Category: Western Culture

Boston School Punishes Exchange Student For Advocating Democracy In China

Are Chinese "professional students" similarly punished for speaking on behalf of their evil political system?

UPDATE (Jun 11 / 2014): School superintendant / Chinese Communist Party hatchetman David Fleishman can't figure out what all the fuss is about.

Furbo

Very worthwhile discussion of the Italian concept of "furbo":

It's Interesting That He [Ron Paul] Cites the Italians for Their Perspicacity… because that lets me talk about my favorite Italian word, furbo, meaning full of cunning and slyness.

"Furbo" is very important in Italian culture. Even more than in our own.

Let's say, for example, I say I believe George Bush that Al Qaeda perpetrated 9/11.

The fact that I'm saying I believe him exposes me to several risks. What if he's lying? If he's lying to me, he's played me for a fool. I would have shown that my furbo is rather weak.

But what if I instantly claim he's lying, instead? Well, then I can never be accused of having had the wool pulled over my eyes by him. My furbo would be strong.

Now, most cultures, of course, respect skeptics and treat the guileless as amiable fools.

But in many cultures, you can only show so much furbo before you begin looking like a fool from the other direction. Not a fool because of what you believe; but a fool because of the incredibly long list of things you don't.

Italy, however, prizes furbo to the extent that it's pretty hard to be considered a fool based on your conspiracy-theorizing. Italy overvalues furbo, and undervalues skepticism about skepticism itself…

How Sweden Came To Rule The (Pop Music Radio) Waves

In the 1940s, conservative Swedes set up a universal public system of classical music education in order to "protect" the country's youth from the "corrupting" influences of foreign popular music.

(Which, considering the era, meant that they considered Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw the subversive, long-haired punks of the day. Heh!)

By the '80s, this had changed, and Sweden's musical curriculum had expanded to include rock and pop…and by the 1990s, Swedes were able to take advantage of both their musical education & their music-related social networks to conquer the pop world.

Very ironic result. Fascinating stuff.

Communist China Leans On Western Media To Spike Unfavorable Coverage

Zhongnanhai frowns upon exposes of Princeling corruption:

Mr. Winkler defended his decision [not to publish an investigative report about Chinese Communist Party corruption], comparing it to the self-censorship by foreign news bureaus trying to preserve their ability to report inside Nazi-era Germany, according to Bloomberg employees familiar with the discussion.

Sinofascism is not a dinner party.

Chinese Ask British PM Not To Wear Remembrance Day Poppy

"Politely" for now.  Perhaps not so politely in the future.

Back when I lived in Taiwan, I knew of a few Canadians who wore poppies around this time of year.  Somehow, the Taiwanese never made it an issue.

But then, unlike the Chinese, Taiwanese as a rule aren't ugly bullies.