Today over on Peking Duck I read some disturbing news about one of my favorite authors from pre-Internet days: John Naisbitt. He wrote Megatrends which was kind of like the Freakenomics of its day, answering many questions you’d never think to ask but were fascinated knowing the answers to. I had no idea he and his wife were even living in China.
According to the Duck’s post they are coming out as “we really drank the koolaid” everything in China that is official must be good cheerleaders. That is sad. I know John and his wife are both very intelligent people with their spheres of influence. I’m not purporting that they be China haters since there is so much to be impressed by over China, historically and of late. However, it’s sad how many people will turn a blind eye to some significant problems or become a tour guide and point you to the fake Disneyland town diorama like Pyongyang has for the outsider to glimpse their contrived utopia.
I would truly love to see China demonstrate it’s greatness as a world citizen and leader but know that nothing is gained when we pretend the elephant isn’t in the room. It is encouraging to me that 1,000 brave souls from Shanghai have ventured to Beijing to protest the demolition of their houses to make way for the World Expo grounds. Hopefully they’ll be given some consideration by the government and a fair and reasonable plan can be made.
I wonder how the Naisbitt’s would handle,”Quake activist jailed for 5 years?”. It seems rather appalling when the man was speaking on behalf of the tens of thousands of unfortunate souls who lost lives, livelihoods and property in the devastating earthquakes.
I look forward to China’s increasing role as a world power and hope that there will be more and more meaningful dialogs with the Chinese government and it’s greatest resource-the one billion plus people that it represents.
