Fortunate son...
Jonnie Comet
31 August 1995
The release of Harry Wu from China last week is indeed good news, but it is certainly not the end of the issue. Mr Wu has turned even more light on the actual state of human rights in China. I find it appalling that industrialists and consumers in the land of the free are happy to turn a blind eye to these injustices, so long as profits remain high and products are marketable. How many inexpensive consumer goods do we know that are made by the labor farms Mr Wu was trying to expose? It’s too hard to believe that Disney and McDonald’s and other marketers of Chinese-made plastic toys are unaware of how the Chinese government coerces their own population into contributing to the GNP. It is not only injustices against human beings that the Chinese have committed. As an electronics buyer a few years back I was shocked at how well carried it was that the Chinese PC-board manufacturers habitually dump all their freon and other by-products directly into the rivers which peasants use for untreated drinking water. In this way the Chinese government epitomizes the me-first attitude of turning a buck no matter what the cost to their neighbors or their own environment. Is this an organization to whom we as conscientious consumers really want to give our hard-earned money?
I am sure most people in the US have no idea how bad it is for people in China. Harry Wu went there to show us. You see, the People’s Republic of China is not really a communism. In true communism, the people work together, and the people have bread. The current regime in China rose to power in 1949 on the platform that the people shall have bread; but they still don’t have it. Those in this country who would have more government intervention would be wise to study the Chinese as they really are, as Wu attempted to show us. In a totalitarian state, no activity which is not sanctioned by the government is considered legitimate. There is no free press– this includes Wu’s freelance research. Therefore, in the eye of the Chinese government, he was gathering intelligence about them without permission, which is spying, and so the Chinese feel they are right to try him for it. It’s painfully obvious that their clemency was only motivated by a need to keep as many American investors with blinders on in their country as they can. After all, they do fear the American consumer public, and they know that a boycott of Chinese products, while difficult for us, would be catastrophic to the way of life which the people in power in China now enjoy at the expense of their comrades. That’s something to think about.
Jonnie Comet
31 August 1995
The release of Harry Wu from China last week is indeed good news, but it is certainly not the end of the issue. Mr Wu has turned even more light on the actual state of human rights in China. I find it appalling that industrialists and consumers in the land of the free are happy to turn a blind eye to these injustices, so long as profits remain high and products are marketable. How many inexpensive consumer goods do we know that are made by the labor farms Mr Wu was trying to expose? It’s too hard to believe that Disney and McDonald’s and other marketers of Chinese-made plastic toys are unaware of how the Chinese government coerces their own population into contributing to the GNP. It is not only injustices against human beings that the Chinese have committed. As an electronics buyer a few years back I was shocked at how well carried it was that the Chinese PC-board manufacturers habitually dump all their freon and other by-products directly into the rivers which peasants use for untreated drinking water. In this way the Chinese government epitomizes the me-first attitude of turning a buck no matter what the cost to their neighbors or their own environment. Is this an organization to whom we as conscientious consumers really want to give our hard-earned money?
I am sure most people in the US have no idea how bad it is for people in China. Harry Wu went there to show us. You see, the People’s Republic of China is not really a communism. In true communism, the people work together, and the people have bread. The current regime in China rose to power in 1949 on the platform that the people shall have bread; but they still don’t have it. Those in this country who would have more government intervention would be wise to study the Chinese as they really are, as Wu attempted to show us. In a totalitarian state, no activity which is not sanctioned by the government is considered legitimate. There is no free press– this includes Wu’s freelance research. Therefore, in the eye of the Chinese government, he was gathering intelligence about them without permission, which is spying, and so the Chinese feel they are right to try him for it. It’s painfully obvious that their clemency was only motivated by a need to keep as many American investors with blinders on in their country as they can. After all, they do fear the American consumer public, and they know that a boycott of Chinese products, while difficult for us, would be catastrophic to the way of life which the people in power in China now enjoy at the expense of their comrades. That’s something to think about.
All is not in vain. I submit that 50 years of the misnamed ‘People’s Republic’ is a very short span of time in the history of humankind for a population to be kept powerless and in the dark by a small group of self-serving bureaucrats. The Soviets proved it would not last 75 years. Harry Wu will go on to be denigrated and spat upon by his native country, until one day, when his labors will see fruition. Take heart, dear Mr Wu– you are in good company. The apostle Paul was once persecuted by his own people too. And Mandela. And Walsea. And King.
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