It's a Chinese thing. You wouldn't understand

sep 17th, 2008

yup. chinese will become nice guys. and pigs will fly, too.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Girish

Opinion: It's a Chinese thing. You wouldn't understand   David Benjamin URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210601430  . . <truncated> . .   During the 1950's, despite being aware by then of the ghastly depredations wrought against the people of the Soviet Union under the merciless rule of Premier Joseph Stalin, many of America's starry-eyed leftists continued to find tortuous and ingenious ways to absolve the sadistic Communist dictator of his crimes against humanity.   Stalin's Western apologists expected that, given time and a little leeway, Stalin would finally taper off from his tendency to starve and slaughter his countrymen; he would liberate the gulags and inaugurate a worker's paradise in a glowing burst of political amnesty, burgeoning prosperity and brotherly love.   Never happened.   The failure of that pipe dream, and the accumulated revelations of the bloodshed and terror that sustained Stalin -- and eventually doomed Soviet Communism -- discredited the American left for, virtually, all time.   I found myself recalling the collapse of that nave American left while attending a panel discussion on broadcasting in China at IBC.   . <truncated> . A typical pander came from panelist Dennis Baxter, hired by the Chinese as sound designer for the Beijing Games. Baxter noted that, while he was in China, the government tapped his conversations and censored his e-mail, activities that he regarded as rather charming and cute -- like those underage Chinese gymnasts who, with a few government-generated ID forgeries, cheated their way to gold medals.   On the positive side, said Baxter, more than 7,000 Chinese had bought his new (apparently uncensored) book on TV technology. You gotta love that!   Baxter attributed any lingering political naughtiness by the Chinese to a passionate "nationalism" that will eventually, certainly, recede if the West remains patient with minor matters like the beating, killing and imprisonment of Falun Gong religionists, the militarization of space and the continued unregulated development of a Chinese nuclear arsenal.   No worries. "Things will change," said Baxter. "It will take time. The government is a bit careful about changes."   . . <truncated> . .