Richard Low, a retired Chinese-American professor, wrote the following thoughtful piece which is worth reading and analysing as China goes through its 20th anniversary of June 4th Tiananmen, and the debate continues about "human rights" as seen through "Europeanized" lenses. Mr. Low has a different perspective worth noting:
"Sixty years ago, in the hopes of creating a better world, world thinkers came together to devise international standards for how we should live and governments committed to uphold and guarantee the rights and freedoms set out in these standards for the people of their nations.
Despite the fact that there has been progress in the area of human rights around when the world, there still exist many observable instances of human rights violations."
In China, it is just the opposite.
It was not the people nor the thinkers who had ever given any thought to human rights. It was the ruler who, in order to rule them, must first have accepted the so-called Mandate of Heaven which required him/her to serve the ruled with love (or human-heartedness) and justice. This scheme got started when Zhou Dynasty (1122-770 BCE) took power by defeating the brutal and repressive Shang Dynasty (?1766-?1122 BCE). So it was a ruler's duty or obligation to provide human care or service to the ruled. Why so? It was because during that period one of the very popular maxims circulating among the people says, "People are the foundation of a state. When the foundation is firm and solid, the state will enjoy peace and harmony."
But what would this foundation be like and how to build it? Then, there came Confucius (557-497 BCE) who proposed a Great Universal Society (Datong) or Utopia, as given below:
When the Great Way prevails, the world belongs to all. Men of great virtue and talent are selected (or elected) who will foster mutual trust and promote universal understanding. Thus, men do not regard as their parents only their own parents nor treat as their own children only their own children. Sufficient provision is secured for the aged till their death, employment assured for the able-bodied, and funds provided for the loving care of the young. The widowers, widows, orphans, the childless, and those who are disabled by diseases or mishaps are adequately cared for. Each man has his duty, and each woman her hearth. While they detest those who throw away things wastefully, they do not hoard things for their own self-gratification. Disliking idleness they labor, but not alone with a view to their own advantage. In this way, selfish acts of cheating and profiteering are discouraged. Hence, their front doors need not be locked.
Such is the State of Universal Peace and Harmony for All
- The Book of Rites (Li Ji)
Except for the few decades when Mao Zedong tried to replace Confucius,through his shameful Cultural Revolution, with Marx, Confucianism has guided China politically and ethically for over 2,000 years - even during the 300 some years of occupation by the Mongols and the Manchus. Now that Mao has passed away, the new regime has gradually brought Confucius back, and once again the Chinese become the only people on this planet who have enjoyed the same living civilization continuously for such a long time.
So, if the Chinese government ever violates any of the human rights, all that the UN or the so-called NGO has to do is to ask if it still respects the Mandate of Heaven and remembers Confucius's teachings. After all, a sense of shame is considered one of the most important virtues for being a virtuous gentleman (Junzi).
Unfortunately, Westerners do not seem to possess this kind of culture in their history. Thus, even when Jesus told them to love their enemies and bless them that curse them and so on, more Christians were killed by Christians than by the pagan Romans when the Roman emperor Constantine (306-337), tired of the unending heated debate over Trinitarianism, decided to take it as the Christian doctrine of the West, according to the great historian Edward Gibbon in his "Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" and, then, the bloody fights betweeen so-called Christians during the period of Reformation resulting "in the death of 10-20 million," according to the "Bible Handbook" by Henry Halley (1951).
So, it is no wonder that "some governments have used the concepts of human rights and democracy to their own advantage and used it to advance their own political agendas."
How about some governments using the United Nations "to their own advantage" and "to advance their own political agenda?"
Well,it seems that perhaps the United Nations may need a total reform!
The above thoughtful posting by Mr. Low should be read in tandem with the following link:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/email/obstacles-to-the-progress-of-human-rights-in-the-world
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
What's good for the goose is good for the gander - HKG Democrats criticized Macau for banning their entry -- look what the Brits in UK are doing too !
Recently, I read about how a group of HKG Democrats drew international media attention, especially in the Western press, about how some of them were barred from entry to MACAU and prevented from disembarking from the piers after attempting to take the HKG-Macau ferry.
The ostensible reason, of "shit-disturber" mau-mau legislator such as Leung Kwok Hung (aka as "Long Hair Leung"), that hippie-looking serial protester in the HKG legislature who is constantly a sore in the butt for HKG's Chief Executive and a hemmorhoidal "pain" on the backside of Beijing, is that the rights of free speech and freedom of assembly, and as their extension, the freedom of dissent, is guaranteed under the "one country, two systems" policy of CHINA.
Well, we have also heard from Jackie Chan, the "kung fu" movie actor, who was roundly excoriated for his "foot in mouth" remarks about the Chinese people needing "control" or "regulation;" further, Jackie Chan noted that "chaotic" environment of HKG where "luan" as he described it is not something that he is sure the Chinese need.
Well, look across the United Kingdom, the cradle of the Magna Carta of Human rights. See what the Brits just did in declaring an American radio "talk show jock," Michael Savage, a blabbermouth of an extreme arch-conservative who hates immigrants, advocates nuking Iran, "persona non grata" and barred him from entering Great Britain.
Savage, in his usual raging "fire and brimstone" screaming and hectoring, from his pulpit in San Francisco, the "chi-chi" capital of American uber-liberals, lefties, and greenies, is crying "persecution" and infringement of his free speech rights.
Savage is threatening to sue the British government.
Doesn't this show shades of HKG's blabbermouth "Long Hair" Leung, otherwise known as Leung Kwok Hung, and his raving and ranting against Macau for declaring him "persona non-grata" and banning him from visiting Macau ?
Read on the story about Michael Savage, our San Francisco version of a "Long Hair" Leung, otherwise known as Leung Kwok Hung.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=39618
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Now the Brits know what Jackie Chan is talking about, and may even comiscerate with poor Jackie Chan, whose butt was kicked all over the place, from the "honorary whites" and "Western farts smell more fragrant" constituency in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.
Touche. Touche. Touche. YAU MO KAU CHO AAHHHHH !
The ostensible reason, of "shit-disturber" mau-mau legislator such as Leung Kwok Hung (aka as "Long Hair Leung"), that hippie-looking serial protester in the HKG legislature who is constantly a sore in the butt for HKG's Chief Executive and a hemmorhoidal "pain" on the backside of Beijing, is that the rights of free speech and freedom of assembly, and as their extension, the freedom of dissent, is guaranteed under the "one country, two systems" policy of CHINA.
Well, we have also heard from Jackie Chan, the "kung fu" movie actor, who was roundly excoriated for his "foot in mouth" remarks about the Chinese people needing "control" or "regulation;" further, Jackie Chan noted that "chaotic" environment of HKG where "luan" as he described it is not something that he is sure the Chinese need.
Well, look across the United Kingdom, the cradle of the Magna Carta of Human rights. See what the Brits just did in declaring an American radio "talk show jock," Michael Savage, a blabbermouth of an extreme arch-conservative who hates immigrants, advocates nuking Iran, "persona non grata" and barred him from entering Great Britain.
Savage, in his usual raging "fire and brimstone" screaming and hectoring, from his pulpit in San Francisco, the "chi-chi" capital of American uber-liberals, lefties, and greenies, is crying "persecution" and infringement of his free speech rights.
Savage is threatening to sue the British government.
Doesn't this show shades of HKG's blabbermouth "Long Hair" Leung, otherwise known as Leung Kwok Hung, and his raving and ranting against Macau for declaring him "persona non-grata" and banning him from visiting Macau ?
Read on the story about Michael Savage, our San Francisco version of a "Long Hair" Leung, otherwise known as Leung Kwok Hung.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=39618
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Now the Brits know what Jackie Chan is talking about, and may even comiscerate with poor Jackie Chan, whose butt was kicked all over the place, from the "honorary whites" and "Western farts smell more fragrant" constituency in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.
Touche. Touche. Touche. YAU MO KAU CHO AAHHHHH !
"European Price" as U.S. dollar declines; the New York Times will cost US$ 2 for each print newspaper for weekdays and US$ 6 on weekends starting June
Setting aside all these "culture food fights" raging within America, from same-sex marriage, legalizing marijuana use, animal rights, banning foie gras in French restaurants, banning plastic bags, and a carbon tax imposed on one's excess carbon footprints and emissions, Many Americans are not thinking straight and focusing on the fundamental issues that face their society from within.
Forget the pain and hemorrhaging suffered in terms of human fatalities and casualties in two wars, i.e. Iraq and Afghanistan, with consequences, social and economic, and yes, psychic, in the form of war-shocked returning troops suffering "post-traumatic stress syndrome" and readjustment to peacetime and the bleak jobs market at home.
Forget the Wall Street bailouts, the handouts to big banks, and the handouts to the auto industry, CHRYSLER and GM, included.
Forget the joblessness and the hollowing out of America's core economy. Forget the unemployed and underemployed college graduates increasingly stressed out and distressed.
Forget the housing meltdown, and the credit crunch, forcing "Johnny Six Pack" and "Soccer Jane Mom" to go belly-up and bankrupt.
The sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, already prophesied that the U.S. is primed to face an inflationary spiral which is bound to impact the U.S. economy in the form of rising prices. INFLATION. INFLATION. INFLATION with the capital "I."
Somehow, no one is thinking straight and applying some common sense that all these financial borrowing and leverating, and all these bail-outs and economic stimuli packages from the government, will eventually have to be paid for sometime, somewhere by somebody.
And from the looks of things, it will be the ordinary folks in Main Street who will bear the burden.
Consider the latest.... faced with dwindling circulation and an erosion of its advertising base, America's premier newspaper, the New York Times just announced that it will cost US$2 to obtain a copy its daily newspapers, and US$6 a copy for its Sunday edition.
What kind of desperado act is this ? Yao Mo Kao Cho ahhhhh !!!!
GIMME A BREAK.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9808NR81&show_article=1
Is this now "Europe pricing" now working its way into America ?
In Western Europe, we all know how they gouge consumers with prices which are downright obscene. e.g. US$ 10 for a soggy, miserable looking "bockwurst" sausage in a miserable looking bun.
Unfortunately, this model, i.e. the "European pricing" model, appears to be the trend which is increasingly happening in America.
The U.S. dollar ain't worth beans pretty soon.
Hoard up on the yuan (renminbi), fellas.
The professor of doom and gloom, Noriel Roubini,and his fellow professor from New York University Stern School of Business, Matthew Richardson penned the following op-ed article, which appeared in the WSJ. You be the judge.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124147831175584985.html
Forget the pain and hemorrhaging suffered in terms of human fatalities and casualties in two wars, i.e. Iraq and Afghanistan, with consequences, social and economic, and yes, psychic, in the form of war-shocked returning troops suffering "post-traumatic stress syndrome" and readjustment to peacetime and the bleak jobs market at home.
Forget the Wall Street bailouts, the handouts to big banks, and the handouts to the auto industry, CHRYSLER and GM, included.
Forget the joblessness and the hollowing out of America's core economy. Forget the unemployed and underemployed college graduates increasingly stressed out and distressed.
Forget the housing meltdown, and the credit crunch, forcing "Johnny Six Pack" and "Soccer Jane Mom" to go belly-up and bankrupt.
The sage of Omaha, Warren Buffett, already prophesied that the U.S. is primed to face an inflationary spiral which is bound to impact the U.S. economy in the form of rising prices. INFLATION. INFLATION. INFLATION with the capital "I."
Somehow, no one is thinking straight and applying some common sense that all these financial borrowing and leverating, and all these bail-outs and economic stimuli packages from the government, will eventually have to be paid for sometime, somewhere by somebody.
And from the looks of things, it will be the ordinary folks in Main Street who will bear the burden.
Consider the latest.... faced with dwindling circulation and an erosion of its advertising base, America's premier newspaper, the New York Times just announced that it will cost US$2 to obtain a copy its daily newspapers, and US$6 a copy for its Sunday edition.
What kind of desperado act is this ? Yao Mo Kao Cho ahhhhh !!!!
GIMME A BREAK.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9808NR81&show_article=1
Is this now "Europe pricing" now working its way into America ?
In Western Europe, we all know how they gouge consumers with prices which are downright obscene. e.g. US$ 10 for a soggy, miserable looking "bockwurst" sausage in a miserable looking bun.
Unfortunately, this model, i.e. the "European pricing" model, appears to be the trend which is increasingly happening in America.
The U.S. dollar ain't worth beans pretty soon.
Hoard up on the yuan (renminbi), fellas.
The professor of doom and gloom, Noriel Roubini,and his fellow professor from New York University Stern School of Business, Matthew Richardson penned the following op-ed article, which appeared in the WSJ. You be the judge.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124147831175584985.html
Monday, May 4, 2009
The Silk Route trade between the Middle East and China renewed and growing
Linkage between the Middle East and China, in commercial as well as cultural ties, with China's Hui minority in Xinjiang Province as hub, has grown dramatically as reported by the following blog:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2009/04/27/middle-east-looks-east-to-china/
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2009/04/27/middle-east-looks-east-to-china/
Sunday, May 3, 2009
The head of the World Health Organization --- answers critics ---defends HKG's quarantine;; Margaret Chan: "you ain't seen nuthing yet" - 2nd Wave ?
Many in the Western news media ratpacks are "pooh-poohing" the draconian methods applied by Asian-Pacific countries against the spread of the swine flu.
"Overblown" seems to be the theme of the carping.
CNN's "talking head" Jack Cafferty (remember him during the Beijing Olympucs Games torch relay run-up and his racist comments") is once again one of those white "jackasses." Counting dead bodies, Cafferty once again shot from his mouth, claiming that the "old flu" bug alone already claimed 13,000 American lives this year alone, compared to one death chalked up to the swine flu:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/05/03/MN3B17CKP7.DTL
Hong Kong doctor Margaret Chan, who now heads the World Health Organization, would have none of this "dumbed-down" raving and ranting by these gweillo ratpacks. She gave a press conference setting up the record:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6260d9a-37d4-11de-9211-00144feabdc0.html
"Overblown" seems to be the theme of the carping.
CNN's "talking head" Jack Cafferty (remember him during the Beijing Olympucs Games torch relay run-up and his racist comments") is once again one of those white "jackasses." Counting dead bodies, Cafferty once again shot from his mouth, claiming that the "old flu" bug alone already claimed 13,000 American lives this year alone, compared to one death chalked up to the swine flu:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/05/03/MN3B17CKP7.DTL
Hong Kong doctor Margaret Chan, who now heads the World Health Organization, would have none of this "dumbed-down" raving and ranting by these gweillo ratpacks. She gave a press conference setting up the record:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e6260d9a-37d4-11de-9211-00144feabdc0.html
Will Wolfram Alpha come out and eat the lunch of Google ?
Find out about the buzz over Wolfram Alpha and why this new upstart software can eat the lunch of Google as a more versatile search engine ?
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/an-invention-that-could-change-the-internet-for-ever-1678109.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/an-invention-that-could-change-the-internet-for-ever-1678109.html
Fortress Australia - Aussie Premier Kevin Rudd bulking up its own military on rise of CHINDIA (China and India)
Who's kidding who, Mr. Kevin Rudd ?
Fundamentally, Australia still sees itself alligned with Europe and America and is the bulwark state acting as Asia policeman for the Europeans and North Americans.
In the face of an emerging CHINDIA, i.e. China and India, and the increasing role China and India play in the world's geopolitical stage, Aussies are getting skittish about their role as America's "junior policeman" providing the containment rim to curb a rising CHINDIA.
And here we are seeing the rationale and justification of a "bulking up" of Australia's military by a whooping US$ 72 billion, spread out over 20 years. That's a lot of 'baksheeh' , folks.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0503/p99s01-woap.html
Shades of that "white supremacy" world hegemony at play. The Aussies are always ambivalent and confused about whether they are Asians or Europeans.
And understandably, upon seeing a weakening Uncle Sam (or Uncle Obama), Uncle Kevin is preparing for contingency.... just in case.
Uncle Kevin may speak Mandarin; but his heart is screwed on the wrong place. And it shows lately in his political posturing in the international stage.
Fundamentally, Australia still sees itself alligned with Europe and America and is the bulwark state acting as Asia policeman for the Europeans and North Americans.
In the face of an emerging CHINDIA, i.e. China and India, and the increasing role China and India play in the world's geopolitical stage, Aussies are getting skittish about their role as America's "junior policeman" providing the containment rim to curb a rising CHINDIA.
And here we are seeing the rationale and justification of a "bulking up" of Australia's military by a whooping US$ 72 billion, spread out over 20 years. That's a lot of 'baksheeh' , folks.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0503/p99s01-woap.html
Shades of that "white supremacy" world hegemony at play. The Aussies are always ambivalent and confused about whether they are Asians or Europeans.
And understandably, upon seeing a weakening Uncle Sam (or Uncle Obama), Uncle Kevin is preparing for contingency.... just in case.
Uncle Kevin may speak Mandarin; but his heart is screwed on the wrong place. And it shows lately in his political posturing in the international stage.
Triple whammies of global financial meltdown, drug cartels violence, and now..... swine flu whack Mexico
Lately, the people of Mexico, some 110,000,000 (110 million) masses of them, are going through a hellacious time.
It is a sad state of affairs. And the pandemic of swine flu could not have happened at a worse time. Right smack at a time of Cinco de Mayo (May 5th)... Mexico's National Independence Day, a festive celebratory occasion.
The triple whammies of the global financial meltdown triggered by Wall Street and Canary Wharf have unleashed a first wave of tsunami striking at the heart of Mexico's economy. This horrific scenario is worse than the SARS crisis which whacked HKG, Singapore and China before because then, the global financial system was intact, and there was not the added mess created by the pandemic of drugs, heroin, cocaine growing and smuggling which have now beset Mexico and their American and Canadian customers.
With the price of oil plunging, Mexico's oil industry, a major source of state revenues, has been hurting....as demand has shriveled and global oil consumption shrunk.
Furthermore, because of incessant demand and the rampant abuse and ingestion of drugs by the "gringos" in the North, i.e. namely Americans, there erupted an internecine war which has heated up inside Mexico by rival drug growers and smugglers.
The rival drug gangs were emboldened by a weak anti-drug law enforcement policy and a weak U.S.-Mexican border which experienced rampant smuggling of drugs being smuggled from one way across the border from Mexico; and from the other way across from the U.S. to Mexico.... money laundering and high-powered weapons and assault rifles.
There is a largely unreported "hot war" among rival drug cartels inside Mexico which has wracked the Mexican citizenry caught in the crossfire, and the Central government in Mexico is frantically fighting very hard to stomp out the violence.
The U.S. President Barack Obama knows that Americans and American drug users, gun stores, and American proclivity to buy high-powered assault weapons compound and add to the problems of Mexico's fight against the cross-border drug cartels.
And now...... here we go with the horrific news and perilous pandemic of the swine flu.
This is the third hugh wave of the "tsunami" which struck this sad country of 110 million peoples.
With the news of swine flu afflicting Mexico...... tourism, which is one of its biggest source of cash revenues, is now dead. Hotel occupancy in resort destinations like Cancun, in the Caribbean side of the country, is now down to single digit occupancy, i.e. 7% to 8%.
Cross-border traffic and weekend visitors across the U.S.-Mexican border have virtually come to a complete standstill.
Cruise ships which have provided Mexico's coastal port stops... from Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas, Zihuatenejo, Conzumel, with steady streams of dollar-spending tourists have stopped plying these ports of call as cruise destinations because of the fear of the swine flu.
Read on the story on how much damage this triple whammy has wrought upon the peoples of Mexico:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/05/03/MNC317CR8L.DTL
It is a sad state of affairs. And the pandemic of swine flu could not have happened at a worse time. Right smack at a time of Cinco de Mayo (May 5th)... Mexico's National Independence Day, a festive celebratory occasion.
The triple whammies of the global financial meltdown triggered by Wall Street and Canary Wharf have unleashed a first wave of tsunami striking at the heart of Mexico's economy. This horrific scenario is worse than the SARS crisis which whacked HKG, Singapore and China before because then, the global financial system was intact, and there was not the added mess created by the pandemic of drugs, heroin, cocaine growing and smuggling which have now beset Mexico and their American and Canadian customers.
With the price of oil plunging, Mexico's oil industry, a major source of state revenues, has been hurting....as demand has shriveled and global oil consumption shrunk.
Furthermore, because of incessant demand and the rampant abuse and ingestion of drugs by the "gringos" in the North, i.e. namely Americans, there erupted an internecine war which has heated up inside Mexico by rival drug growers and smugglers.
The rival drug gangs were emboldened by a weak anti-drug law enforcement policy and a weak U.S.-Mexican border which experienced rampant smuggling of drugs being smuggled from one way across the border from Mexico; and from the other way across from the U.S. to Mexico.... money laundering and high-powered weapons and assault rifles.
There is a largely unreported "hot war" among rival drug cartels inside Mexico which has wracked the Mexican citizenry caught in the crossfire, and the Central government in Mexico is frantically fighting very hard to stomp out the violence.
The U.S. President Barack Obama knows that Americans and American drug users, gun stores, and American proclivity to buy high-powered assault weapons compound and add to the problems of Mexico's fight against the cross-border drug cartels.
And now...... here we go with the horrific news and perilous pandemic of the swine flu.
This is the third hugh wave of the "tsunami" which struck this sad country of 110 million peoples.
With the news of swine flu afflicting Mexico...... tourism, which is one of its biggest source of cash revenues, is now dead. Hotel occupancy in resort destinations like Cancun, in the Caribbean side of the country, is now down to single digit occupancy, i.e. 7% to 8%.
Cross-border traffic and weekend visitors across the U.S.-Mexican border have virtually come to a complete standstill.
Cruise ships which have provided Mexico's coastal port stops... from Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas, Zihuatenejo, Conzumel, with steady streams of dollar-spending tourists have stopped plying these ports of call as cruise destinations because of the fear of the swine flu.
Read on the story on how much damage this triple whammy has wrought upon the peoples of Mexico:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/05/03/MNC317CR8L.DTL
Swine flu blues ... while China and HKG act vigorously and vigilantly, gweillos fulminate and attack quarantine as draconian and excessive
The difference in responses and the regimens between China, Singapore,and their Asian-Pacific neighors relative to those government officials in America and Europe demonstrates a major policy and mind gap between the gweillos/ Westerners/Europeans and the Chinese about sleuthing, containing, and eliminating viruses and the spread of communicable diseases.
This difference of approach is based on a fundamental divergence in attitude about worrying about the collective good as an overarching imperative and utmost priority as opposed to worrying about individual rights in the name of privacy and a Europeanized version of "civil liberties" and so-called "human rights."
This fight against the swine flu is playing out with a clear divergence in draconian measures imposed by China and the "PC" position practiced by some Western officials. The Chinese, in my opinion, have had more experiences with containing contagious disease, and their record has always been about the "collective good," i.e. "da qu mien;" not "PC" nor "PR" spin.
Given the Chinese experience and history with SARS, avian flu, and other epidemic, do you blame them ?
In my book, the science of epidemiology is one which is "hit and miss" and requires some luck, and some science. Sleuthing to find the cause and spread of contagious disease is not an exact science.
Respectful scientists can differ; but I would much rather go wrong on the side of overcaution than to go wrong on the side of carelessness and laxness.
China has 1.3 billion inhabitants; and it has some of the densest and most populated cities in the world. Cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen are hubs for international travellers. And given that the swine flu is ascertained to have originated and flared up outside of China, it is logical and prudent for China to act vigorously and vigilantly.
Already, Chinese authorities have quarantined at least 50 Mexican nationals suspected of carrying the swine flu virus and isolated them in their hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
This shut-down and draconian measures were executed because the country cannot afford to lose on this. Besides, there does not appear to be a tinge of racism in this.
Anyone with these symptoms or contact with someone with the swine flu are immediately quarantined. And these include Taiwanese, Indians, Singaporeans, Koreans, Japanese, Sri-Lankans, Arabs...... and not just Europeans, Mexicans, Americans. It is the Western news media which are hyping on this controversy and protests by the Europeans and American health authorities, as well as the Mexican foreign minister.
Rather than overemphasize on individual rights, and despite all the fulmigation, Chinese authorities are doing what they have to do in order to fight the spread of this virus, which may have the tendency of mutation and morphing into a more virulent and deadly strain.
Look at the "lock-down" in Mexico city; the Mexican foreign minister has no cause nor bases to protest.
Read the latest about the quarantine inside China inside China, i.e. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou.
These are densely populated cities, not unlike Mexico City. Cities with over 10 million people packed in subways, streets, alleys, food places.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/NewsBreak/20090503153119/Article/index_html
More to the story from MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30471035/
Amazingly, the Red Cross through Atlanta's Center for Disease Control, has a website which also explained the method of containing the spread of viruses, and in it, the use of quarantine is advocated.
http://www.redcross.org/preparedness/cdc_english/IsoQuar.asp
Overall, when you are fighting a fire, or trying to catch a criminal, or fighting an epidemic... you have to do what you have to do.
I think Americans are dumb and stupid and always play the "PC" side.
It applies in identifying suspects in crime and never mentioning their race.
Hey, if the serial bank robber on a crime spree preying on victimns is a Black, White, Brown or a Yellow..... you need to have that information on race in order to catch him. It is only good common sense.
Again, with regard to the swine flu, if more Mexicans come in contact with the virus from Mexican city, is it not logical to identify and isolate them more as potential carriers of the virus ?
Again, we must underscore that along with Mexicans and Europeans, China and HKG are also quaranteeing Taiwanese, Malaysians, SIngaporeans, or anyone who came in contact or were close to the Mexican traveller afflicted with the Swine Flu on that China Eastern Airlines flight from Shanghai to HKG.
That's not "PC;", i.e.playing "political correctnes"; but that is the right thing to do.
HKG epidemiologists ought to be applauded for being thorough and vigilant. HKG's Wanchai, Central, Tsimsatsui, Causeway Bay, Mongkok, Yaumatei, and other densely populated districts are too perilous to take a chance. Imagine if the virus spreads through contact on the underground MRT, or onto the trains headed to Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta region. All hell freezes when that happens.
Compare Americans with their "PC" bullshit. They have not even introduced thermal imaging equipment at their airports processing international travellers. They even asked their border guards across the U.S.-Mexican not to wear masks in order to be "PC." Wait until the Swine Flu mixed up with the HIV-AIDS virus. Imagine AIDs mixed with the swine flu.
All hell will freeze. When that happens, my butt will be outta San Francisco pronto.
You can have this chi-chi city by the Bay full of loonies, crazies, and uber-liberals. Yesterday,while the rest of the world is fighting this viral scourge, some San Franciscans in the streets were vigorously protesting eating "foie gras" and paraded before a French restaurant, proclaiming that eating "foie gras," i.e. goose liver, is abusing the geese.
Gimme a break.
SingaBore (the derisive term for Singapore) may suck; but better suck than be sorry. :-) I say, worry about the "da qu mien," the collective good.
This difference of approach is based on a fundamental divergence in attitude about worrying about the collective good as an overarching imperative and utmost priority as opposed to worrying about individual rights in the name of privacy and a Europeanized version of "civil liberties" and so-called "human rights."
This fight against the swine flu is playing out with a clear divergence in draconian measures imposed by China and the "PC" position practiced by some Western officials. The Chinese, in my opinion, have had more experiences with containing contagious disease, and their record has always been about the "collective good," i.e. "da qu mien;" not "PC" nor "PR" spin.
Given the Chinese experience and history with SARS, avian flu, and other epidemic, do you blame them ?
In my book, the science of epidemiology is one which is "hit and miss" and requires some luck, and some science. Sleuthing to find the cause and spread of contagious disease is not an exact science.
Respectful scientists can differ; but I would much rather go wrong on the side of overcaution than to go wrong on the side of carelessness and laxness.
China has 1.3 billion inhabitants; and it has some of the densest and most populated cities in the world. Cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen are hubs for international travellers. And given that the swine flu is ascertained to have originated and flared up outside of China, it is logical and prudent for China to act vigorously and vigilantly.
Already, Chinese authorities have quarantined at least 50 Mexican nationals suspected of carrying the swine flu virus and isolated them in their hotels in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
This shut-down and draconian measures were executed because the country cannot afford to lose on this. Besides, there does not appear to be a tinge of racism in this.
Anyone with these symptoms or contact with someone with the swine flu are immediately quarantined. And these include Taiwanese, Indians, Singaporeans, Koreans, Japanese, Sri-Lankans, Arabs...... and not just Europeans, Mexicans, Americans. It is the Western news media which are hyping on this controversy and protests by the Europeans and American health authorities, as well as the Mexican foreign minister.
Rather than overemphasize on individual rights, and despite all the fulmigation, Chinese authorities are doing what they have to do in order to fight the spread of this virus, which may have the tendency of mutation and morphing into a more virulent and deadly strain.
Look at the "lock-down" in Mexico city; the Mexican foreign minister has no cause nor bases to protest.
Read the latest about the quarantine inside China inside China, i.e. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou.
These are densely populated cities, not unlike Mexico City. Cities with over 10 million people packed in subways, streets, alleys, food places.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/NewsBreak/20090503153119/Article/index_html
More to the story from MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30471035/
Amazingly, the Red Cross through Atlanta's Center for Disease Control, has a website which also explained the method of containing the spread of viruses, and in it, the use of quarantine is advocated.
http://www.redcross.org/preparedness/cdc_english/IsoQuar.asp
Overall, when you are fighting a fire, or trying to catch a criminal, or fighting an epidemic... you have to do what you have to do.
I think Americans are dumb and stupid and always play the "PC" side.
It applies in identifying suspects in crime and never mentioning their race.
Hey, if the serial bank robber on a crime spree preying on victimns is a Black, White, Brown or a Yellow..... you need to have that information on race in order to catch him. It is only good common sense.
Again, with regard to the swine flu, if more Mexicans come in contact with the virus from Mexican city, is it not logical to identify and isolate them more as potential carriers of the virus ?
Again, we must underscore that along with Mexicans and Europeans, China and HKG are also quaranteeing Taiwanese, Malaysians, SIngaporeans, or anyone who came in contact or were close to the Mexican traveller afflicted with the Swine Flu on that China Eastern Airlines flight from Shanghai to HKG.
That's not "PC;", i.e.playing "political correctnes"; but that is the right thing to do.
HKG epidemiologists ought to be applauded for being thorough and vigilant. HKG's Wanchai, Central, Tsimsatsui, Causeway Bay, Mongkok, Yaumatei, and other densely populated districts are too perilous to take a chance. Imagine if the virus spreads through contact on the underground MRT, or onto the trains headed to Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta region. All hell freezes when that happens.
Compare Americans with their "PC" bullshit. They have not even introduced thermal imaging equipment at their airports processing international travellers. They even asked their border guards across the U.S.-Mexican not to wear masks in order to be "PC." Wait until the Swine Flu mixed up with the HIV-AIDS virus. Imagine AIDs mixed with the swine flu.
All hell will freeze. When that happens, my butt will be outta San Francisco pronto.
You can have this chi-chi city by the Bay full of loonies, crazies, and uber-liberals. Yesterday,while the rest of the world is fighting this viral scourge, some San Franciscans in the streets were vigorously protesting eating "foie gras" and paraded before a French restaurant, proclaiming that eating "foie gras," i.e. goose liver, is abusing the geese.
Gimme a break.
SingaBore (the derisive term for Singapore) may suck; but better suck than be sorry. :-) I say, worry about the "da qu mien," the collective good.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Mexico's foreign minister reacts angrily to China's quarantine and suspension of flights to and from Mexico City as "discriminatory"
China and four other Latin American countries, i.e. Cuba, Argentina, Ecuador and Peru were angrily denounced by the Mexican foreign minister for undertaking draconian measures to fight the spread of the swine flu.
From Mexico city, the foreign minister angrily advised Mexican nationals not
to travel to China. This was partly in response to draconian measure undertaken by HKG's health officials to quarantine and isolate the Mexican traveller and other foreign tourists in Wanchai's Metro Park hotel, after the Mexican traveller was found to be contaminated by the swine flu after enplaning from Shanghai to HKG flying via China Eastern Airlines.
At the same time, four other Latin countries stopped and suspended Mexican airlines from flying to and from their countries.
These include Cuba, Argentina, Ecuador and Peru.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02360932.htm
From Mexico city, the foreign minister angrily advised Mexican nationals not
to travel to China. This was partly in response to draconian measure undertaken by HKG's health officials to quarantine and isolate the Mexican traveller and other foreign tourists in Wanchai's Metro Park hotel, after the Mexican traveller was found to be contaminated by the swine flu after enplaning from Shanghai to HKG flying via China Eastern Airlines.
At the same time, four other Latin countries stopped and suspended Mexican airlines from flying to and from their countries.
These include Cuba, Argentina, Ecuador and Peru.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02360932.htm
Draconian Quarantine in HKG Metropark Hotel in Wanchai --- better be safe than regrets; European guests #*@#!#@
Given HKG and China's past experience with SARS and Avian Flu, the health officials are taking no chances with the swine flu.
The quarantine and lock-down of all hotel guests at Wanchai district's Metropark Hotel after a Mexican national who flew in from Shanghai to HKG after catching swine flu and spreading it on his China Eastern Air flight from Shanghai to HKG is causing a lot of consternation among European guests in the hotel.
Let them fulminate.
Better be safe than have regrets later.
Click on how HKG health authorities are managing this pandemic:
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSHKG2279
The density level in Hong Kong is at par if not worse than in Mexico City, the latter with 20 million in population.
And certainly, across the border in Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta, there is no room for mistake.
It is imperative that Chinese officials be ever vigilant in taking steps to curb the spread of this swine flu virus. No room for mistake.
The quarantine and lock-down of all hotel guests at Wanchai district's Metropark Hotel after a Mexican national who flew in from Shanghai to HKG after catching swine flu and spreading it on his China Eastern Air flight from Shanghai to HKG is causing a lot of consternation among European guests in the hotel.
Let them fulminate.
Better be safe than have regrets later.
Click on how HKG health authorities are managing this pandemic:
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSHKG2279
The density level in Hong Kong is at par if not worse than in Mexico City, the latter with 20 million in population.
And certainly, across the border in Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta, there is no room for mistake.
It is imperative that Chinese officials be ever vigilant in taking steps to curb the spread of this swine flu virus. No room for mistake.
The debate between simplified vs. traditional Chinese characters is a non-issue; in fact all Chinese are learning global languages including English
You be the judge.
There is a simmering debate among ethnic Chinese as to whether to use and adopt simplified Chinese or traditional Chinese characters as the "lingua franca" for the 1.5 billion peoples around the world who use, speak, or write Chinese.
To many in the Huaren community overseas, the debate is really moot.
Many of us are fluidly adapting to both simplified Chinese characters, or jiantizi, to the traditional characters, fantizi, with ease.
Piece of cake.
On top of that, the facility and fluency in English, Spanish, and other world languages are increasingly pervasive and prevalent.
I would suggest that Arabic, Farsi, Russian and Hindu are languages that all Huarens in the Diasporic communities all are adapting to.
In a world of globalization, where cultures, businesses, and media are intersecting and evolving, it is imperative that there be impetus to open the door for more languages fluency and adaptation. To close that door to the windows of other cultures is a death knell and not the way to go.
Look at the debate between simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese in the link below:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/chinese-language-ever-evolving/
There is a simmering debate among ethnic Chinese as to whether to use and adopt simplified Chinese or traditional Chinese characters as the "lingua franca" for the 1.5 billion peoples around the world who use, speak, or write Chinese.
To many in the Huaren community overseas, the debate is really moot.
Many of us are fluidly adapting to both simplified Chinese characters, or jiantizi, to the traditional characters, fantizi, with ease.
Piece of cake.
On top of that, the facility and fluency in English, Spanish, and other world languages are increasingly pervasive and prevalent.
I would suggest that Arabic, Farsi, Russian and Hindu are languages that all Huarens in the Diasporic communities all are adapting to.
In a world of globalization, where cultures, businesses, and media are intersecting and evolving, it is imperative that there be impetus to open the door for more languages fluency and adaptation. To close that door to the windows of other cultures is a death knell and not the way to go.
Look at the debate between simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese in the link below:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/chinese-language-ever-evolving/
Friday, May 1, 2009
Amid swine flu panic, white racism goes viral directed against Mexicans
The Chinese have been through this before.... with SARS, Avian Flu, the Hong Kong flu, the Taiwan flu etc. etc.
Anytime there is a virus epidemic which flares up, there is invariably an acompanying strain of racism virus which also flares up. and white supremacy and racism comes out of the woodwork.
Consider how some American radio talk show jocks are saying about the swine flu; this outbreak is more pervasive, vicious, and reckless than is being reported:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30467300
Consider another radio talk show host in Boston, Massachusetts and what he said about Mexicans:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/01/severin_suspended_for_comments_about_mexican_immigrants/
Remember the recent "peanuts" salmonella contamination which erupted in a warehouse of an American peanut farm and processor in Arkansas ? Or the salmonella poisoning in American-grown lettuce in California's farms ? Or how about "mad cow disease" when the disease erupted in the U.K. and then spread to Canada ?
Did we ever hear the same raving and ranting cacophony or racist diatribes from Asians or the Chinese about this contamination and toxic poisoning erupting in the WEST ? Did the Chinese call "Mad Cow Disease" the "The British virus"?
Talk about double standards. Hubris. Hambug. Haughtiness.
Anytime there is a virus epidemic which flares up, there is invariably an acompanying strain of racism virus which also flares up. and white supremacy and racism comes out of the woodwork.
Consider how some American radio talk show jocks are saying about the swine flu; this outbreak is more pervasive, vicious, and reckless than is being reported:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30467300
Consider another radio talk show host in Boston, Massachusetts and what he said about Mexicans:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/01/severin_suspended_for_comments_about_mexican_immigrants/
Remember the recent "peanuts" salmonella contamination which erupted in a warehouse of an American peanut farm and processor in Arkansas ? Or the salmonella poisoning in American-grown lettuce in California's farms ? Or how about "mad cow disease" when the disease erupted in the U.K. and then spread to Canada ?
Did we ever hear the same raving and ranting cacophony or racist diatribes from Asians or the Chinese about this contamination and toxic poisoning erupting in the WEST ? Did the Chinese call "Mad Cow Disease" the "The British virus"?
Talk about double standards. Hubris. Hambug. Haughtiness.
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