The Tank Man

[CardSharp]

Jan Wong is a tragic figure. But I find her sincere, if totally misled, used, and then discarded. As a "visible minority", there was no particular reason for her to wade into certain "controversies" (I vaguely knew the details but Wikipedia does a decent job in bringing you up to speed on how she was hung out to dry by the politicians and the brass at Globe and Mail).

It's a pity that "Citizen Jan" had not applied the lessons she should have learned from one side of the Pacific Pond to the other.

In all honesty, sometimes I feel like I am failing at this, too - the lesson business, that is.

But of all people, I would expect a little sympathy for Jan from the likes of you, CardSharp.

You may be more similar to her in some important ways than you know or care to admit.

You expected wrong, earnestness has rarely excused much in my eyes. Some of the most unthinkable acts in this world were carried out by earnest people. I have no doubt she believed what she was in writing her piece about Quebec but it is often the case with people like her, that they fail to see where the line for moderate and extreme behaviour is. Such lines exist even outside of "totalitarian China" here in Canada and the weight of the political and journalistic establishment coming down on her was a predictable reaction to crossing this line.

There are rebels, and avant gardist in every society, but even they dance around this line between moderation and extremism with care. Jan Wong is that particular Chinese brand of stupid that is symptomatic of the little red book generation, where revolution extremism in whatever you believe is the best course.

 

[CardSharp]

Jan Wong is a tragic figure. But I find her sincere, if totally misled, used, and then discarded. As a "visible minority", there was no particular reason for her to wade into certain "controversies" (I vaguely knew the details but Wikipedia does a decent job in bringing you up to speed on how she was hung out to dry by the politicians and the brass at Globe and Mail).

It's a pity that "Citizen Jan" had not applied the lessons she should have learned from one side of the Pacific Pond to the other.

In all honesty, sometimes I feel like I am failing at this, too - the lesson business, that is.

But of all people, I would expect a little sympathy for Jan from the likes of you, CardSharp.

You may be more similar to her in some important ways than you know or care to admit.

No doubt you do see similarities and no doubt you are invoking the age old ideas of "hating what you really are" or narcissism of small difference to describe me. You see me charged with some kind of nationalistic zeal same as Jan Wong was when she went off to join the GPCR. And that maybe one day I too would become disillusioned with my personal Mao Zedong and be cast off into a turmoil of not knowing who I am. You expect that I am one of the confused banana generation (white on the inside, yellow on the outside). But honestly I'm not, I was born in China, I lived in China, I've seen all facets of western society from Europe, to the US to Canada. I know what I am about and I am about not a whole lot. I am not dogmatic, I don't live with a central belief about life that I must cling to.

BTW how is that personal Christian God of yours?

 

[gpit]

Here is what I’m going to say:

1) I admire this tank man’s heroic courage, the courage that dares to question the orthodox. We don’t have many such persons today. When western democracy is pumped like a bible compelling everyone to follow, anyone, including the victims of it, dare to say NO to it?

2) This tank man shows that PLA is holding the banner of human rights high and firm, better than most democratic countries who kill the demonstrators in Thailand, Egypt, Tunisia,… indiscriminately but seldom has seen “military embargo” from the West. If it were in USA, this tank man would perhaps have been grounded into meant several times by tanks. Check out Kent State University massacre. Check out the Native Indians’ fate.

3) 6.4 is a tragedy for the students, for the CPC and for the Chinese as whole. “When I cry, only hearing wolves laugh…” So many wolves are laughing, gleefully, still today! For more than 2 decades!

4) And it is correct to label Deng XiaoPing as criminal for this incident, regardless how great he actually is in many other aspects. The comeout could be better...

5) Glad the Chinese are learning the lessons: no violence any more, regardless how many sinister serpents lurking in the darkness worldwide, watching China.

 

[marshall]

I still maintain that Deng has committed a crime on this. The crime was not necessarily to keep order over chaos. But it was to trust the words and recommendations of the likes of Jiang Zemin, some of the most despicable characters ever emerging out of Shanghai.

I maintain that what took place was not the only way to end the unrest.

But looking back, as a very, very junior "participant", I must fully concede that the alternative may have been "Katastroika".

If the alternative would have been "Katastroika" then this would make a pretty lame crime don't you think? Deng Xiaoping saved China from "Katastroika".

BTW, as an digression, Gorbachev was my grandfather's hero. And I also admire the man, his conscience, and courage. There was/is no logically inevitable connections between "Glasnost" and botched "Perestroika".

There is an absolute connection between Glasnost and Perestroika's failure and there is a huge body of evidence to support this. Glasnost caused a social revolution that collapsed the Soviet Union before Perestroika even had a chance to reform the Soviet economy. Economies do not transform overnight, this takes many years. Revolutions can happen overnight, as it did in the USSR and currently in the Middle East. In effect, Glasnost killed Perestroika.

Yeltsin bore greater responsibility for turning Perestroika into "Katastroika" by my reckoning.

Perestroika died with the Soviet Union. Yeltsin's economic policies were solely influenced by "Western" economic models and IMF advisors. He doesn't bear some or greater responsibility for causing Russia's economic catastrophe, he bears ALL OF IT. Russia's state privatization of almost all state industries, except for energy and defence, resulted in a greater than 70% per capita economic decline for average Russians. The "Shock Therapy" championed by the IMF caused a widely recognized pillaging and concentration of Russian wealth by a handful of oligarchs while the rest of the Russian population basically starved. This was the 2nd most devastating economic catastrophe in the modern era of a formerly developed country. The Russian industries in the best shape today are their energy and defense industries. For good measure, Yeltsin resigned in 1999 before his last term was up because he didn't want the new century starting with his tenure. He knew his leadership was an utter failure...go figure.

Back to topic ... I am glad this Chai Ling lady found religion, as I have. There sure is a lot to cleanse ... Her brand of astounding selfishness and lack of honour must in some ways be the by-product of the Great Proletariat Kultural Revolution ...

Chai ling was born in 1966 and was 10 years old when the Cultural Revolution ended. By 1979, China made a 180 degree and became capitalist. If anything, Chai Ling's selfishness is the product of capitalism. I think her actions at that time were more because she was a naive young girl. Today however, she's simply an ineffective tool of foreign powers to subvert China, and has become a living martyr of why not to be a democracy cheerleader.

 

[rcrmj]

I feel sorry for their families to have those '败家子'!