. For Democrats, it is the belief that they are borderline communists whose belief in greater government interaction with society is for the betterment of all and who prefer that the rich should be taxed more heavily to support the poor and downtrodden in society who cannot do for themselves.

It should be pretty obvious to anyone who has read this blog for any period of time that I do not belong to either of these political parties as I tend to despise them pretty equally for different reasons. The one thing I dislike is hypocrisy and I strive hard not to be that way in my own life. However, it seems impossible to be involved with any sort of political activity and not become hypocritical at some point. Republicans, to me, are hypocritical based on their "Do as I say, not as I do" attitude, particularly galling for a group that positions themselves as the more "moral" party based on their increasingly religious credentials (and when I say religious, I am referring more to Christian). Correspondingly, Democrats gall me for their attitude of being the more "elitist" party who thinks they know all of the answers and can implement them if only the government were granted more power to do so - in spite of the mountain of evidence through history that indicates that increased power with government usually does not provide for anything to society other than the desire for more power for those who already have it. But this does not stop either party from stooping to various lows to denigrate their opponents for transgressions while ignoring their own. Perhaps this is why so many people outside of the political beltway try to ignore it.

So what has ignited this particular post? The following comment came through my Twitter feed recently and it just irked me a little.

If you slotted Hitler into the current Republican presidential field he’d be a moderate.

Obviously, it is posted by someone with Democratic leanings. But how is it ok for Democrats (the supposed peace party - their current president probably excluded) to make these associations? Or, for that matter, how is it ok for Republicans to paint Obama as anything from Lenin to Stalin to Mao to Hitler (individuals whose only comparable feature was that they were all dictators within the last century)? And, frankly, how does this sort of discourse allow for any sort of rational compromise to occur that will benefit the nation as a whole? It often seems like the entire point of politics today is nothing more than a race to see who will finish first regardless of the consequences. And the deteriorating state of society that seems very evident to any who wish to see it is the sad result. It is not the fault of the Democrats or the Republicans, it is the fault of both and a society that happily allows itself to be fooled into thinking that it is someone else's fault in order to avoid blame unto themselves. I only hope that we will wake up one day to recognize that we are the ones who have to take action if we hope to avoid falling into third world status in the next generation.

The Tank Man

Last night, we watched The Tank Man. I had never seen it and recently found it was on Netflix so I ordered it. While several years old, I still found it to be very enlightening in some regards and it certainly was news to my better half (who lived in China at the time and was completely unaware of many of the things that were shown in the documentary) as well as Mini-Me (who was exposed to something that he ordinarily would not have seen).

The events of the spring of 1989 in China, as I have pointed out in this blog previously regarding the similarly egregious Cultural Revolution, remain unexamined in China as a result of explicit refusal by the government to permit it. This inability to examine the events of that time have allowed for only the perspective of Westerners who were able to both videotape and write about their experiences and it certainly colored an entire generation both in and outside of China. In China, that generation remains unable to articulate their experiences unless they leave (with no intention of returning). In the West, that generation views China today through a lens that is still colored by the actions of a tyrannical government that willingly sacrificed its legitimacy (and I use that term loosely) through the use of battlefield weapons against its own people in order to preserve its rule.

The actions of a single man, defying the might of the state, is a defining image and has imbued many who have seen it with a strong sense of purpose and strength in terms of the relationship with the state. His willful defiance stands in contrast to the weakness of those few in power in China who chose to brutally murder their citizens instead of working to create a better society for everyone. Their fear of their own people is what precipitated the tragic events that June 3 night and, while the actions of a single man (who remains unidentified to this day) have helped to restore some pride to China, that fear continues to haunt the nation. A fear of looking in the mirror and seeing the ugliness and finding a way to address it so that the future can be made to look prettier. The reality is that China can fix the bullet holes in the buildings, repair the tire tracks from the tanks on Changan Avenue and show the world a wonderful Olympics a mere 19 years later but all of that will be a mere facade built upon a fragile framework that will threaten to collapse until it is reviewed and truly repaired. Hopefully, all Chinese will one day be able to learn the entire story of that spring as well as the truth behind the Tank Man.

Android Apps

Yesterday, while waiting for Mini-Me's piano recital to begin, was cruising through the Android Market to see what apps I could just find. Now, bear in mind, that I refuse to pay for any apps at this point - particularly games - so I was just seeing things that could be of use. And the current list of apps on my phone must make me seem pretty nerdy as it runs a fairly comprehensive list of free Chinese language learning apps (1000 Chinese, Chinese Word of the Day - which had an incorrect definition for yesterday's word I should point out - Chinese Translator, Google Translate, Chinese flashcard apps and a couple of dictionaries for added measure), multiple news apps (ranging from CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, BBC, Al-Jazeera and others) and a few games that I enjoy (Chess, Chinese Chess, Pente and Sudoku among others - though my progeny would prefer I get racing games). This does not, of course, include a sizable portion of my music collection that I have yanked onto the phone.

But, came across a couple of very useful apps that I had probably heard of previously but somehow neglected to look up once I actually purchased this phone less than six months ago. The most notable were three - Shazam (a music service that helps to identify songs you may not know), Coupons (which provides an online list of coupons that can be used at various retailers - and I'm curious to find out whether I can actually use these coupons directly from my phone as they say) and GasBuddy (which helps to find the best gas prices in the local area or wherever you wish to search). Using GasBuddy, I managed to actually get gas for $.15/gallon less than I would have found if I'd refilled at my local station. And Coupons helped me find some decent coupons for the restaurant we'd eaten at the previous evening (oh well, better late than never to learn). Meanwhile, I've managed to confuse Shazam only with a couple of Chinese songs (but not all of them) so that is a pretty useful app (since I truly love music and would like to know about certain songs when I hear them).

So, it does beg the question of what other useful apps are out there that people have used? I use the Samsung Galaxy which means I'm limited to the Android market but most apps exist on both the Android and iPhone markets so there aren't many limitations. I'm sure there are others that are handy for the casual user (which is how I view my own usage). If you have some recommendations, feel free to share them.

Cultural Revolution vs. French Revolution

Perhaps it is because of my interest in China and Chinese history but I am rather familiar with the Cultural Revolution and consider it to be one of a series of tragedies that have occurred under the Communist Party. However, I find it particularly egregious that there has been very little in the way of official study that would allow for complete disclosure of the tragedy. Instead, it has been glossed over officially in China with no serious attempts at understanding what happened and why - and any attempts to do so are strongly dissuaded at best if not resulting in detention or worse. Surely the horrors, the breakdown of family and society, the destruction of historical sites and artifacts would all resonate with the victims and encourage some form of reflection to determine the causes and learn how to prevent a repeat action. Yet it is seemingly ignored in the official annals - perhaps with good reason on the part of the leadership.

After doing some reading lately on the French Revolution, I learned more of the events of that time and the horrors that were visited upon the French as a result. And what is frightening are the similarities between the French Revolution and the Cultural Revolution in China less than 200 years later. The tyranny of a few fighting for power and overthrowing the established order by seeking radically extreme views of constant revolution (Robespierre, Marat & Danton among others in Franch, Mao in China), the destruction of the monarchy in France and the rightists in China, and the breakdown of social order and its replacement by chaos and anarchy.

Yet the terror of the French Revolution is now condemned to history and its lessons learned by a population that has not repeated those mistakes. The problems of the Cultural Revolution are more known outside of China than they are in the country. There is uncertainty whether it could be repeated. Those who suffered during the Cultural Revolution either are unwilling to speak of it or are openly prevented from doing so - after all, it was in the past and "mistakes were made" but the implication is that China cannot move into the future unless it forgets the negative past. However, it is the very belief that the past should be forgotten in order to concentrate on the future that prevents China from attaining the prosperous future it foresees for itself. It is impossible to see the future and work hard to succeed when you cannot overcome the past. This is true for individuals and no less true for nations.

Unless and until China and its citizens are able to become more introspective and view their history in a more dispassionate manner - rather than the enforced, faux-positive nationalistic viewpoint supported by the Communist Party - there will be no way to overcome that past and move forward to attain the goals they have set for themselves.

Thoughts on Osama's demise

Last night at 10.00 pm, I saw flash go across my Twitter feed indicating that President Obama would be making an announcement at 10.30 pm EST. So, my curiosity aroused by the fact that the president was requesting time on the national television stations at 10.30 on a Sunday night, I decided to stay up to see what was going on. Normally, I would have been bound for bed by that time since I have to get up at 6 am in the morning for work, but I figured I could handle it for a day.

At 10.30, I flipped on the television and found a news station that had the talking heads wondering what was so important that the president need to announce. They originally considered it had something to do with Libya (which, to be honest, was also my first thought). Then, about 10.50, some 20 minutes after waiting for the president to appear, the news started to filter out that Osama bin Laden had been killed with no shortage of varying details (in this case, "rumors" would be a better description) as to his demise.

My better half and I both looked at each other in amazement and not some small degree of satisfaction. The perpetrator of the worst terror attack in our lifetimes had come to suffer a not totally inappropriate fate at the hands of the military of his avowed enemy. He was killed in a surprise attack against his compound where he had spent, according to reports, much of the last six years.

We watched as the television showed scenes of spontaneous celebration breaking out in various parts of the US. I followed my Twitter feed as people from all over the world offered various commentary on his death, ranging from the witty to the macabre and everything in between - much of it by people who I know as being mainly apolitical at best. The actions of September 11, 2001, planned by Osama bin Laden, had now been revisited upon him and justice, such as it was, had been served almost 10 years later by the nation that had suffered under the repressive memories that he represented.

And yet, I now stop to ponder, almost 24 hours later, just what is the appropriate reaction in this situation. Should we feel glee at the killing of another individual, even one as evil (subjective though that term may be) as Osama bin Laden? Does his death restore the sense of peace and security that America (and much of the rest of the world) may have known prior to 9/11? Does it bring back to life those who died on that tragic day or repair the lives that were ripped asunder?

There are no easy answers to these questions. For me, I take no satisfaction that he died the way he did but I am not unhappy to see him gone. I miss the sense of security that I had prior to 9/11, illusory though it may have been, but recognize that it likely will never return to what it once was in my mind. But then again, the days passed are always better than today in our minds so this is not surprising. I did not suffer losses directly as a result of that day but I do not know how I would feel if I had - and I am glad that I do not have to worry about that feeling.

My hope for tomorrow is that it will be better and brighter than today. I hope the spectre of Osama bin Laden will disappear soon and the negative inspiration that he provided will fade as the hope of an entire region replaces the hatred that he so fervently espoused with the strong push for freedom that has enveloped it over the last several months. May his legacy be not his hatred and violence but the recognition by people that he was the antithesis of what we all desire and the hopes we have were encouraged by opposition, and successor, to him.

More China-related thoughts

I've actually had a lot of things I wanted to write about over the course of the last month or so but I can't seem to find the time. I think my prioritization could use a bit of help sometimes but I guess that is something I'll just have to work on.

I have become much more enthralled with one of my original passions recently - China and Chinese (language). My own language skills have been languishing at various levels of disuse in recent years as Mini-Me only uses it when speaking to his grandparents (when they're here) and my better half has spent much of her time trying to take care of the various things as they pertain to daily living rather than trying to help me expand my knowledge. Of course, this makes it more incumbent upon me to try to find the time to do so on my own but it's hard to sometimes find that motivation after a long day at work and then trying to take care of other things at night where I'm too tired to do much.

I have come across some very good blogs and have discovered that there is a great deal more China-related material on the net than was there even a few years ago. Reading through many of those blogs has helped to rekindle my passion for the subject and I hope to perhaps be able to add in my own studies and thoughts on various lessons as I can. In the meantime, I'll list here some of my favorites in case others are also interested.

The one that really brought me back into the fold was one written by an American named Tom living in China (actually, many of these blogs are written by foreigners in China) who provides an open-minded point of view on things in the country that he sees or encounters - SeeingRedInChina. I have been very impressed with his blog and even went back to read it from the very beginning when I first found it.

Others that I found through him were Tim Corbin who has his own viewpoints that I find interesting - plus he's living in my wife's hometown. HaoHaoReport is a site that has a compilation of various news stories that relate to all things Chinese and has helped me to find a number of other China-related sites as well as more than the run-of-the-mill news stories that might be found in Western papers.

And my first place to find Chinese language info is ChineseHacks which is how I first found some of the information I relayed in my previous post. There are others that I have also come across via the ChinaBlogNetwork and I hope to go through more of them as time permits.

And truly, therein lies my biggest problem - time. With a full-time job and a family - not to mention finally getting started with the book idea I've had in my head for a while - time is not something I currently possess a great deal of (yes, I know I just ended that sentence with a preposition but I'm too tired to consider it at the moment). But perhaps this will be a good method to move into a new direction - or at least a more familiar and preferred direction.

Studying Chinese

I came across these things today for people who are interested in studying Chinese. Quite frankly, I'm not sure how I missed them before but these should be some awesome tools when online and I think these will help to jumpstart my own degrading language skills.

The first is a Taiwanese site that prints the news in Chinese and English side by side. The LibertyTimes will now be bookmarked on my machine and I hope to be able to step through a couple of articles each week. I found out about this site from ChineseHacks which also gave me information on how to convert traditional Chinese to simplified Chinese characters (and vice versa) using a plugin (Tong Wen Tang) available via Firefox, Chrome and Safari.  He also showed another plugin from PeraPera-Kun which offers an incredible online dictionary that will help to translate Chinese characters on the web into English.

I've tried them out on my browser (FF 4.0) and am very pleased thus far. If you are serious about wanting to study Chinese online (or at least being able to brush up on it as in my case) for free, these are some pretty cool resources. Rest assured, I will have both LibertyTimes and ChineseHacks bookmarked for future reference!

(11/17/11 - I just discovered that the PeraPera-Kun website changed their domain and I have updated my link here accordingly.)

Chinese Harmony

I was reading some things today and one of the things that caught my eye had to do with the Chinese desire for social harmony and how strongly the government argues that it cannot permit any protests or disagreement with its method of governance. Whenever an activist or dissident attempts to raise his or her voice about their concerns with things in China (and there is certainly no lack of things to worry or be upset about in China - much like anyplace else on Earth), they are typically hushed up either through intimidation or arrest. The reason for this is that the government is unwilling to tolerate any dissent and would prefer that everyone simply live in harmony with one another. After all, there has been enough chaos and anarchy in recent Chinese history and there is no need to repeat it according to the government.

What the government typically neglects to point out, however, is that all of the disharmony that existed in the recent past is due directly to the government and its actions - most notably by Mao. The Cultural Revolution was orchestrated and directed by Mao (vis-a-vis his intermediaries in the Gang of Four who were subsequently assigned all of the blame after Mao's death so as to preserve Mao's stature) and that is the most grievous example of the social disharmony brought on by the government. This does not include the student protests in 1976 after Zhou Enlai's death, the protests in 1989 after Hu Yaobang's death, the Hundred Flowers campaign and the Great Leap Forward in the 1950's or the numerous bloody purges that took place as a result of Mao's desire for constant revolution to weed out any potential opposition. Furthermore, it is the distinct lack of any critical review of those times, official or unofficial, within China that allows for the ability to learn from those mistakes. Instead, they are glossed over as an unfortunate period of time in which there was much chaos (without probing too deeply into the actual reasons why) and a deep desire to only move forward and develop a deep sense of nationalistic pride.

Unfortunately, the only way in which harmony can truly be achieved is to come to terms with the past and to be able to move past it. Possibly the best example of this would be post-apartheid South Africa which, while not perfect (but what ever is perfect?), offers the vision of what can be achieved when the aggrieved can have the opportunity to reconcile with the aggressors. Perhaps this can never be achieved (after all, one of Mao's stated objectives during the Cultural Revolution was to destroy all of the relationships upon which society was framed) but, if it is not even tried, there can be no hope of ever moving past it and it will forever stain the social fabric of China - let alone prevent any chance at the social harmony that the government preaches ad nauseam at the remotest threat of disagreement.

Grateful Citizen

I was thinking yesterday about how grateful I am to be a citizen of the United States of America. But, being me, I wanted to determine for exactly what I was so grateful. As it turns out, I am grateful for things that may not seem to go together. But it is a crazy patchwork of things that has made this country not just survive, but thrive, in the manner that it has for more than 200 years. Granted, that is a short time in the relative history of many other nations but a sign of the dynamism and wonder that is this nation.

So, what are the things for which I am grateful (as a citizen)? There are three and all are enshrined in the US Bill of Rights (and upheld through the law):

• The right to bear arms (the right, not the obligation)
• The right to freedom of speech (and the right to suffer the consequences accordingly)
• The freedom of the press to monitor the actions of both the government and the people (admittedly, I am an NPR - National Public Radio - fan)

 Yet these are seemingly incongruous within the current political landscape. Or, to be more precise, certain political groups would support the right to bear arms but deny the right of NPR (or most other news organizations) as being politically biased and therefore useless - and vice versa. Yet it is the ability of these ideals to exist with each other that makes this nation stronger, in my opinion. My right to bear arms is to help moderate the power of the government and help to ensure that it remains answerable to its citizens rather than a tyranny under which the citizens must suffer. My right to speak my mind without fear of arbitrary punishment as a result - though I am (and should be) held accountable when my speech causes undue harm to others (such as shouting "Fire!" in a crowded building). And the right of the press to monitor and report upon the government, in particular, helps to ensure, much like the right of the citizenry to own guns, that it will remain responsive and responsible to the people which it is designed to serve.

The key part of all three of these things is that they all be practiced in moderation. And herein lies the point of contention with many who inexplicably (at least in my mind) oppose them in given situations. Just because you have the right to own a gun does not mean you have the right to use it on your fellow citizens. Just because you have the right to speak your mind means you should do so without thinking first. And the power of the media should be moderated to ensure that it is not a power unto itself but a moderating force upon those it should report.

It is a delicate balance and there have been, and continue to be, the occasional errors. But, for the most part, it has worked and I am glad and grateful that it does.

(As a side note, I should also mention that writing early in the morning makes it more difficult to recall certain words that I wanted to use but couldn't immediately recall. I reserve the right to edit this post later when I remember the proper words. EDIT - "arbitrary" was the word I was looking for.)