I lost track of time, I guess (who hasn't?), and wasn't helped that my local Hallmark store doesn't offer anything special in terms of a card. All of which means I'm a day late and a dollar short on something important. I'll do better.
In George Orwell's 1984, meaning is subverted through language and NuSpeak is used to not communicate with one another. In that spirit, I'd like to extend to the People's Republic of China, PRC, belated best wishes on the 32nd anniversary of your June 4th Incident. In much the same way as you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, sometimes on the road to capitalism you have to get medieval.
I was living in West Germany when the "incident" happened and unlike many of my (younger) colleagues, I knew there was no need to brace for impact or repercussion. In my lifetime there had been the 1953 Soviet assistance visit to East Berlin, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and the Prague Spring of 1968. Just variations of the same flavor.
The Notion that is our Nation, the United States of America, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, averted its eyes and turned away as Chinese citizens, seeking nothing more than basic human rights, discovered they had a new one, the right to be turned into hamburger helper between the treads of a tank column. And the blood they spilled just made the white shine brighter.
It's been practice, if not policy, for decades (since Nixon 'opened Red China') to 'encourage' capitalism for the PRC in the belief that democracy and all it entails will follow as night, the day. Based on this table of exports, the PRC will be sending delegates to both US national political party conventions real soon. And with the balance of payments the way it is, they can afford to. After you've scrutinized that chart, take a moment to read this and remember it's about ONE company and its trade relationship. The only thing 'American' about these guys may be the greeter at the door. Sam would be spinning.
In the ensuing decades, we've seen the evolution and spread of instantaneous worldwide communications. Just what folks with blood on their hands want when an anniversary rolls around. Can you blame them? And what do you get a government that already had "A Goddess of Democracy?" Be advised, we're taking points off for answers that include any variation of an answer that suggests 'a hose to get the papier-mache off the tank.'
We are the champions of revisionist history here, Winston, And don't forget, he who controls the present controls the past, and who controls the past controls the future.
-bill kenny
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