PR viagra cannot revive the limp Olympic Torch

Some of our readers might remember how, around this time a year ago, Catherine and I blogged voluminously about the bloody stupidity of China’s Olympic Torch relay.

Now here comes news that the IOC has decided, belatedly, to jettison the international Olympic Torch relay,  because the Torch relay of the 2008 Olympics turned out to be a Titanic f— up of “public relations”.

We are pleased to hear this news of how the IOC has belatedly come to its senses about the Torch.     We only regret that so many innocent people were wounded, tortured and murdered as a direct consequence of Lenovo’s Olympic Torch path through emotionally nuclear places such as Tibet, in 2008.

We can reasonably assume that the Chinese and Western organisers and “public relations” consultants who are responsible for the murderous debacle of the 2008 Olympic Torch relay, are now still sitting pretty, still earning good money and retiring to their own safe, warm beds every night, willfully oblivious to the roles they have personally played in the torture and deaths of innocents.

I can easily imagine that some of them, or at least the Westerners among them, are now fierce critics of the likes of AIG and other corporate criminals who have destroyed America’s economy and dragged the rest of the world down with them.

But either God, or the gods, or the natural law of the survival of Truth, will ultimately make them pay for the sufferings that their willful stupidities have inflicted upon others.    And their first installments of payback will be their loss of sleep, for the rest of their lives.    Because I believe that you can run, but you can’t hide, from God-given conscience.

Meanwhile, I dedicate the following video clip to China’s 2008 Olympic Torch relay, and especially to Lenovo’s American “public relations” consultants who made that torch relay what it was:

Great Moments in Olympic History

Serving China’s PR organs = loss of US citizenship, part two

Just in case this needs an illustration,

Dramatis Personae:

Ren (the penetrator)  = the PLA

Stimpy (the penetrated) = American PR whores in Beijing

Serving China’s PR organs = loss of US citizenship, part one

American PR whores serving China’s propaganda machine, beware.

US Code Title 8, Chapter 12….section 1481:

A person who is a national of the United States…shall lose his nationality by…entering, or serving in, the armed forces of a foreign state if…such armed forces are engaged in hostilities against the United States

China is an ally of North Korea.   To this day, the armed forces of North Korea are still engaged in hostilities against the United States.   (The cease-fire in 1953 did not end the Korean War; it merely suspended the fighting indefinitely.)    In this light, the armed forces of China are engaged in hostilities against the United States.   (And they are so engaged, de facto, in any case.)

China’s PR organs, most especially those who have organised the Torch Relay, directly serve the interests of the PLA.    The Torch Relay is an instrument of PLA intervention in other countries, most especially Nepal.

In light of the above, it seems reasonable to argue that for a US citizen to contract with a Chinese corporation to serve the Olympic Torch’s PR campaign, is a de facto act of service for the armed forces of China, resulting in loss of US citizenship. 

Unintended Consequences 102

Now as a supplement to Catherine’s post about unintended consequences, here is an illustration.

Finally, the Torch goes where it’s perfectly welcome

They would have saved themselves and the world a lot of trouble if they had limited the entire international Olympic Torch relay to China’s number one ally, North Korea.   It will arrive there in a few days, to an unreservedly fanatical welcome, the kind that the torch’s American public relations firm of Ketchum must be creaming their jeans over.

As the spirit of the Torch is closer kindred of the spirit of North Korea than of any other nation, we urge the US State Department to revoke the passports of all US citizens who work for Ketchum in Beijing, to enable them more easily to immigrate to North Korea where their kind of work is most welcome.

Here’s a North Korean movie clip exemplary of the same “spirit” which has animated the PRC’s “sacred” torch relay throughout the world.   At last, it’s soon to arrive in a country where it is perfectly welcome, where its visit will be 100 percent untainted by any public relations problems.    Ketchum must be thanking God for this anticipated day of relief - or thanking God’s replacement, Kim Jong Il.

The Flying Dutchman is now a Western expat in Beijing

The Flying Dutchman’s hubris doomed him to wander the Earth, homeless, a man without a country, for eternity.

Today you can see many of his shadows in Beijing, most especially in the faces of some Westerners who sold their souls to work as “public relations” whores for China’s propaganda machine in this year of the Olympic Torch of Shame.

The fierce winds, gigantic waves and terrible lightening threatened to sink the Flying Dutchman, but the twisted and fearless captain had a threat of his own. There and then, Vanderdecken swore an oath to the Devil that he would round the Cape even if it took him until Doomsday (the day that the world will come to an end). This foolish act brought a terrible curse down upon the captain, his crew and his ship. From that moment forth they were forced to roam the mighty seas for all eternity as a ghost ship.

Such will be the long term fate of any Foreigners who, today, try to hustle the East as PR agents for an alien power which regards them and their kind as less than fungible.

Lenovo and Ketchum in Beijing, yes I’m looking at you.

 

A Reminder: The Torch Was Designed Specifically for Tibet

The time seems right for a reminder of the proximate cause of the worldwide furor surrounding the Olympic Torch.

It was designed for the specific purpose of the provocative plan to take it to the top of Mount Everest.

As we observed several weeks ago, the consequence of that plan was to lock down Tibet, to envelop Tibet with a new iron curtain and information blackout, and to expand the reach of China’s de facto military control of the Himalayas beyond the border of China and into Nepal. The March 14 riots in Tibet were a direct consequence of the plan to take the torch through Tibet, to Everest, and to seal off Tibet from the outside world.

China’s Western PR agents for the torch relay knew as early as 2007 that the principal purpose of the Torch’s design was to enable it to be taken to Mount Everest. They were fully informed of the plan, yet they collaborated in China’s provocation of the world’s condemnation. They bear as much moral responsibility for the consequences as the Chinese government and the PLA whose interests they have knowingly, willingly served, not under compulsion but – incomparably less forgivable than acting under political compulsion or duress – for lucre and personal prestige.

Will the FBI need to investigate Lenovo, Ketchum and Roland Soong?

As we have written previously, the Tibetan-American man who has been tormented by cyberstalking and threats of violence for his alleged role in attacking Jin Jing in the Paris Olympic Torch relay, has turned out to be a victim of mistaken identity.

One person who played an instrumental role in publishing that man’s name, address, and even maps of his house’s location, is the blogger named Roland Soong, aka “ESWN”. Another blogger, Tom Legg in Hong Kong, has written that in the past few days, Roland Soong has “erased his role in the stalking of an American Tibetan from the internet.”

Now Catherine and I are here to say that we, too witnessed Roland Soong’s article in which he published the name and contact details of that falsely accused man, consequent to which that man received threatening messages and widespread calls for his death among angered Chinese nationalists on the internet.

Roland, if you later delete that information (as you ought to), it is not going to go down any Orwellian “memory hole.” If ever necessary, my sworn testimony and Catherine’s will corraborate Tom’s, that you did indeed publish that man’s personal information. Personally I view this as prima facie evidence of a crime of incitement to violence, or perhaps even incitement to murder. But of course that would be up to America’s FBI to decide; I’m not stating any expert legal opinion here.

Meanwhile, as we’ve written, there remains troubling evidence indicating that the attack on Jin Jing might have been staged by China’s government. Granted, the evidence is not conclusive. But neither has it been refuted; this is not to mention the aggravating evidentiary condition of the PRC’s deservedly low level of credibility. And unless and until the currently reasonable evidence (no matter how inconclusive) indicating a possible Chinese-sponsored PR stunt is refuted, questions will remain open concerning what role, if any, was played by China’s Lenovo corporation – the sponsors of the torch – and/or by their American public relations agents, Ketchum in Beijing. What, if anything, did they know, or should have known, about any such staged event or its consequences which now include incitement to death threats against an innocent American citizen? As the owners of and public relations agents for the torch, they would be at the top of the list of “persons of interest” to investigate, if not as criminal suspects then at least as sources of evidence regarding the perpetrators.

Of course, don’t expect the Chinese government to cooperate in any such investigation. Nor should you expect much cooperation with the FBI from anyone – including any US citizen – who lives in China and serves the PR interests of Lenovo’s torch, as Jin Jing does as well. At this point, any American citizen in that position could probably be said to have been swallowed by the dragon, and digested by it too.

UPDATE: As of now, the personal information about the innocent Tibetan-American is still on Roland’s site. Thanks to Danwei for pointing that out. This fact, of course, renders Roland all the more contemptible.

Jin Jing, Beijing’s Parody of Martyrdom (re-posted)

Due to the mysterious disappearance of this article from Google, we are re-posting it under the same title as before.

Our speculations about the probable reasons for the sabotage of this article are indicated in our above linked post and its comments.   The comments posted on this article to date, are here.

Here follows the re-posted article:

If you’re in a wheelchair, stay the hell out of China. There are virtually no facilities for the disabled in China, let alone any traditional ethos of compassion for them. The Great Hall of the People – the seat of government in Beijing – is inaccessible by wheelchair. Contempt for the physically weak, as well as for the politically weak, runs deep and flows long through Chinese history. In China, the disabled are regarded as freaks and expendable weaklings.

Yet here comes Jin Jing in a wheelchair, sent to Paris by China’s propaganda organs to be a Torch-Bearer. She was, alas, jostled by a Tibetan protester who attempted to take the torch from her – mind you, while she was surrounded by heavily armed French Police. Now China’s propaganda agents, both Chinese and Western, are re-presenting her as (in the words of China Daily and other Chinese organs), the “angel in a wheelchair”, a cynically devised parody of martyrdom. The internet is all abuzz about this “public relations” coup for Beijing, “The Martyrdom of Jin Jing”. But how many have asked the simple question:

WHY did Beijing send a disabled Chinese woman to be a torch-bearer in a foreign country (this is contrary to custom; traditionally, all torch-bearers in France ought to have been French), especially when they knew she would probably be subjected to some kind of (I admit, criminal and objectionable) assault?

Using Occam’s Razor of parsimony of logic, it is obvious that Beijing – whose regime neglects and excoriates the disabled – sent Jin Jing to be a torch-bearer in Paris as a provocation for exactly this kind of “public relations” stunt.

Now, Beijing’s hypocrisy in re-presenting a disabled woman as a symbol of Chinese Nationalism is nauseating enough per se. But what is even more objectionable is the Propaganda Department’s exaggeration of what she suffered. Granted, the assault was illegal and objectionable. But she suffered virtually no bodily harm, precisely because she was surrounded and protected by some of the toughest, and heavily armed, Police in all of France.

Take a look at this photo; what stands between her and one of her assailants is a French Policeman bearing a firearm. And then in this photo, her assailant is right next to a French Police van, surrounded by armed, tough as nails French Police.

Granted, the assailant’s deed was a crime. But the legal definition of the crime of “assault” does not include any element of actual physical harm. An “assault and battery” can be an illegal physical contact as gentle as an unwanted kiss. The point is that being assaulted does not make a Martyr – least of all when the putative “martyr” is being protected by some of the toughest armed cops on the planet.

China’s conflation of the Torch with religion – Beijing’s propaganda organs call the torch “sacred”, and in this photo, Jin Jing holds the torch in a posture reminiscent of Christian martyrs holding a Cross while being fed to the lions (Jin Jing’s closed eyes in that photo are an especially brilliant touch of sinister semiotics) – is, simply, profane. It profanes the names and memories of all real martyrs throughout history, and not just Christian martyrs. This corruption of words like “angel” and “sacred” and “martyr”, as applied to Jin Jing, profanes – if nothing else – truthfulness itself. Even an atheist, or at least an atheist who love truthfulness and integrity of language and symbols, must object to this abuse of the semiotics of “martyrdom”, if only for the sake of clarity of language and of mind.

When Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, he was not defended by heavily armed police. And mutatis mutandis, Jin Jing’s “martyrdom” did not involve torture or death, to say the least.

Or take any martyr of your choice, of any religion, or none. Consider the many atheist Communists who were tortured and murdered for their principles by Germany’s Gestapo. Remember the many, and mostly nameless, beautiful Jewesses of the Middle Ages who chose suicide rather than submit to rape by their so-called “Christian” captors. Or – and perhaps with especial regard to Beijing’s current depredations upon Muslims in Xinjiang – remember the Muslim martyr, Hallaj (855-922), a Sufi whose unorthodox way of professing Islam resulted in his martyrdom through having all his arms and legs cut off until he bled to death.

No, Jin Jing is not one of them. What she has been chosen by Beijing’s propagandists to “re-present”, profanes the names of all true martyrs.

And you don’t have to be a Christian to understand that as Jesus Christ was a martyr, this attempt by Beijing’s Central Propaganda Department to posit Jin Jing as a “martyr” is, literally, a symbol of an “Anti-Christ.” And anti-Marxist too, insofar as Marx excoriated all “false consciousness.”

UPDATE: This article’s title has suddenly disappeared from Google, under any and all searches.   Apparently someone out there is displeased with it, and has the resources to have it removed from Google.   More about this mystery, here