In all my days, I never would have thought the following words would ever creep forth from my lips, but it has to be said. Give France a break. *May the Lord have mercy on my soul* Now, before the tomatoes and heavy machinery are hurled in my direction, hear me out. I hate the French as much as any other sane individual (despite the 25% genetic makeup), but the recent politicized shitstorm between the ambiguous "West" and the Motherland is reaching unbelievable levels and even I feel for the Frogs.
Boycotting Carrefour and other French brands because a few chumps attacked the Olympic torchbearers is just laughable, yet it is the "in-thing" of the moment for the jingoist chuckleheads on the Mainland. Some taxi drivers are even going so far as to deny French people from riding in their cars. As if they could distinguish them from every other white skinned passenger (Note from the Office of the Freedom Fries: look out for that overwhelming bouquet of wine, cheese and B.O.!)
These protests are only part of a growing anti-West/pro-China fervor that includes plenty of CNN hate, some ridiculous "I Love China" MSN messenger propaganda, a large dose of T1bet-related bullshit, and even fashionable t-shirts displaying your ignorance of these current events ("T1bet was, is and always will be part of China!"). I feel like I'm back in the post-9/11 US, circa 2002, when everyone in the States was sucking Uncle Sam's cock and deifying the troops as the saviors of Earth. Now if only we had some random attacks on foreigners, it'd feel just like home! (Oh wait...)
A few years back, during the anti-Japanese protests (see: thuggish vandalism and misguided anger), I lauded the fact that the locals were voicing their opinions and making themselves heard. I take that back. If I had known that those protests were just part of a long string of over-sensitive crybaby reactions to anything even remotely perceived as a threat to the Great Motherland and "all Chinese people" (somehow, my family didn't get this memo), I wouldn't have been so supportive. Being here for 4 years, I've seen a number of these useless exercises and one thing remains clear: as long as the sentiment is anti-anything-that's-not-the
Boycotting Carrefour and other French brands because a few chumps attacked the Olympic torchbearers is just laughable, yet it is the "in-thing" of the moment for the jingoist chuckleheads on the Mainland. Some taxi drivers are even going so far as to deny French people from riding in their cars. As if they could distinguish them from every other white skinned passenger (Note from the Office of the Freedom Fries: look out for that overwhelming bouquet of wine, cheese and B.O.!)
These protests are only part of a growing anti-West/pro-China fervor that includes plenty of CNN hate, some ridiculous "I Love China" MSN messenger propaganda, a large dose of T1bet-related bullshit, and even fashionable t-shirts displaying your ignorance of these current events ("T1bet was, is and always will be part of China!"). I feel like I'm back in the post-9/11 US, circa 2002, when everyone in the States was sucking Uncle Sam's cock and deifying the troops as the saviors of Earth. Now if only we had some random attacks on foreigners, it'd feel just like home! (Oh wait...)
A few years back, during the anti-Japanese protests (see: thuggish vandalism and misguided anger), I lauded the fact that the locals were voicing their opinions and making themselves heard. I take that back. If I had known that those protests were just part of a long string of over-sensitive crybaby reactions to anything even remotely perceived as a threat to the Great Motherland and "all Chinese people" (somehow, my family didn't get this memo), I wouldn't have been so supportive. Being here for 4 years, I've seen a number of these useless exercises and one thing remains clear: as long as the sentiment is anti-anything-that's-not-the
It is quite needless to point out how retarded it is to slam an entire country because of the actions of four protesters (likewise idiotic to slam all 1.3 billion Chinese for the foolishness of a couple million...). Even Jin Jing, the handicapped athlete who was lauded for protecting the torch from one protestor, is being villainized for suggesting that the anti-Carrefour protests aren't very helpful. Seriously, are people just looking for someone to lynch? The fervor of this anti-France sentiment is especially silly considering China recently celebrated "The Year Of France" with much gay fanfare.
The rampant nationalism that has taken hold of some Chinese in these months leading up to the Olympics is reaching such a point that I can't take it anymore. And it's only April... Ironically, 2008 is supposed to be the year the world "welcomes" China to the party...but it's going to go down in history as the year I was turned OFF of China.
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