Mourning Mr. 柏楊

It's hard to say when I learned to use irony in my writing. But reading 醜陋的中國人 definitely had a huge impact on how I use writing to make my points. Mr. 柏楊 was jailed for 9 years because he translated Popeye to Chinese.

(Um... nope, not the Communists... it's the Nationalists, aka modern day Taiwan, pre-democracy. CNN might report that Mr. 柏楊 was "jailed by Chinese" in their current mode of reporting "news." Don't be fooled!)

无独有偶... The Torch "around-the-world" Rally has sadly proven Mr. 柏楊's point again. Sadly, I am not surprised. Sadly, it won't serve as a lesson for the future.

• It's sad that overseas Chinese have resorted to violence against those who hold a different opinion on Tibet
• It's sad that Chinese who hold a different opinion are targeted as non-patriots (let's not even discuss the follies of "being a patriot")
  
• It's sad that most Chinese can't be open to different opinions
• It's sad that some think violence against "non-patriots" makes you a patriot
  
• It's sad that Western media has chosen to present partial facts to push opinion
• It's sad that so many organizations have chosen to politicize the Olympics, even though it is indeed effective
  
• It's sad that so many athletes will be ignored because of the continued political debacle
• It's sad that while the Chinese government says the Olympics shouldn't be politicize, quite a portion of the people participating in the rally are politicians and/or businessmen. In Hong Kong, only 30% are athletes and the rest consists of politicians, important businessmen, and stars. Really? We shouldn't politicize the Olympics?
• It's sad that Western world has developed such a misconception of the Eastern world
• It's sad that we rely so much on media "news" and not on facts; go see for yourself

You will be missed, Mr. 柏楊.

He was 89.