Eric Sommer's parting words:
>Hi there, Thanks to those who put me in touch with Michael
>Lebowitz, my reason for joining the list. I'm now leaving the
>list and will carry on communication with Michael.
JG sez:
I for one am profoundly dismayed to witness such an exponent
of acute ideology critique and social scientific insight leave the
list. And just as I was getting all wound up and ready to enter
the fray...
Strange ('tho not so strange) how the guy properly cautioned
us against taking "Western" (sic) corporate press coverage of
all matters Chinese at face value, then proceeded to equate
CCP public pronouncements about various policy turns with
actual commitment to and successful implementation of said
policy turns. Surely he would not prefer that we judge Clintobama's
devotion to "universal health care" by checking out their respective
campaign web sites?
There is indeed a tiny core of principled eco-socialists
in the PRC's Environmental Ministry that desperately promoted
the "green GDP" (warts and all) concept, but Beijing bigshots
appropriated the concept mainly because 1) it fit well with the
Third Way/"sustainable development" reimaging of party ideology
and 2) they knew in advance that local cadres and enterprise
managers would never actualize the scheme, nor could they be
forced to. In any event I recall reading something recently about
the scant few "green GDP" pilot projects being abandoned because
(among other reasons) they were raising the expectations and
hence encouraging the independent mobilization of China's scores
of militant anti-pollution movements (movements that put the
foundation-infested "environmental justice" movements in the US
to shame, by the way!!!)...
For me Eric's credibility was shot when he opened his mouth, but
he truly and really lost it when he talked up Zhang Zemin's vaunted
"three represents" "theory" (sic). In any context other than that
requiring ritualistic pietizing, most members of China's technical-
professional salariat (a class fraction that overall has made out like
bandits in the age of "market reform") readily skewer the "three
represents" "theory" as Zhang's pathetic attempt at securing his
place in the pantheon of Sino-"Marxist" (sic) "intellectuals" (sic),
even though the "theory" (sic) is low-grade casuistry of the most
flagrant sort. Especially among those whose status is lionized by
"three represents" "thought" (sic), to treat it seriously is to turn
oneself into a laughingstock...
Appropriately enough the gentleman's signature included insipid
quotes from "capitalism with a human face" CEO's... it brings to
mind the fact that several years ago Jack Welch's "how to" and
"tell all" autobiography topped China's bestseller list, as have
subsequent tomes by the likes of Bill Gates...
Anyway, I insist that you take my word for it because I too have
a Chinese spouse and I too have lived and worked in China ;)
Doug Henwood said of CCTV:
>I've watched a fair amount of it. It comes off like propagnda, with
>not quite the technical skills or polemical genius of the Fox News
>Channel.
JG sez:
At least with respect to its coverage of domestic issues, I've found
CCTV's mode of propaganda to be quite subtle and quite effective,
if not entirely predictable. There is frank discussion of a wide range
of national ills (of course certain subjects remain taboo) -- a good
deal more so than one would encounter on network news broadcasts
in the US -- but such candor is always a set-up to the punchline that
the party is vigorously tackling it (be it regional inequality, tainted food,
corrupt customs agents, what have you...).
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