傻冒儿 Stupid Hat aka ShaMao'er

The same old question... why are they so dumb? 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7532338.stm    Web Curbs for Olympic Journalists

I still don't have an answer to it.  Chinese people I've asked are also not able to give any sort of coherent answer.

How could the risk of some Chinese person reading the Amnesty International report or going to the Fa Lun Gong website possibly outweigh the reality of the negative press.  The kinds of abuses that Amnesty reports on are just the sort of things that the kind of Chinese that are able to read in English on the internet find completely justifiable.  In fact, there is more of a risk of public unrest due to their oh so sensitive nationalistic feelings being hurt by negative foreign media reports....

By the way, I agree with the government on the Fa Lun Gong.  Too much history on their side there... (see Taiping rebellion, Boxer movement, Cultural revolution)

Swing Meter: Obama gains 10%

Constant readers will remember my March post, The Candidates, where I talk about my thoughts on the candidates for the presidency.   Today, I remain torn between McCain and Obama for pretty much the same reasons as back then.  However, as events unfold I do swing back and forth and so I decided to implement a "Swing meter" on ShaMao (really for my own entertainment).  

7/28/08 Swing Meter
Obama:  60%
Mccain:  40%

Obama's trip has moved him up in the rankings.  One of the reasons I cited back in March for supporting Obama was to restore the faith of the world in the hope and dream that is America.   The peace and global development dividend from the people of the world believing in that dream is immeasurably large.  It is clear from Obama's trip that people still want to believe.

McCain just seems old.  By old I don't mean tired.  I mean inflexible and obstinate.  Sometimes they broadcast full speeches (or at least long exerpts) of the candidates on CNN.  I have them on in the background (see previous post).  The McCain ones never cease to annoy me. 

CNN in the background

Over the past several months, I tend to work from home.  While at home "working", I tend to have CNN playing in the background.  This is not because of any particular love of the channel, it simply appears to be the best choice of several poor choices.  I really have it on because I can't abide silence and I need to have multiple things to focus my mind on at any given time. 

I am often appalled by the stories which CNN chooses to focus its attention on.   No matter what important events are occurring in the world, the can be counted on to repeat the most banal domestic story they can find ad nauseum.    In any event, that is not what his post is about... 

What this post is about, is our current media driven economic downturn and specifically the price of oil.  Over the past 2 months or so, I have listened to CNN announce with sadistic glee multiple times per day of the oil price hitting a new high.  The commentators (usually that bald guy) will then go on to list new and creative ways that the new record will add to the general misery that they insist Americans are feeling.

For the past 2 weeks or so, oil prices have been falling.  They are off about 15% now from the high.  Strange, as I listen to CNN in the background I am not hearing much mention of this. 

Motivations and interests...  I was talking to my oldest daughter about that the other day.  We need to remember motivations and interests when evaluating the opinions of any source.  Perpetual crisis of some sort is very much in the interest of the media and so it will always be there.

War on Nature

This is a pretty good article in the Financial Times.  

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/005617c2-51cc-11dd-a97c-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

I'm not sure why it won't let me link it directly.   I love this quote:
" If this is the “harmonious society” of which China’s leaders boast, then São Paulo is an egalitarian paradise."

I guess the irony will be lost on my Chinese readers...