Now comes the (well-deserved, IMHO) backlash. News blurb:
HONG KONG (AP) - Action movie star Jackie Chan questioned the need for freedom for Chinese people during a speech Saturday, prompting outrage from lawmakers in Taiwan and Hong Kong, who accused him of insulting his own race.Hear, hear!
. . . "He's insulted the Chinese people. Chinese people aren't pets," pro-democracy Hong Kong legislator Leung Kwok-hung told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "Chinese society needs a democratic system to protect human rights and rule of law.""His comments are racist. People around the world are running their own countries. Why can't Chinese do the same?" another Hong Kong lawmaker, Albert Ho, told the AP.
"He himself has enjoyed freedom and democracy and has reaped the economic benefits of capitalism. But he has yet to grasp the true meaning of freedom and democracy," Taiwanese legislator Huang Wei-che said.
While Chan's comments were reported by the Hong Kong and Taiwanese news outlets, they were ignored by the mainland Chinese press.
We also get the somewhat odd spectacle of one Hong Kong native accusing another of being a racist. Raaaaaaaaaacist! (Sorry, I couldn't resist. I've spent too long listening to arguments from identity politics!) By the way, gentle reader Lumpy was first on scene with the race-based angle. He was, I dare say, being a bit tongue-in-cheek with his comment, but the angry HK lawmakers are apparently quite serious about the accusation.
2 comments:
Yo, I am in tune with my Hong Kong brothers. Tell it, Big Al. :-D
(I SO wish his last name wasn't 'Ho' - while it rhymes with 'Yo,' that is REALLY a direction I wouldn't go.)
Chinese people aren't pets.I'll be giggling about that for days. It's going to be amazingly difficult not to go around informing all my Chinese friends of this fact, you know.
Yesterday was a silly day. Ever have a day where you feel tipsy, but haven't had anything to drink (or any other intoxicating substances)? Weird. Sleep deprivation, maybe?
That whole parenthetical comment about Albert Ho's name was a bit of internal dialog that should have remained in its native, weird state inside my brain.
But I'm still giggling about Chinese people aren't pets. I'm now SO trying to work out an appropriate and snappy way to work Hey, white people aren't pets, you know, into a conversation.
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