I actually have some decent material to badmouth China, but I’m having second thoughts. I’m having second thoughts because I’ve decided that in reality I know next to fuck all about the country. I’ve never been there and I haven’t tried to learn Mandarin so who am I to judge?
I have made some Chinese assumptions though and they might not be correct. I presumed that if a person has blue eyes or red or blonde hair that you are automatically not Chinese. I think that’s fair, but there just might be a blue eyed Chinese person out there because there’s no shortage of Chinese people. When you’re talking China the concept of one in a billion can actually occur.
Because there’s at least a fucking billion Chinese people on this planet right this second. That’s a lot of people. I mean, it would be incredible if you piled up all the rice that many Chinese people ate in one day. If you didn’t cook the pile you could hold winter Olympic events on the mountain. Moguls on one side and ski jumping on the other. And, oh yeah, another assumption I’ve made about China is that everyone likes rice.
Everyone.
Anyway, the criticism I have of the Chinese pretty much revolves around their system of government and has fuck all to do with blue eyes or rice. And here’s where badmouthing this group of Asians became challenging for me.
It’s sort of Donald Trumps fault.
My faith in the concept of majority rule or democracy has been thoroughly shaken by Mr. Trump. Not the man. The man is irrelevant. But what he signifies or portends is alarming because it leads me to believe that the masses are too fucking stupid, malleable, myopic and tribalized to make rational decisions.
So, did the Chinese come to the conclusion that democracy doesn’t work when you have a billion potential idiots all divided into factions and all of them willing to fight for territory and control? Probably. They might not have even thought about the concept much but rather evolved to where they are now by circumstance and necessity. Where they are now is quasi capitalism, but all walks and woks of Chinese life are firmly in the hands of the party and the party elite. I’m not sure if the party I’m referencing even calls themselves communists anymore. It doesn’t matter. They can call themselves whatever the fuck they want, but it’s still a system where one dude is kind of the emperor. The army and the police work for the emperor and that’s how you keep a billion people from running amok and fucking up everything.
So, has the population growth in North America and Europe grown so large and stupid that we’re also nearing a crisis? A crisis where we’re going to have to come to terms with the fact that governing by the people isn’t going to work? Because the existence of Mr. Trump to me means we’re really fucking close. We can’t agree on anything. We have too many contrary opinions to reach a consensus. So it seems we can descend into tribal anarchy or we can follow the Chinese lead and limit the ability to have an opinion.
Humans have a habit of abusing everything including rights. So, too much freedom becomes a gateway for entitled stupidity. The next thing you know our society is spiraling out of control as the idiots and their equally idiotic opinions take center stage because it’s their fucking right.
So perhaps China has decided that freedom is by it’s very nature both irresponsible and eventually destructive to the long term health of a society.
So, that makes China hard for me to judge.
Also.
When I was realising that I knew dick about China I reached another conclusion. I don’t really even know Canada so how the fuck can I judge China?
I do know the names of the Provinces and their Capitals. I can tell you a reasonable amount of Canadian history and I can describe our geography and how the government is supposed to work. But, does that mean that I know Canada and Canadians well enough that I can speak for everyone?
Nope.
I was born and raised in Western Canada. I now live almost smack dab in the center from an East West perspective. But I’ve never lived in the Maritimes or B.C. I’ve never lived in Toronto or Montreal and I’ve never been to Inuvik or Drummondville. So, my opinions of Canada are mine only and not a great reflection of who we are as a people.
I can assume that hockey to Canadians is like rice to the Chinese. But I’m not sure anymore. Canada is becoming more diverse as time goes on and we’re getting better at soccer and basketball all the time. Sometimes we can even field a track team that’s competitive and our food is getting less and less bland every day.
It’s evolution people.
But, having said all of that, I can’t think of a Canadian moment where the majority of citizens are focussed on one event other than a gold medal Olympic hockey game. Elections? Nah, we don’t really give too much of a fuck. Not like the Americans. In fact, the Americans like elections so much that they have them continuously. I think the only thing that can captivate most of the American population other than voting for a president would be a spectacular tragedy. Like the twin towers or a flaming space shuttle. But even with the drama surrounding the next president it still doesn’t motivate about half the American public to actually vote. Being opinionated is a right. Voting is more of a pain in the ass obligation.
So, maybe China had to collectively shrug their shoulders and admit that the masses are remarkably inept at looking after anything other than their own self interest. As a result the state has evolved to a point where it can forcefully and sometimes fatally stop idiots from expressing themselves. I guess it’s a sad side effect that in order to quell the fanatics and idiots that you have to place a theoretical straight jacket on the entire populace. But maybe China has discovered through trial and error that a semi police state is their only option to avoid straight up chaos.
So, I’m tempering my judgement because I have no idea how to govern a billion freaking people.
That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t tell China to get fucked occasionally. Especially when it comes to all the bullshit they continue to deny that they’re up to. Currency manipulation, state sponsored intellectual theft and constant hacking are right in our face and we need to counter those activities.
But, how they govern their own people in their own country is up to China I think.