The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 5/7

December 15, 2010

Left Coast Voices posted a piece about Liu Xiabo, a leader of the Chinese democracy movement, who won the latest Nobel Peace Prize. My response turned into a seven part series.

In this segment, I will write about the self-esteem movement in America and make the connection that Western style democracy and Humanitarianism are not right for cultures such as China.

The self-esteem movement in the US had its start in the 18th century and as a cancer grew from there to the epidemic that now threatens the foundations of the United States.

The self-esteem movement makes sure that children hear only positive praise and that before turning 18, that the facade of success and getting good grades (not necessarily earning those grades) in school are guaranteed.

In the last few decades, this leg of Western style democratic humanitarianism has put much pressure on teachers to deliver the impossible.

However, in China, students must earn school grades through hard work (there are no gifts to help one feel good) and the competition is fierce while failure is crushing, which explains the high suicide rate in “all” of Asia (where the self-esteem movement in the US did not take root) and not just China.

Most US children have been told that if he or she can dream it, he or she will achieve that dream as if every child can become the next Tiger Woods, Bill Gates, a super star of some kind, or a future president of the US.

Then those American children with high false self-esteem turn 18 and reality bites, which may explain the high incidence of drug and alcohol use in the US.

Then there is Frankenstein of Humanitarianism — armed nation building where Western democracies are willing to start wars to create nations that will support the West’s concept of Humanitarianism. This mutated arm of Humanitarianism led to the Iraq and Afghan wars.

Return to The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 4

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Pirated Music and on-line TV reveals the Real China

December 15, 2010

The more I learn about China, the more I realize that most of what happens in China has everything to do with cultural differences and little to do with the Communist Party.

In 2008, Lisa Wang wrote a post for China Law and Practice.com of Searching for Liability: Online Copyright Infringement in China.

Lisa Wang writes, “The digital copying of music, images, and video, and their distribution over the internet (in China) can provide hours of entertainment for the general public and multiple migraines for rights holders.”

Many in the West that read this may think infringement of copyright in China is done to make money by selling fake copies but that isn’t always the case.

The Economist of December 4 published a piece of how difficult it was to make a profit in the toughest recorded-music market in the world, which is China.

It seems that the Chinese will not pay to download music on the Internet.

Instead, the people download music free from a number of sites where other Chinese have made the music available.

In the November 20 issue of The Economist, I discovered that despite government censorship, many in China are downloading pirated video online and watching the latest movie releases and television shows from America.

In fact, pirated television on-line is so widespread, Wentworth Miller, who is best-known for his role in the Fox television show Prison Break, was mobbed by his fans when he visited China.

However, Prison Break is not broadcast on Chinese television.

If censors block a foreign TV show or movie, the Chinese may often watch pirated DVDs or go on-line to watch pirated versions free.

I know an American expatriate living in China that watches the latest American movies free a few days after they hit the theaters in America, and he watches on-line.

The Chinese have a reputation for being frugal and saving money and this may be another way to achieve that goal by cooperatively helping each other.

After all, China is a collective culture.

Discover how Harlequin Romance Invaded China

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 4/7

December 15, 2010

A Western activist Blog, Left Coast Voices, posted a piece about Liu Xiabo, a leader of the Chinese democracy movement, who won the latest Nobel Peace Prize.

My response to the post in Left Coast Voices that supported Liu Xiabo continues.

When America was still a republic, convicted criminals were quickly executed within a matter of weeks.

Today, in the democracy that has replaced the US republic, it takes more than a decade for a convicted monster to reach the death chamber at a cost of millions of US dollars.

For comparison, before Macao was returned to mainland China in 1999, the Chinese triads in Macao were having a street war over control of the Portuguese colony. There were shootings and killings almost daily. Often, honest citizen were caught in the crossfire and killed.

The streets weren’t safe.

Representatives of the People’s Republic of China approached the leaders of these gangs in Macao and told them what would happen if the violence and killing continued. The day China took possession of Macao from Portugal, the gang wars in Macao stopped along with the killings.

Western style Christian influenced Humanitarianism is the belief that the individual is more important than society.

In theory, humanitarian work is simple: “you help people in need”.

However, this simple concept of individuals helping individuals turned into a monster with many faces such as the civil-rights movement in the US when it mutated into a quota system for minorities getting jobs or being accepted into universities while rejecting better-qualified individuals from racial groups (Caucasians and Asians) that were not considered downtrodden and disadvantaged.

Return to The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 3

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 3/7

December 14, 2010

Left Coast Voices posted a piece about Liu Xiabo, a leader of the Chinese democracy movement, who won the latest Nobel Peace Prize.

It is a fact that today’s concept of Western style democracy, which Liu Xiabo and the Nobel Peace Prize committee seem to want for China and the rest of the world is seriously flawed.

This flaw was the reason the Founding Fathers of the United States despised democracy, which John Adams, America’s second president, said leads to “mob rule”.

The result of this “mob rule” has led to overcrowded US prisons housing thousands of extremely dangerous felons such as Thomas Silverstein, Ted Kaczynski, Terry Nichols, Richard Reid, and Ramzi Yousef.  Source: Searchwarp.com

There are more than a hundred thousand inmates in US prisons serving life sentences. About 30% of all lifers have no chance of parole since many are too dangerous to go free.

In addition, the Policy Almanac says, “gangs remain a problem in many areas throughout the nation.”

Then in 2008, Science Daily reported, “a survey of 17 countries has found that despite its punitive drug policies the United States has the highest levels of illegal cocaine and cannabis use.”

These examples show what Western style democratic freedoms deliver.

In China, most of these criminals would have been executed soon after being convicted of the horrible crimes they committed.

It’s true that in China, the execution rate is the highest in the world, but in the US, the murder rate is higher. At least most of the criminals that are executed in China are the bad guys—not honest, hard working victims.

Return to The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 2/7

December 13, 2010

Left Coast Voices posted a piece about Liu Xiabo, a leader of the Chinese democracy movement, who won the latest Nobel Peace Prize. This is Part 2 of my response.

Liu Xiabo won the Nobel Peace Prize for his activism in China. The Nobel Peace Prize is the West’s medal of honor for those who work hardest to spread Western style democracy and Humanitarianism to countries that have not accepted these theories.

In case you are not aware of whom awards the Nobel Peace Prize, I’m going to tell you—a committee of five persons elected by the Norwegian Parliament (four women and one man–all Caucasians).

More than 85% of Norway is Christian and about 82% are Lutheran.

The Islamic religion is worshiped by less than 2% of the population of Norway and Buddhism by one tenth of one percent. Almost 84% Norway is of North Germanic/Nordic descent or Caucasians.

These are the people that decides who wins a Nobel Peace Prize.

There is no international body made of representatives of all races and most nations to decide who wins the Noble Peace Prize.

Instead, a Western, democratic, Christian bias heavily influences these decisions.

For that reason, it is wrong to assume that most Chinese want all of freedoms the West’s Christian dominated democracies offer.

Return to The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | America, American culture, China, Chinese Culture, cultural differences, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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