Moronity
Yeah, i'm on a break, but i couldn't let this bit of idiocy pass unnoticed:
9/11.
July 4th.
Juneteenth.
Memorial Day.
Hell - there's ample evidence that the Oklahoma City bombing didn't happen on a random date. Those Chinese, they're just so different from us.
To outsiders, this fixation on dates may seem odd, but it has both cultural and political explanations. Numerology and the calendar have ancient and honored roles in China, Elizabeth Perry, a China scholar and professor of government at Harvard University, said in an e-mail interview. Even today, while Americans identify most major events by their location (the Boston tea party, the Alamo, Gettysburg, Oklahoma City), Chinese people tend to rely on dates.
The May 4 movement, which mixed anti-imperialism with a call for democracy and human rights, is best known to most Chinese as “5/4.” The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and crackdown are universally shorthanded into “6/4.”
9/11.
July 4th.
Juneteenth.
Memorial Day.
Hell - there's ample evidence that the Oklahoma City bombing didn't happen on a random date. Those Chinese, they're just so different from us.
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
6 Comments:
This is why the MSM will:
whither away and die.
stay and take over new media, one by one.
By
Tony, at 7:03 PM
Actually, your best example of our culture doing something similar was 9/11. July 4th and Memorial Day don't count. Koreans affected by the L.A. riots, for example, refer to them as 4-2-9 (4/29). Not every particular holiday in China and Korea are known by a number, but there are certain events are better known for their dates. Are Confucian societies more interested in numbers? Don't forget the more recent example of China starting the Olympics at 8:08:08 on August 8, 2008.
By
Ricardo, at 8:11 AM
"July 4th and Memorial Day don't count."
Why not? I mean, Fourth of July is something everyone born in the US has ingrained into them from the time they can walk. Memorial Day is the old Confederate Decoration Day, which was, as i recall, the last Sunday in May.
It's just the height of lazy reporting to write an article like that. I can name a dozen more events in US culture that are known by their dates rather than their places. We're more alike than we are different.
By
Barry, at 3:52 PM
They don't count because we don't say "7/4" for the fourth of July and we don't even have a particular number associated with Memorial Day. The article focuses mainly on the importance of numerology and anniversaries in Chinese culture and how this coming year just does not look good. The only time I feel a little concerned about dates these days is in the days leading up to 9/11. A lot of Chinese, even their political leaders (most of whom I'm sure are well-educated), plan their lives around numbers, feng shui and omens in ways you or I would never do. If you are indeedd looking for common ground, I think we are both especially preoccupied with anniversaries that are multiples of 10. The article mentions four such anniversaries occurring in China this year. I bet that the biggest amount of reporting, documentaries, books and the like regarding 9/11 will appear in the year 2011 simply because it will be the "10th anniversary" of the attacks.
By
Ricardo, at 5:04 PM
Well, slap my face and call me Elmo, but what the fuck is the difference between Americans observing the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and Chinese observing the 20th anniversary of 6/4?
(Or Tiananmen Square, as it's just as likely to be called? And then, what's the difference between "Tiananmen Square" and "The Alamo?")
By
Barry, at 10:05 PM
By the way, for a very long time, western cultures remembered Armistice Day by observing a moment of silence at 11:11 am on 11/11.
Some of us still do.
By
Barry, at 10:06 PM
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