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The China Thread

Started by Jacob, September 24, 2012, 05:27:47 PM

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Tamas

Those children jumping in "joy" and waving on queue seems so dystopian for me: https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1790995759313142095?t=Xqa8Pv_IjXqiSxFf3MrDQw&s=19

Josquius

It does indeed with the whole vibe around it.
Though to be fair its perfectly imaginable a group of western school kids could have been trained to do some silly little performance for prominent visitors. In democratic-Asia even more so.
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Tamas

Quote from: Josquius on May 16, 2024, 03:04:01 AMIt does indeed with the whole vibe around it.
Though to be fair its perfectly imaginable a group of western school kids could have been trained to do some silly little performance for prominent visitors. In democratic-Asia even more so.

Yeah but the fact that we don't do it is sort of the point. The current bastards in power in Hungary do the light version of this, regularly using kindergarten-age children as passive props but that's just evidence of where they are leaning culturally.

And this particular performance is especially horrible.

Josquius

Im sure I can remember circumstances where democracies did use performing kids like so.

Anyway. Didn't notice from clip but have read since it was a big snub for Putin with some random nobody being the one to meet him when convention would be Xi or at least his second in command.
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Sheilbh

Quote from: Josquius on May 16, 2024, 03:24:16 PMIm sure I can remember circumstances where democracies did use performing kids like so.
With mixed results:


Or Sunak's coke addict admission :lol:
Let's bomb Russia!

Jacob

I don't think "kids waving flags" is inherently a totalitarian aesthetic. You'll see it with royal birthdays and visits and whatnot.

I think other things around it can make it more or less totalitarian feeling, of course - mostly staging and context.

crazy canuck

Quote from: Tamas on May 16, 2024, 03:12:52 AM
Quote from: Josquius on May 16, 2024, 03:04:01 AMIt does indeed with the whole vibe around it.
Though to be fair its perfectly imaginable a group of western school kids could have been trained to do some silly little performance for prominent visitors. In democratic-Asia even more so.

Yeah but the fact that we don't do it is sort of the point. The current bastards in power in Hungary do the light version of this, regularly using kindergarten-age children as passive props but that's just evidence of where they are leaning culturally.

And this particular performance is especially horrible.

"We" do it all the time.  Kids in our schools celebrate all sorts of things from diversity to significant monarch birthdays.

Sheilbh

Quote from: Jacob on May 16, 2024, 04:30:09 PMI don't think "kids waving flags" is inherently a totalitarian aesthetic. You'll see it with royal birthdays and visits and whatnot.

I think other things around it can make it more or less totalitarian feeling, of course - mostly staging and context.
Yeah - and the reality is I think kids would get pretty excited (or easy to hype) about seeing the President or the King or whatever.

As you say though, it's the staging which looks a bit less like just kids getting excited.
Let's bomb Russia!

Tamas

Quote from: crazy canuck on May 17, 2024, 01:10:08 AM
Quote from: Tamas on May 16, 2024, 03:12:52 AM
Quote from: Josquius on May 16, 2024, 03:04:01 AMIt does indeed with the whole vibe around it.
Though to be fair its perfectly imaginable a group of western school kids could have been trained to do some silly little performance for prominent visitors. In democratic-Asia even more so.

Yeah but the fact that we don't do it is sort of the point. The current bastards in power in Hungary do the light version of this, regularly using kindergarten-age children as passive props but that's just evidence of where they are leaning culturally.

And this particular performance is especially horrible.

"We" do it all the time.  Kids in our schools celebrate all sorts of things from diversity to significant monarch birthdays.

Have you watched the video? Are the Canadian kids made to jump up and down in sync and wave flowers for minutes?

grumbler

Quote from: Tamas on May 17, 2024, 06:34:36 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 17, 2024, 01:10:08 AM
Quote from: Tamas on May 16, 2024, 03:12:52 AM
Quote from: Josquius on May 16, 2024, 03:04:01 AMIt does indeed with the whole vibe around it.
Though to be fair its perfectly imaginable a group of western school kids could have been trained to do some silly little performance for prominent visitors. In democratic-Asia even more so.

Yeah but the fact that we don't do it is sort of the point. The current bastards in power in Hungary do the light version of this, regularly using kindergarten-age children as passive props but that's just evidence of where they are leaning culturally.

And this particular performance is especially horrible.

"We" do it all the time.  Kids in our schools celebrate all sorts of things from diversity to significant monarch birthdays.

Have you watched the video? Are the Canadian kids made to jump up and down in sync and wave flowers for minutes?

And for someone whom they don't recognize or care about.

CC is just in a contrarian mood and so trying to make false equivalences.  Ignore him.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

crazy canuck

Quote from: Tamas on May 17, 2024, 06:34:36 PM
Quote from: crazy canuck on May 17, 2024, 01:10:08 AM
Quote from: Tamas on May 16, 2024, 03:12:52 AM
Quote from: Josquius on May 16, 2024, 03:04:01 AMIt does indeed with the whole vibe around it.
Though to be fair its perfectly imaginable a group of western school kids could have been trained to do some silly little performance for prominent visitors. In democratic-Asia even more so.

Yeah but the fact that we don't do it is sort of the point. The current bastards in power in Hungary do the light version of this, regularly using kindergarten-age children as passive props but that's just evidence of where they are leaning culturally.

And this particular performance is especially horrible.

"We" do it all the time.  Kids in our schools celebrate all sorts of things from diversity to significant monarch birthdays.

Have you watched the video? Are the Canadian kids made to jump up and down in sync and wave flowers for minutes?

Google a video of one of the Queen's visits to pretty much any Commonwealth country and you will see lots of staged celebrations involving children.


Jacob

You may have heard about the president of Iran dying in a helicopter accident.

There's very famous Chinese pop-song from the 90s titled "Unfortunately it's not you." For unexplainable reasons that song is seeing a bit of a surge in social media references; sometimes connected to commentary on the tragic helicopter crash.

The Minsky Moment

Quote from: Tamas on May 16, 2024, 03:12:52 AMAnd this particular performance is especially horrible.

It's got the Riefenstahl Tinge.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

Josquius

An old article but something I didn't know before. China has secretly been building entire villages in Bhutan.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/07/china-bhutan-border-villages-security-forces/
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Sheilbh

Interesting:



Going to be a challenge for the CCP to manage but you can see there a political logic for things like banning the tutoring/education market, the "common prosperity" stuff etc. Because I suspect this is potentially an even bigger challenge for somewhere like China. Also can't help but feel that if it persists they'll look for legitimacy elsewhere - like more confrontation in foreign policy/"re-unifying" China.
Let's bomb Russia!