Gag Me With a Spoon

After I made my last post from Hong Kong, I continued on to the PRC (People’s Republic of China). The area where we stayed was on the south of Hainan Island. It was obvious that this area was heavily dependent on tourism and was likely atypical of the rest of the PRC…I will soon see as I have work in Beijing in a few months. Still…not being accustomed to a Totalitarian environment, a few things struck me…

I went to my blog to see if my post from Hong Kong had been successful, and found that all blogs were blocked in the PRC. I had never considered blogs as being that subversive or threatening, but I guess where ideas are your enemies…you have to keep a tight rein on them. Funny, but it made me feel kind of subversive to know that the things that I’d been writing were banned somewhere…I’m sure they don’t give a sh*t about what I think and say, but I’ll take credit for being subversive anyway ;-{)}

We visited a huge Buddhist Temple Complex that was relatively new. I have great respect for Buddhism (probably comes closer to my beliefs than any organized religion) and I kowtowed to the Buddha with the other worshippers. My colleague, who is a consummate Scientist and Cynic, commented that the whole place appeared to be a religious “Disney World” and that the Communists (who he reminded me are atheists) had likely built the place to attract tourist dollars from Indians (and Tibetans). I had to agree with him as far as the intent of the PRC building the place, but in my heart I felt that God was having a good laugh at the Communists for funding his outreach program…I guess I’m just a cynic of a different stripe.

One last observation…it is very enlightening to go somewhere where you clearly don’t fit in…The Chinese knew not only that I was European, but it was clear to them that I was an American. It’s a little disconcerting to have everyone staring at you on the street (I suspect I won’t encounter this in the bigger cities of Beijing and Shanghai, but it was evident in Sanya). I also noted that the reactions fell into two distinct categories, and generally were broken down by age. To the Young, I was an exotic American and they looked at me like I was some kind of Rock Star and they wanted to change places with me…To the Old, I saw an unadulterated hate in their eyes. For them, I was the Capitalist oppressor and enemy. No change in world politics would ever change the opinion of some of these people that I was evil…

I wonder at the ability to hate someone without ever knowing the content of their heart. I hear about this type of hate on the news, but seeing it directed at me was a sobering and depressing thing. I know that I’m guilty of many things, but I could never look at a stranger with hate in my eyes. I wonder what we can do to fight this ??? I hope love works as it’s all we have to fight with.

Best! Norm.