Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Need more major league assholes in the press

Author:John W. Williams II
Posted:9/6/2000; 5:23:32 PM
Topic:Re: Need more major league assholes in the press
Msg #:20934 (In response to 20930)
Prev/Next:20932 / 20935

I believe Mike Wallace interviewed Jiang Zemin, the current prime minister of China, and leader of the Communist Party (the only party in China.) Mao Zedong (or Mao Tse Tung) died in the 70s, after which Deng Xiao Ping came to power and enacted the economic reforms which brought about the economic boom China is enjoying today. Unfortunately, some of his reforms led to the Tiananmen Square Protest/Massacre, which was an important lesson to the Chinese leadership in the dangers of too much Western style freedom.

I too missed the interview, but I can predict some of the responses. Regardless of Western concerns about Human Rights and Free Speech, the Chinese response is always along the lines of "That's fine for your culture, but our culture is different. Your ideas don't apply to our culture."

My observation of people (not only the leadership) from Mainland China is that they fear a society plunged into chaos, and they seem to believe that if they open their society to all the ideals espoused by the West, that the country will fall apart.

For leaders of countries like China, there is so much to lose. We might imagine that the are greedy power mongers, but I think there is also the fear that China won't become a great country if things get out of hand and the country falls apart. And then whose fault would that be?

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