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TORCH SONG TRILOGY
May. 3rd, 2008 01:36 amITEM: Hong Kong gets through its contribution to the Olympic torch relay with relatively minor trouble – and heavy security.
No, I didn’t go see it. I had better things to do. Besides, I’m allergic to trendy nationalism – which is the only way I can think of to describe the massive crowds of local Hong Kong Chinese all wearing red and waving China flags. The last time we saw anything like this was during the handover in 1997, where everyone was blathering on about rejoining the motherland – that euphoria lasted for something like a week. Then everyone just kind of forgot about it and got on with their lives.
Not that I’m complaining, exactly. I suppose it’s just odd to see so many HK people acting all “Yay China!” when, normally, their enthusiasm over China is limited to cheap shopping and holidays.
That said, I draw the line at all the people I’ve seen in news reports talking about how the relay shows how open and free Hong Kong is.
Yes, compared to the part of the country whose flag everyone’s waving, HK is very big on free speech – so long as you don’t count the activists that HK Immigration refused to let into the city, or the fact that that the few pro-Tibet protesters who did show up had to have police protection to keep from getting their unpatriotic asses stomped by patriots.
And I’ll admit it – the more I see pro-Tibet protesters try to break ranks and get to the flame, the less I feel sorry for them. If you want to call the world’s attention to injustice in Tibet and China’s atrocious human rights record, putting out a flame symbolic of global unity via sports will get you attention for all the wrong reasons. Attacking paraplegics in wheelchairs will not win sympathy for yr cause – it just makes you look like an asshole.
Yr better off hiring Mia Farrow to hold a press conference. You’ll notice they let HER into HK (after some pointed questions at the airport, of course).
And so much for the torch. Now we can all go back to bed.
Fire in the hole,
This is dF
No, I didn’t go see it. I had better things to do. Besides, I’m allergic to trendy nationalism – which is the only way I can think of to describe the massive crowds of local Hong Kong Chinese all wearing red and waving China flags. The last time we saw anything like this was during the handover in 1997, where everyone was blathering on about rejoining the motherland – that euphoria lasted for something like a week. Then everyone just kind of forgot about it and got on with their lives.
Not that I’m complaining, exactly. I suppose it’s just odd to see so many HK people acting all “Yay China!” when, normally, their enthusiasm over China is limited to cheap shopping and holidays.
That said, I draw the line at all the people I’ve seen in news reports talking about how the relay shows how open and free Hong Kong is.
Yes, compared to the part of the country whose flag everyone’s waving, HK is very big on free speech – so long as you don’t count the activists that HK Immigration refused to let into the city, or the fact that that the few pro-Tibet protesters who did show up had to have police protection to keep from getting their unpatriotic asses stomped by patriots.
And I’ll admit it – the more I see pro-Tibet protesters try to break ranks and get to the flame, the less I feel sorry for them. If you want to call the world’s attention to injustice in Tibet and China’s atrocious human rights record, putting out a flame symbolic of global unity via sports will get you attention for all the wrong reasons. Attacking paraplegics in wheelchairs will not win sympathy for yr cause – it just makes you look like an asshole.
Yr better off hiring Mia Farrow to hold a press conference. You’ll notice they let HER into HK (after some pointed questions at the airport, of course).
And so much for the torch. Now we can all go back to bed.
Fire in the hole,
This is dF
