[lit-ideas] Re: Not very neighbourly
- From: Adriano Palma <Palma@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:25:55 +0000
a few facts may help
the us population is far from 316.ooo.ooo. the are "colonies" etc.
it is equally unclear who is "we" in we "exceed"
regard
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Lawrence Helm
Sent: 17 June 2013 09:05 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Not very neighbourly
Eric,
I watched your Martin Jacques video - sounded like an infomercial. Sounds
like he read a history of China and was inordinately impressed with their past.
I went through a phase like that back in the 60s. Couldn't get enough of
them, including their poetry and literature. Even started learning Mandarin
although I didn't get very far.
Notice that Jacques doesn't mention Communism once. You wouldn't know that
this is still a Communist country listening to him. And he only mentions Mao
once in passing.
Jacques also seems inordinately impressed with China's 1.3 billion people.
There is an implication that the West has fewer. But the US has about 400
million, the EU maybe 450 & then there are all those colonies like Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, etc so "the West" is comparable in number to the
Chinese 1.3 billion. And if you include Eastern Europe as part of the West, we
probably exceed China in number - not to mention Japan and a few others who
would not side with China against us.
Also, he doesn't mention that China has an aging population. Their "one child"
rule means that they will be struggling to have enough young workers to support
the old timers. And there is no hope that they will have immigration as we in
the west do because, as Jacques does say, the Chinese are prejudiced against
all non-Han races (not to mention non-Communist individuals).
Then also, Jacques conveniently confuses modern Western Culture (which is
semi-awful) with Liberal Democracy which is a combination of capitalism and the
freedom to develop anything that makes money as well as the freedom-environment
to allow for privacy, protection from illegal search and seizure, freedom of
speech & press, etc. that is essential to the entrepreneurs in the west that
continue to create wealth. Jacques on the other hand lauds the state control
that can build a clever railway system that can ride over the tops of the 1.3
billion people.
...Ha, Eric. I guess the jokes on me, taking this guy seriously enough to
watch his video. :) I just looked him up on Wikipedia and found: "Jacques
was editor of the Communist Party of Great Britain's journal, Marxism Today
from 1977 until its closure in 1991. In this period, Jacques was the co-editor
or co-author of The Forward March of Labour Halted? (1981), The Politics of
Thatcherism (1983) and New Times (1989)" You're a funny guy.
Is anyone really paying attention to this guy?
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Eric Yost
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2013 10:41 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Not very neighbourly
Lawrence: we in the U.S. cannot seriously clash with China.
We could, but even assuming we completely removed China's retaliatory capacity,
nobody in the US would approve of the rampant nuclear fallout.
It is noteworthy that Europeans, and later Americans, were always interested in
opening trade routes and relations with China--a giant historical arc.
Therefore, it would be a shame to spoil it by poisoning the world with the
radioactive dust of all their new cities.
The talk below is interesting for its cultural appreciation of Chinese
civilization.
http://www.ted.com/talks/martin_jacques_understanding_the_rise_of_china.
html
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