Response to critics.

I found this comment by 'anonymous' to my post "get with the program". I would like to take this opportunity to respond to this. First, let me clear up a few things. This response is only made for purpose of clarity and there is nothing here that is said in anger, by me or in my opinion, by the person who is in disagreement with me. So, having said that, let us be off.

My friend, I would first like to thank you for pointing out just how much in agreement we are. I know you probably don't get that, but we agree on most everything you stated. I will point it out as I go through and edit your post. I will post my comments in blue. You pointed out, many many times, that I was painting with a broad brush, "paint the house with a few strokes" to paraphrase what you said. Yes, I very much used a broad brush, hopefully broad to the point of absurdity. I did this on purpose to point out the absurdity to which people make assumptions, to point out that people will make a situation fit exactly into their preconceived thoughts about an issue. You exactly got my point when you were taken aback by my broad strokes.



I usually enjoy reading your posts, but you are WAY off on this one. I'll remark paragraph by paragraph to your original post. As for your question: Traitor, Loon, or lost mind? I say no, no, and somewhat. (You could just go with yes because I am sure I have lost my mind) The fact that you went to China and experienced a small piece of their culture by no means makes you an expert in this area. (not an expert and dont claim to be one. I would say that my experiences would lend some weight to my opinions beyond that of those who have more limited experiences. I would also say that my experiences are not limited to my time in China as far as learning about the 'heart' of the Chinese people. Angie and I have both endeavored to form lasting relationships with people in and from China as well as researching the culture in books, online and by any means we can get our hands on. We do this so that we might be able to teach Gracie about China in a somewhat accurate manner) I would compare it to someone from any foreign country visiting only one or two of our states, and making the same statements. With all due respect, what you "saw in the hearts of the Chinese people" is nothing considering there are 1.3 BILLION people in China. Finally, you imply that the athletes just return home to easy street, and the rest of their lives are filled with bliss.( this is the first of my absurdly broad brush strokes. No, all, nor even most, athletes return to a comfortable suburban lifestyles. The majority of athletes make sacrifices to work towards a dream that most likely will pay no financial reward. ) I'll return to this later.In your next paragraph, you make a huge leap with your perception of all of us as spoiled, lazy, etc... Well, that's your opinion, and you are certainly entitled to it. BUT you are painting with a broad brush....the very thing you are railing about...I smell hypocrisy. (You hit the nail right on the head. WE are in agreement again. Yes its hypocritical, purposefully. Yes its a broad brush, purposefully. No all of us are not spoiled, lazy, etc... Most people I know are hard working middle class folks. I know very few people who put in 40 hour work weeks, most are 50 plus most of the time. I know few couples who only have one person working, Angie has two and sometimes three small jobs running bringing our family total to 3 or 4 jobs. At the same time, not all Chinese are the deceitful and manipulative people they are most often portrayed to be either ) And then you go into the stereotypes(which is one word by the way). (RHS + OSU = cant type and cant spell) This world is not perfect. From the start to the eventual end, this will never go away. It doesn't matter whether the people are Chinese(or any other Asian group), of African decent( to be oh so PC), or Native American. You will always hear the "they all look alike" being thrown around. (True, perhaps, but that still does not excuse it when the statement has racist motivations. I will clarify right here that I KNOW you dont have racist motivations, but your not one of the people who has flooded my inbox with the racist crap that initially brought my blood to a boil.) As for the little girl lip-sync controversy, this happens everywhere in the world. You are missing the underlying fact here which I'll get to in a moment. No matter where you go, you're not going to see ads or billboards with fat, ugly people on them...period. Why? Because that's the way THE WORLD is. Is it right? NO, but if I could sing like Josh Groban, you still wouldn't see me singing the National Anthem somewhere. WHat you don't realize, is this is all a show. This is a chance for China to take center stage in the world. Sure most of the world remember the whole little "incident" on the square, and how they treat their people, and that they are one of the largest polluters on the planet, but for two weeks, China will appear perfect. It's all smoke and mirrors. (Again, we are in complete agreement here. I stated "The people putting on the opening ceremony decided to put their 'best face' on the show. We need to not lose sight of the fact that it is just that, a show" Yes, its a show or smoke and mirrors if you will, it is put on as a display carefully orchestrated for public consumption in order to create a certain opinion generated by the viewer of said show. As a secondary statement, China has that 1.3 billion population that you referred to earlier. That is something on the order of 6 times the US population. On the subject of pollution, do they put out 6 times as much pollution as the US? I cant prove it, but based on the logic of what I know the answer is 'not even close' China is well ahead of us in alternative fuels, wind, hydro, etc. Yes their coal plants are much dirtier than our own and they dont bow to an EPA like we do, but by and large we pollute more man per man than China does. I do believe that in the next 8 years that will change as we curb our bad habits and they accelerate theirs, but right this minute I think China is getting a bad rep for what they will be doing, not what they have done. This reputation of pollution comes from the ongoing industrial revolution and 1.3 billion people working their way into a consumerist middle class lifestyle.) As for cheating, no one country has a monopoly on it. Again you hit us with the broad brush by saying we're the biggest cheaters. Sports are about competition, but unfortunately, comes the temptation to cheat or get the "competitive edge". Who's fault is this? It's all of ours! (perfect agreement again)Why do we (as an American society) start kids in sports at such an early age? So they can have an edge. I can point to numerous accounts of people nearly ruining their children for some ideal the parent has of their little Johnny growing up to be a great athlete. Why do they have cheerleading camps for 4 and 5 year olds? (personal note about Gracie, she is in cheerleading as a purely social activity. There is no real competition involved nor encouraged by us. This is an avenue for socialization for a kid who needs to be exposed to more people and become less dependant on her safe zones. I point this out just in case anyone would misunderstand your comment and think we are pushing cheerleading. We are more grudgingly allowing it because she enjoys it and it provides some structured social settings that she would not get otherwise.) And finally to the point you make of how we think of China as evil. I think you pretty much paint the house in a few hours with all of those broad brushstrokes. I would guess that a majority of the opinions towards China are directly at their government and not at the people.( You mentioned above that I was allowed an opinion, I will do the same for you here, you are allowed an opinion and I respect that opinion as logical based on who you are. I can find no inherent flaw in this opinion, but I still disagree with you here. We have actually agreed with each other most of the time on this, but I believe most people dont take the time to separate in their minds the difference between a communist government, communist party members, and citizens of a communist country. Part of the reason for this is because its difficult to do, your government, whatever type, influences your culture, but it does not define who you are) Personally, I have never lynched anyone. Why are we supposed to have this guilt associated with us (especially if you're white)? I wasn't around for lynchings, slavery, or the Japanese internments....I'm not going to feel guilty for them. (lost me here, not sure where you got that one from. No, you need not feel guilty for the sins of previous generations but I dont read or recall saying anything about feeling guilty. Not sure where the slavery issue fits into this debate either. What I did mention in about this section of my post was that we as a nations should be careful what we say and how we act towards another nation when we are doing and have done exactly the same things as we are condemning them for. This does not imply that we should support the human rights violations, the rampant pollution problems, etc,, just that we should offer our past history as a lesson instead of our current situation as a benchmark. This small difference may help others to avoid the grievous mistakes we made. The other issue is that if you offer our current situation as the benchmark, then it had better be pristine, clean and problem free, but alas its not.) The people that sat back and did nothing bear the burden of guilt.The Olympics are supposed to be about the purity of sport. Society has, and always will, make it an us vs. them event. Remember the 1980 US hockey team? For those who take the games for more than what they are, I say get a life. It's not the end of the world that the US lost to Japan in women's softball. On that day, they were better. Pat them on the back, tell them great job, and move on. (complete agreement again) My final note: This is not a perfect world. In fact, it's quite broken, but good things can still come from it. (and again) I'm not bashing China for what they do. (I have never heard you bash China, I have heard many many a person who does, friends, neighbors, public figures, reporters, the list is long, but I cant say as I have ever heard or thought you were bashing China. I dont hold any of these people to some unattainable standard when they do bash China, I will upon occasion point out a different point of view, and this is one of those times, mostly) In fact, if China didn't have any problems, you wouldn't have that beautiful daughter. She is somewhere where she is loved...it just happens to be in the U.S.A. (and I thank God every day for the fact that she is here with us, not just because of selfish reasons either, but because she will have so many more advantages in life as long as she can take advantage of them. For that I say God Bless America.)


So, in retrospect, I would like to thank you for a few things. One, for making me think even deeper into the subject. Two, for posting without your name which allows me to answer you in this way because if you had used your name I would not be comfortable with re-posting your comments. I would also like to apologize for making my satirical sarcasm a bit too cryptic. I would have thought it was obvious that I dont think all Americans are lazy etc. I do think our society is a bit too hung up on stereotypes (one word) that are less than accurate. I do think our society is more racist than we are willing to admit to ourselves. I would also like to say that in parts I got the feeling that you thought some part of my original post may have been directed at you, let me assure you that this was never the case. Most of my irritation came from either emails to my business email or a thread that was running on a forum sight (Angie addressed them directly as well) Having said all that, thank you for your comments and please please please continue to do so.