11 Replies to “Honey, I Finished The Internet”

  1. I think you guys will enjoy this.
    Background: The Sing Tao Daily is a venerable newspaper that started in Singapore (thus the name Sing island) before the second world war and flourished in Hong Kong before starting an American edition in, what, the sixties. Unfortunately, it has now become the unofficial mouthpiece of the Chicom which feeds articles on sports and entertainment as well as politics. No different really than the American mass media, except this is worse since I suspect the Chicom is probably feeding it the articles gratis, as well as almost all the other Chinese language newspapers, except New Epoch (lFalun Gong published) of course.
    I happened to read a political column in it today, reprinted from some mainland China newspaper. It criticizes the Hong Kong rebels clinging to America like “ants to rotted meat”, not knowing that America, though still a superpower, no longer has the cachet it used to have, under the buffoon Trump, who is laughed at by other world leaders. As examples, it said how the French president disagrees with American policy, and … get this … the Canadian prime minister is caught on camera making fun of Trump. Why, this sort of thing never used to happen. If even their neighbors laugh at Americans, why it must mean … Orange Man Bad. And Hong Kongers are idiots clinging to American ideals.

    1. Because tabloid scandal stories are farrrr more important that Trump’s restoration of America’s economic might and muscle in the world. I thought higher of the Chinese people, what with their superior educations in math and whatnot. How could they possibly care about Trump’s supposed “loss of face” among western imperialists?

      I’m curious … how easy is it for Chinese mainlanders to travel to Hong Kong. Can anyone just catch a train to Hong Kong whenever they wish? Go get a higher paying job (I imagine) in HK?

      Oh and the stump houses? Fabulous … a new “tiny house” prototype for our 250,000 homeless. Troll houses for the whole lot of em … although Gavin Newsom will mandate solar panels

      1. Oh fiddlesticks, I hit the wrong key and wiped out my whole long reply. It is too late for me to redo it now, but I promise to do it tomorrow. So check back sometime in the afternoon. I hate these stupid new keyboards that make everything so much “easier.”

        1. OB, that is funny, I do it quite often and then cannot get the original thought back as I wanted it to be expressed.

        2. Try typing Ctrl+Z (holding down the CTRL key while hitting Z). I just tried it on SDA and it works. Pro tip-of-the-day.

          1. That’s my most valuable cad keystroke … to recover the detailed drawing I just accidentally erased. Phew!

        3. OB … “fiddlesticks”? You must be as old as Joe Biden’s “No malarkey tour”. Ha ha ha ha ha … I amuse myself.

      2. Simple answer to first question: no, they don’t care in the least, but they will use it if it suits their purposes. Just like the leftists in our country don’t care about the Constitution or traditional morals, but will invoke them as gotcha for conservatives. (Aside: it was laughable when in 2016 they seemingly discovered the Electoral College was comprised of real people, and wanted to seduce or bully them into violating their Constitutional duty, thinking the electors must have their own morals.)

        More complex answer as to how American Chinese can be liberals. It wasn’t always so. The people who came as refugees with me either suffered from the Chicom personally, or had relatives killed by them, and were staunchly anti-Communist, like the Miami Cuban expats. I took pride that the Chinese were the only conservatives among the minorities. But no more. The later generations had not personally tasted the bitter fruit of Communism. Why do they embrace left wing politics?

        First, and this can probably be said for most “well educated” people as well. They think politics is dirty and beneath them, and say they themselves are non-political. But since they have not considered the real issues, it is easy for them to be misled by the mass media. If asked to render an opinion, they will parrot that mass media.

        Second, the blood runs deep for the Chinese. Since my parents are Chinese, if I “went back” to the mainland or even Taiwan, I would be given citizenship automatically. After all, instead of the German Fatherland or Mother Russia, China refers to itself as the “country of the ancestors.” Well, that is true even for me. Most Chinese here love the thought that China now is among the powers of the world, and would love it more if China ascended to hegemony over everyone else. (It becomes easier to understand the mentality of those German Americans involved with the German American Bund.) When challenged with the atrocities, they blandly say there must be sacrifices to achieve greatness. They had nothing to say when I retorted that it is easy for you to say, you are not among the at least tens of millions who died, or billions who suffered. I made no secret of speaking from the vantage point of an American, and considered Chicom only as a threat. I escape total ostracization only because I know more about Chinese history and culture than any of them, and can write traditional essays and Tang poetry. They can’t tell me that I forgot the color of my skin.

        Third, and this is true probably generally, but especially with the hermetic island kingdoms like Great Britain or Japan. The “upper class” Chinese value manners and social grace far too much, even over accomplishments and truth. It isn’t so much they believe someone merely because of his proper manners, but more like no one without the proper manners would be accepted into society to begin with. And there is no question that Trump is crass and belligerent, a typical New Yorker. So they tend to dislike him to begin with, but it really comes to a head when Bad Orange Man wants to put a monkey wrench into the Chicom’s efforts at economic hegemony.

        The answer to your second question is fraught with irony. Traditionally, there always had free travel between China and Hong Kong. To escape the imminent victory of the Chicom, my father first took us to Macau, and thence to Hong Kong, all without any paperwork at all. After the Chicom takeover, it was they who built the “Berlin Wall” between China and Hong Kong, and forbade any Chinese from going to Hong Kong. I guess the only exceptions were Commie plants and the “journalists” who worked for Chicom newspapers in Hong Kong. I laughed whenever one of the latter defected and “chose freedom,” when in fact all he had to do was walk across the street to work for a right wing newspaper, rather than accept his reassignment to a mainland newspaper in China.

        What I understand after the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule is this. Rather than take down the “Berlin Wall” they made it even more impenetrable. Anyone living in Hong Kong (or who had once lived there for over ten years) can apply for a “Return Home Certificate” and have free access to and from the mainland. Even those people who now reside in a foreign country or even have become citizens there. Some of my friends hold such a certificate and can come and go to the mainland any time, without a visa demanded of normal Americans. (But Americans do not need a visa to just visit Hong Kong and Macau.) I would never do that because it means you tacitly agree to be a Chinese national and forego the protection of the American Embassy. Anyway, the reverse is definitely not true. For someone from the mainland to go to Hong Kong, he has to apply for a visa. The application must state the purpose of visit, the length of stay, and the residence while in Hong Kong. And it was well neigh impossible to relocate. That is why the Hong Kong demonstrators suspect anyone who spoke Mandarin because to pass such a hurdle they must be planted spies. The reality is that many who live on the Chinese side work on the Hong Kong side, and must daily pass through customs.

        My understanding comes from research done many years back, but there is no reason to suspect it has changed. If anything, after the demonstrations it must be even more stringent.

        The stump houses give me an inspiration. They should build nooks into the supporting structure for freeway overpasses. Each homeless can claim a nook, and it will be less unsightly and more healthy than the tent cities under most freeways that now exist.

        Finally, allow me a little gloat. The Liverpool starting lineup against Salzburg average 27 yo. Given the importance placed on the match by Klopp, that must be the best lineup possible. But it will be better when Matip and Fabinho return, replacing older players who replaced them due to their injury. That lineup would average 26.4 yo, with no one over 30, and only Wijnaldum at 29. Further, Liverpool has signed most of the current roster to long contracts, including the biggest stars, and endeavors to do it for every paper. So this Liverpool dominance can be expected for at least 4 more years. In the meantime, the management has not been idle. They are nuturing much younger players like Gomez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Origi, as well as Keita, who may have finally broken through to the first team.

        The first half (and ten minutes of the second half) of that Salzburg match was the most exciting, and excruciating if you have a rooting interest, soccer match I had watched. Each team squandered 4 or more good chances, and it is hard to believe the half ended scoreless. I thought it was pretty much 50 50 who would score the first goal, with the side who did having immense advantage. Well, Liverpool finally did, and Salzburg finally tired or were just beaten, as they spent the last half hour not so much on attack, as to prevent Liverpool from scoring yet another goal. I am glad the group stage is over, and the UCL will not resume until April. Hopefully by then, Liverpool will have mathematically clinched, and can therefore pay full attention to Europe to defend their title.

        1. Wow! Thanks for the very detailed and fascinating response. It is actually very close to what I suspected. A veritable Berlin Wall between Mainland RED China and Hong Kong. Not surprising … don’t want to infect the social credit scores by fraternizing with a Hong Kong’er.

          Your idealized timing of Liverpool’s clinching of the title may indeed occur ON if not BEFORE the next Champions League Round of 16 match in February! (Is that mathematically possible). But I believe you may have to pray that Leister have a collapse due to lack of depth 🙂

          As to youth … Schitty just put on a Champions League display via 22yo Jesus (hat trick) and 19yo England Wonderkind – Phil Foden who simply bossed his way through the midfield. It appears as though your primary rivals are staying with Liverpool step-for-step. I DO love giving hardcore fans the stick. But since you’re not a Man-U fan … I don’t have to be MEAN spirited about it!

          https://www.goal.com/en/news/unleash-foden-guardiola-cant-hold-back-man-city-star-any/k8quxz71ypc51qwwvbd8aundg

          Oh! And while I find your concrete cubby underpass abodes to be interesting … however … I much prefer centralized accommodations … such as a parked ocean liner … berthed in Alameda/San Francisco/Long Beach

    2. I just came back from a week in China, and their main english news out let CGTN is all propaganda, all the time, in the vain you just described

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