There's this race to criticize China because the Olympics is putting a microscope on Beijing right now, so it seems like more people can hear about the bitching. All of the bitches about China has come up because of the games from people who know very little about the country's history, people, economy, laws, culture, society (I had a coworker the other day say that the Chinese throw people in jail for spitting on the ground...when I said that they don't, she said 'oh right, so they behead them, right?').
Again, China isn't perfect. HOWEVER, neither is any other country. While I do feel China has a LOT of room for improvement, it doesn't help that other nations and its people are attacking a country doing the best it can with the resources it has.
I'm not Christian so I may get this wrong but, isn't it 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone?' That's not to say we should never criticize China; however, it just sounds and looks hypocritical when other countries who have done similar things or committed worse atrocities get a pass (perhaps due to a higher standard of living?) whereas China doesn't get a pass for whatever reason (because some? many? don't have running water and electricity?).
Having the games has brought up every mistake China has committed in the past as well that have no bearing on the games nor should they.
Tienanmen Square? Cultural Revolution? For Christ's sake, the same government was in power, but DIFFERENT PEOPLE WERE IN CHARGE.
One child policy? Have you ever lived there? Do you know how much land is actually viable for living? Do you think the country has enough resources to sustain that many people? How would a country with 2 billion or 3 billion people live when it's seems at a breaking point now with 1 billion?
Freedom of speech? Censorship? While it is true that other countries have fewer restrictions and penalties for violating them, let's be honest THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS FREE SPEECH AND NO CENSORSHIP (does the news not censor people's faces sometimes? Do channels not censor expletives or breasts or other sexual organs sometimes? Can you invoke a right to use free speech to threaten the president? Can you utter racist slurs? Can you verbally threaten a police officer?). However, I guess those points are all OK because you have the freedom to criticize your own government, which makes things all better and is an indication of true free speech?
lawblob said:
I don't really understand the China bashing based on class discrepancy. Ever been to Syracuse, New York? The city has a 37% high school graduation rate. I guarantee its better than that in China.
Look, 50 years ago, ALL of China was dirt poor. The fact that they have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty since then is probably the single biggest human rights achievement in and of itself. Obviously they still have big problems; but criticizing other countries for not being utopias is just annoying. Nations progress and advance at different rates, there are so many other countries to criticize before we should begin China-bashing, IMO.
Sheesh, everyday on GAF there's one of these threads. Lawblob pretty much sums up how I feel about this all.
