A Whiner on China

I don’t like people who are constantly on the whinge any more than the next guy but I understand that even good things have their built in limits. One thing that probably bugs me a little bit more than the doom and gloomer is the person who if she, (and that means he or she), could, would take little parcels of sunshine, form them into bullets, load them into her sunshine gun and force us all at gunpoint to at least APPEAR happy.

When you take a shower and use a bar of soap that’s shrunk through a few showers, or the mini-cakes you get free at a hotel, statistics show that you will use more water. So if we all used couch cushion sized soap, we’d save oceans full of fresh water, right? The limit is easily apparent in this example. But sometimes it’s not so easy for people to know when they are being excessive.

I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen “I love you” used like a massive bar of soap! And I’ve been around a lot of Chinese people. See if you can work in China or at a Chinese business in Vancouver without hearing at least once every day about their 5000-year-old culture. Way the hell back in the 1700’s Robert Southey said that,
“it is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed the deeper they burn.”

I am sure the Chinese can show you a quote allegedly a few thousand years before Southey walked the earth that is almost identical to his wise words. They invented everything you know. I once lived in Vancouver and had a battle with my Chinese landlady who said people were smoking in my house. She was lying her ass off but produced written reports she had whipped up hours before the hearing that were dated months earlier as PROOF that it happened. And she won the arbitration because we believe the Chinese stories of the past. They’ve been taking advantage of that for 5000 years.

I wonder if I produced some really old fake historical account of some Canadian natives eating pasta in Canada before it was invented in China whether it would be taken seriously. It makes more sense to have been invented in a country where more wheat than rice is grown and eaten. And like Tony Soprano says, "Don't be stupid! Why the hell would they invent spaghetti in a country where they eat with sticks?" But then our Canadian natives weren’t great note-takers, were they? The key is to write it down and spread it fast so it becomes uniformly believed as fact. History is, as Henry Ford so aptly said, “bunk.” It is more effectively preserved and passed on by countries with military tradition. Why? Because a huge part of that military tradition is to create, by military AND social mass training, highly suggestible and obedient soldiers. In the immortal words of Sting in my favourite song of his, “Men go crazy in congregations; they only get better one by one. One by one. One by one by one…”

Is there a country with an older and prouder military tradition than China? They still have the world’s largest army. Anyway, I have heard some things from the mouths of Chinese friends and students that only a highly traditional, well trained soldier could really take seriously. And I shouldn’t just pick on the Chinese. Many North Koreans believe some things about Kim Jong Il that would boggle your mind. Did you know he shot 5 holes-in-one his first time ever golfing? That most likely includes one on a par 4 folks. Actually this article says it was 11! He MUST have been a god-man! And we have myths in peaceful countries like Canada too. Think of the one about the heroic Paul Henderson goal winning the summit series versus the Russians back in the 70’s. A lot of us know now that we would have been thumped if Bobby Clarke didn’t bust Kharlamov’s ankle.

The point I’m making in the uncondensed, sententious, shallow-burning way that is my wont, is that people lie. Countries lie. History lies. And these lies are a large part of the septic stink of suffering on the earth. It is by no means coincidence that so many Chinese people found the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, which define practically all things as suffering and promote the joyful participation in the sorrows of the world. See? Now there is some focused light! The joyful participation in the suffering of this world. I couldda saved a page if I had written THAT earlier. Somewhere there are some Chinese people who have some papers that predate the Buddha’s teachings of this tenet I am sure. Sigh.

While it is true that all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light from a single flame, it is wise to bear in mind that without darkness there IS no light. You can’t just block out the bad or pretend it doesn’t exist. In fact good can’t exist without it. Now I don’t condone the people who walk around in their miserable, melancholia and who so seldom say or do something nice it doesn’t penetrate, it burns like a laser when they do. Again, limitations. But I am finding a curious, almost Huxlian social pattern in post-Korea Canada. It’s not something that’s new, it’s just getting further past excessive. We have always been a polite bunch of folks here in Canada I think, but it is to the point where it is becoming rude to be real. Unfortunately when you force yourself to be, (or at least seem, appear, act), happy if not done correctly it is a repression of negative feelings and those feelings have a bursting point. A limit.

Understanding that the world is a cesspool chock-o-block full of scumbags, finding your joys in this heart of darkness and accentuating them is an ability that just might be the very MEANING of this life. As this often whiney blog will attest, I haven’t even come close to this skill but it is something I am working on. But there is a vast difference between that, an ability some people may spend many lifetimes of meditation and self-discipline attaining, and just painting on a smile before you go out. And I don’t think you have to have the wisdom of Solomon to sense the difference. People who are genuinely happy are a joy to be around, but people who are continually reminding themselves to be positive, smiling when they feel like punching someone in the face, and clinging to happy behaviour as a rule instead of finding genuine joy and positivity in bad situations are actually being self-destructive. And if you want my opinion, (or even if you don’t), I think they’re annoying.

As far as I know we haven’t invented Soma yet. Though the average North American is half a pharmacist when it comes to pain relief, physical and psychological, I still don’t think we have a drug that will allow us to settle for happiness substitutes. So the key is to work our way through the suffering in some way that allows us to be conscious of its existence, yet focused on the beauty, no matter how small it may be, within. Remember the ancient mariner who thoughtlessly killed the beautiful albatross and bore the burden of the murder until he saw beauty in ugly, slimy eels? The story he tells for eternity is the one I think we all need to hear.

So in this time before Canada’s political visit to China am I hoping against hope that the representatives from Canada will be of this mindset? Will any of them be aware of the massive darkness in China? Maybe they invented THAT too! Or will they be blocking it out and concentrating on the po$itive$?

I will give a link to an article I wrote before our Prime Minister visited China in 2005 I think it was. A little history of the Chinese Communist Party and some insight into the way Chinese view Canada. These are not softly worded opinions and facts. And most of them are unchanged but there have been some developments. I mentioned the Falun Gong fiasco but at the time I wrote it was unaware of the organ harvesting being performed on its practitioners. Not much else has changed though. Anyway,

Here’s the link

Basically, China = danger, danger Will Robinson, danger! The CCP is pure evil. They are responsible for death counts estimated to be up there with Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot combined. They are STILL finding new and improved ways to kill their people. And in Canada our government is saying, “Let’s do some more business with these folks.”

Don’t take it from me if you don’t respect my harsh, unpolitical presentation. The honourable David Kilgour, (2010 Nobel Peace Prize nominee), in his keynote address at the Jan. 18 Canadian Political Science Students Association Conference mentions almost all the same things. You can read it on his website here. I was reading it in the Globe and Mail and suspecting plagiarism! He was a politician from ’79-’06 so he uses terms like “indifference to public good” where I would probably say something like "bloodthirstiness." He believes Canada should remain fully engaged with China even though Canada will be “tainted by the crimes of the current regime.” He also mentions some new examples like the organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners. And the Sanlu dairy scandal in which 300,000 Chinese babies were killed by milk containing melamine. Quality testers took bribes from farmers and milk dealers who didn’t want to lose money. In China I suppose that’s acceptable collateral damage. There is mention of the Chinese real estate market that is very much like a giant Ponzi scheme with government kicking poor folks off property, forcing banks to loan them money and building giant industrial developments, many of which stand idle like ghost cities.

I see little improvement in China since I wrote that article. In fact if you consider the massive destruction of their environment and the new methods of population control, things have become worse.

HOWEVER

In the face of even the greatest ugliness there is beauty. Even hope. That's supposed to be the point of this entry and the path I am trying to travel. Apparently there have been a lot of people quitting the CCP. As of January 25 110,097,423 to be exact. Or at least statistically exact, which is an oxymoron. Especially when the stat involves China. There were a reported 180,000 “mass incidents” in China in 2010. Strikes, riots, demonstrations. So maybe if Harper goes to China with a message of support for the civil disobedience that seems to be on the increase he could do some good. It would be so nice to see!

Despite all this negative talk about China, as is the case with all countries, I don’t believe for a second their government accurately represents the people. Not everything about China is bad. There are so many awesome things that come from such a dark and horrible place! I’ll end this entry with an example. It can give us all hope in our world when we see that even China has good deep deep down there somewhere. This looks beautiful! And the host Cici is pretty darn cute herself. Everybody count with me how many times the 5000-year-old culture is mentioned. Well China won’t change overnight. Heh heh heh.