When Western countries invade Iraq out of "human rights," "democracy," and "freedom," those become ideologies used as propaganda to dupe their public into supporting unjust wars. Obviously, there are merits in the ideas carried behind those words. But the essence of the propaganda, the power behind the propaganda, is the religious believe in the absolute and universality of … [Read more...] about “human rights,” “democracy,” “freedom,” and now, “rule of law”
“China’s Tibet”: A Perfectly Normal Turn of Phrase
In the field of media criticism, it pays to be picky about language. Around touchy issues of sovereignty and legitimacy, journalists frequently navigate intractable disputes where no term is truly "objective". A wise man once said, if you want to create social change, then it is of paramount importance to identify "who are [your] enemies [and] who are [your] friends?" But … [Read more...] about “China’s Tibet”: A Perfectly Normal Turn of Phrase
Rampant “Legalized” Corruptions Unmentioned
While the recent sensationalized story in the media painted a bleak picture of state of corruption, there is a much undiscussed topic of "legalized" corruptions in many forms. Undoubtedly, because such corruptions have somehow become "legalized" in some nations, the amount of them are rampant and costly. I like to start a discussion of them here. I will take a stab at … [Read more...] about Rampant “Legalized” Corruptions Unmentioned
Thriving on Bad News of Others, Or Just Plain Reality Check.
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, http://www.humanities.uci.edu/history/faculty_profile_wasserstrom.php, co-founder of the now inactive China Beat blog, wrote a piece recently: http://world.time.com/2013/07/11/why-bad-news-elsewhere-is-good-news-for-china/ Needless to say, the premise of his piece is the usual kinds of China-bashing. … [Read more...] about Thriving on Bad News of Others, Or Just Plain Reality Check.
Corruptions of Different Kinds, and the Effects
A recent poll conducted by Global Transparency found that Corruption is on the rise globally, particularly among many of the "Democracies". China was not in this survey, but China was in a previous survey where outsiders were asked to rate China's corruption by outside perception. 1 interesting point about the recent poll is that almost 1/2 of 107 nations surveyed perceived … [Read more...] about Corruptions of Different Kinds, and the Effects