Sometimes attitudes are formed imperceptibly, in a manner so slow that we don’t recognize that our values are actually changing. Take the Chinese. In the early 1990s, a person I know who visited a bicycle factory as a journalist was accused by the Public Security Bureau of being a spy. A decade later, Breitbart TV has this video of a Chinese bureaucrat being stopped by restaurant patrons after he tried to molest an 11 year old girl at a restaurant. The man turned out to be a member of the Communist Party of China and although the police refused to detain him for lack of direct evidence, he was later sacked after
heated discussion among many online communities after a surveillance video clip from the restaurant was uploaded. The video showed the 11-year-old girl helping 58-year-old Lin as he asked her to guide him to the men’s room in the lobby of Xinmeiyuan Restaurant in Shenzhen around 8:40pm last Wednesday.
My conjecture is that the people were empowered by two things: first, the sense of self-worth that comes from not being an employee of the government; and second, the information revolution created by the Internet. Self-worth gave the girl’s family the confidence to keep the representative of the Vanguard of the Proletariat from leaving the restaurant. Communications created the possibility of multiplying the outrage. That’s why any significant increase in dependence on the government and censorship of the Internet is dangerous. The Chinese people may now be discovering the value of freedom which the West is beginning to forget, maybe even in Philly, about which Jonah Goldberg says:
Some very vexed liberal readers want to know what I’m trying to say with the video posted [above]. Truth be told I am not trying to say anything too profound. The video is making the rounds and I thought it was interesting and even newsworthy. I think the “security” workers are sort of lame. Clearly, Obama needs to beef up funding on that civilian security force he keeps talking about. But spare me the indignation about racism this and racism that. I can guarantee you that if two similarly thuggish white “security” workers for McCain were hanging around to guard against “enemy sabatoge” the Josh Marshall crowd would be screaming bloody murder about voter intimidation, the return of Jim Crow and all the rest.
Takeaway: know how to use that cell phone camera in an inconspicuous way and how to upload a video. Which brings us to YouTube and then to Google, but that’s the topic of my next post.
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16 Comments
1. Cannoneer No. 4:I think they felt empowered because technology connected them to others who would share their outrage. The disgruntled and disgusted are no longer alone. They can now find each other and network.
The Chicoms could shut down the internet and cell phones. They are afraid to. The Rulers are afraid of the wrath of the People. Maybe when Americans no longer have the money to buy cheap Chinese junk the Rulers will have even more to be afraid of, and the Mao Dynasty will finally fall, and from the ashes will arise an expansionist, acquistive, horny super power with 30 million military aged males desperately in need of concubines.
Nov 4, 2008 - 1:13 pm 2. outa my league:In regard to the Presidential election process, how have ordinary American voters been disempowered?
Here’s a clue: Democrat pollsters sometimes find that up to 80% of the people they attempt to talk to refuse to participate in their surveys.
Need another clue? Notice how sparse the McCain yard signs and bumper stickers are for this cycle?
Another clue? Has it ever semi-consciously nagged at you that displaying a McCain yard sign is already practically akin to committing a “hate crime” in the eyes of the liberal nutcases? If so, that is an example of disempowerment, indeed.
But fortunately, the ballot is still secret, and we may just be able to buy 4 more years of precious yet fragile freedom.
Nov 4, 2008 - 1:31 pm 3. sirius_sir:That’s why any significant increase in dependence on the government and censorship of the Internet is dangerous.
Wretchard, it is sobering to reflect upon your supposition that we in the West may be on a retrograde path relative to the Chinese who are just discovering and perhaps more dearly valuing their freedom. But the Chinese are not entirely out of the woods in that regard, while we are not yet entirely lost in them.
Still, your point is well taken.
Nov 4, 2008 - 1:47 pm 4. Pascal:As we dodge the Obama bullet, will we remember what a close call it was?
Nov 4, 2008 - 1:50 pm 5. Annoy Mouse:Gun smoke
Ponderosa
Father knows best
My three sons
Candid camera
Gilligan’s island
The flying nun
Batman
Get Smart
Mission to the moon
Vietnam – Tet
All in the family
The Jefferson’s’
Maude
Chico and the man
Mash
Miami vice
America’s funniest home videos
Bloopers
90210
Sex in the city
Who wants to be a millionaire
Big brother
Network news
YouTube
I-phone
Kind of a trajectory from the romantic to the utterly crass. Young folk will strive to be get their 15 minutes of fame, derogatory or not, and the aging population will be content to pass into eternity with their dignity intact and the comfort that they lived in a time with half as many billions of people with a modicum of their anonymity intact.
Nov 4, 2008 - 2:05 pm 6. Annoy Mouse:“It’s the tide. It’s the dismal tide. It’s not the one thing.” (No Country for Old Men)
Nov 4, 2008 - 2:08 pm 7. Clioman:Isn’t it fascinating — no matter where it happens, whether it’s two thugs in front of a Philadelphia polling place, or a lecherous party member in a Shenzhen restaurant, the vital first step in curbing evil is simply to expose it to the light, so that redress might occur.
Nov 4, 2008 - 2:17 pm 8. Charles:I live in a liberal virginia suburb of Washington DC. Obama and McCain have been all over this area. This area is in play.
I voted this afternoon. I didn’t have to wait. There was no line. I was told the place was packed before 7 and half the roll had voted.
I don’t know. Gore and Kerry had the place full at all times of the day.
Nov 4, 2008 - 2:24 pm 9. Cannoneer No. 4:Cyber Warriors – China
Interesting 23 minute video. Millions of tech-savvy guys over there.
Nov 4, 2008 - 2:39 pm 10. exhelodrvr:Wretchard,
Nov 4, 2008 - 2:51 pm 11. dla:Thanks for the link to Judith Durham the other day. I’m her new biggest fan.
Clioman: well said! Funny, but here in Oregon it is illegal to record a conversation without notification. But it is legal to video secretly. LEO-types seem to complain the loudest about being under “public surveilence” – yet that is currently the most effective means of controlling rogue behavior. I wonder if there will be a “protected class” that can’t be recorded.
Nov 4, 2008 - 2:56 pm 12. Alexis:Citizen surveillance can be a front line of defense against bullies.
Organization is important but it is overrated. What’s more important is mobilization. Those who are mobilized against bullies can react whenever an abuse occurs. Where there are bullies, abuses will occur.
I caution against political violence because (1) public sympathy generally goes to the victim of political violence and not its perpetrator, (2) a would-be dictator will look for pretexts to expand his power, and (3) resistance is most effective when it exists under the threshold of where government reaction gains social legitimacy.
Nonviolence works principally by showing just how abusive one’s opposition really is. Martin Luther King Jr. courted police brutality. Few events depressed him more than friendly segregationist sheriffs who refrained from brutality.
I think Senator Obama is a bully. I think the burden is on him to explain how his “civilian security force” wouldn’t be some twenty-first century version of the Tonton Macoutes. In any case, a key to effective resistance in a constitutional republic is to scrupulously obey every law in order to deprive police agencies of any valid pretext for investigation or repression. It is very important to regard existing laws not merely as cover but also as means to expose any illegality within the government.
No matter which way this election turns out, Americans will not come together to embrace the winner. Any notion of “healing” in a political context is utter nonsense considering what has happened during this election campaign. The best that can be expected from the losing side (no matter which one it turns out to be) is a cold acceptance that the majority of American voters made the wrong decision.
Nov 4, 2008 - 4:12 pm 13. Doug:Gateway Pundit This Was Good… Philly Man Says He Voted A Couple Times …CNN Reporter Says That’s OK (Video)
Good Old Gateway, Hopeful to the Last
OBAMEDIA ALERT: Minnesota “Significantly Closer” than Polls Predicted
Nov 4, 2008 - 4:33 pm 14. bonzo:…Update: Iowa Miracle?
…Update: PUMA’s May Flip Ohio!!
Ruh-Roh!… There’s an Obamedia alert in Minnesota.
Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic reported:
Abandon hope all ye who seek to buy it. Abandon change, justice and hope from those who give it for free, as an introductory offer, act now and ask about the special upgrade….
Nov 4, 2008 - 4:54 pm 15. David M:The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 11/05/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.
Nov 5, 2008 - 10:55 am 16. Ms. Know:Technology was based more for those who don’t follow the elections, but the myspace and facebook generation. Therefore they voted for the left-wing illuminati, not knowing anything about them.
Nov 15, 2008 - 10:23 amSorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.