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| Woe to the Eye |
There are moments when, even to the sober eye of Reason, the world of our sad humanity must assume the aspect of Hell.
—Edgar Allan Poe
There are readers shocked by my posts where I expose the dark side of China. Well, like it or not, that is the reason I used the code name “The Eye”. I provide an eye for anyone who wants to look at things through a particular angle at reality. You may not like what you see and that IS the idea. Do I intend to convince people that China is a bad place to go to? If you are willing to accept my answer, I certainly do not. Actually I am at a loss at what I should do. I feel the urge to write down my thoughts and inform others. In general I believe that truth will set you free. Truth might be enlightening, but for most of the time, it is painful and probably more painful than anything else. Illusions are comforting and someone might use the word healing, that’s why we have so many in the real world.
Let me cite the great Confucius in my understanding of human nature, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” This is about human limitations. We are what we hear and see. Of course you can choose if you want to believe or not. But the end result might not be that different. You hear and you’ll forget, even if you choose to believe. With this in mind, my guilty of biasing people to not like China is greatly reduced.
A term that I hear so many times that it had firmly become part of my vocabulary is “shooting the messenger”. We report bad news to stakeholders and they turn against us for the bad news as if the consequences are our fault. If you are familiar with Chinese culture or from time to time watch Chinese movies, you may have not forgotten the famous Curse of the Golden Flower. The heir prince had a relationship with his sister and his stepmother as well. His stepmother let the fact of his incest with his sister out in the confrontation. He said a typical line, “Mother, why do you have to speak it out!” To many, things exist or have relevance only when they are seen or heard. A common weakness in man is to shoot the messenger who brings the bad news.
I will write about the progress that the Chinese have made and have been making since 1970s when Deng started Reform and Opening. Deng’s policy has benefited the Chinese and Americans tremendously. One of grave consequences of his policy is the environmental cost paid by the Chinese. There are others also. Many people in China, disillusioned by the reality, started to worship Mao, the great killer of China and the world. Back before 1970s, Mao was God and even after 1970s, his public image has still been positively and meticulously maintained by the establishment. To many naive people, Mao’s time was better, no corruption and no pollution. Many truth-seeking writers have been blamed for the exposure of corruption and pollution in Mao’s time as if they had contributed to the actual corruption and pollution. Truth is painful and that IS the idea.
My motivation is to write what I know and concerns me. As long as I am speaking the truth, I really care little about where I might lead my readers. When I write in Chinese, I repetitively warn my readers, don’t be led and make your own judgment. I save such breaths when I write in English because my readers here are less likely to have brainwashing education as their background.
The Chinese are very friendly toward the westerners if you read my posts correctly. This friendliness can more than offset the bad feelings you get from reading my posts. On Aug 22, 2008, seven Japanese tourists on a train were in danger of missing their airplane, the train was ordered to stop at closest point to the airport. The Japanese were then transported by local police to the airport. This kind of favor is only available to very high level of Chinese government officials or in case of real emergency where someone’s life is in danger. Yet private Japanese citizens had been offered such treatment. Can the Americans get less than that? I can assure you with complete confidence that the answer is a definite NO. Therefore, I have no qualms at all that my writing might be in any way interfering with the tourism to China from the west.
I only want to be an eye to a world not easily accessible through lens. That’s all.
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Posted by TheEye on 2009-11-10 10:52:57 | Rating: | Views: 14
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