China’s Sex Toy Industry Making a Killing during the Pandemic
May 20, 2020Vice.com reports, “Sales for at least five major sex toy brands have seen significant increases throughout 2020, seemingly in step with instructions to stay inside and avoid other people.”
In the first week of April, the sale of sex toys in Denmark increased by 100%
China produces the most sex toys, while the United States produces the most pornography in the world (roughly 60%) and is the clear leader in porn production.
Real Sex Reviews.com reports, “China as a whole has been estimated to produce more than 80% of the sex toys in the world, with the industry being valued at $6.6 billion and employing more than a million people.”
One of those toys is the full-sized sex doll. According to The Atlantic, “Since ancient times, men have been getting it on with synthetic women.”
Inside a Chinese sex doll factory
The New York Daily Post reports, “Naturally antibacterial’: Sex doll companies trying to cash in on coronavirus. … Sex doll companies have an important public service message: Self-isolating can be fun and safe at the same time. Self-isolating doesn’t have to be the worst! All RealDolls are made from Platinum Grade Silicone and are naturally antibacterial and nonporous! Want one?”
What explains this increase in sex-toy sales and traffic to porn sites?
Psychology Today says, “Some research has found that when we are faced with the prospect of our own mortality, this prompts sexual desire and behavior as a coping mechanism. To the extent that the COVID-19 pandemic is making mortality more salient, it would make sense that you’d see a rise in horniness right now, which could partly explain why more porn is being consumed.”
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.
Surviving a Pandemic: China vs the United States
March 25, 2020China is a collective culture and the United States is individualistic. FutureLearn.com says, “Individualism stresses individual goals and the rights of the individual person. Collectivism focuses on group goals, what is best for the collective group, and personal relationships.”
While it is true that China got off to a bad start when local officials in the city of Wuhan attempted to silence and punish Dr. Li Wenliang for sending out a warning about the COVID-19 virus, it didn’t take long before China’s central government acted aggressively to contain the spread of the epidemic.
On December 27, Wuhan health officials learned that a new coronavirus was making people sick. Four days later, China informed the World Health Organization’s office in China.
Then on January 7, China’s President Xi Jinping became involved. Eleven days later Beijing sends epidemiologists to Wuhan to determine what is happening.
On January 21st, the CDC in the United States confirmed the first COVID-19 case. Two days later, China, locked down Wuhan and three other nearby cities, days before Dr. Li Wenliang died on February 7 from COVID-19. The lockdown was not voluntary. It was mandatory.
By March 19, China Daily reported, “The lockdown of Wuhan, the city hardest-hit by the novel coronavirus in China, could gradually be lifted if no new cases are reported for two consecutive weeks, which may happen in April, a top public health expert said.
“However, strict disease control and prevention measures will still be needed to prevent a possible rebound of the outbreak, said Li Lanjuan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a senior adviser to the nation’s top health authority.”
Meanwhile, in the United States on January 22, President Donald Trump, a hard-core individualist, because almost every word out of his mouth or from his Twitter account is about how great he is or an attack on someone else or another country, said, “We have it totally under control.”
That was the same day it was confirmed that the first American had COVID-19.
February 2, Trump said, “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China. It’s going to be fine.”
The number of confirmed victims in the U.S. had climbed to 8.
February 24, Trump said, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA … Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
But the number of confirmed infected individuals was increased by 27, and CNBC reported, “Stocks plunge for a second day as the DOW lost more than 800 points on Tuesday.”
February 25, Trump said, “CDC and my administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
Eighteen more victims of COVID-19 were confirmed in the United States.
February 26: Trump said, “The 15 cases within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” He also said, “We’re going very substantially down, not up.”
Six more cases were reported by February 27.
On March 4 (Source: The White House), Trump said. “If we have thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work – some of them go to work, but they get better.” Trump made this comment during an interview on Fox News. At the time, the CDC was urging employers to have workers stay home. Later that day, Trump defended himself, “I never said people that are feeling sick should go to work.” Source: CBS News
By the end of March 4, another 51 confirmed cases had been added to the list.
Meanwhile, many of Donald Trump supporters, individuals that seem to think like him, refused to self-quarantine. “Trump supporters have been warned incessantly not to trust mainstream journalistic coverage of the issue.” Source: The Atlantic.com
Between March 4 and March 18, another 7,078 confirmed cases had been added to the list. — Statista.com
“Though President Trump said March 7 that ‘anyone who wants a test can get a test,’ the United States’ limited testing capacity means that in practice, only a fraction of people who have symptoms are being tested.” – LiveScience.com
To see the list of Trump’s lies from January 22 to March 13, click on Snopes.com.
I started my self-quarantine on March 13th and have gone out once to buy supplies. I was gone for about an hour on March 19. While out, I saw two shoppers (of dozens) wearing masks and they were a young Asian American couple. Later, while at Trader Joes, I saw one cashier (Caucasian) with a face mask, but it was hanging around her neck and wasn’t covering her mouth or nose.
Time.com reported, “Why Wearing a Face mask is Encouraged in Asia, but Shunned in the U.S.”
What do you think – Do collectivist cultures like China have an advantage over an individualist country like the United States when it comes to dealing with a pandemic like COVID-19?
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.
Fox’s Bimbo vs China’s Brain
July 17, 2019The Bimbo, an attractive but unintelligent young woman is Trish Regan, a mouthpiece for untrustworthy Fox News, and the Brain is China’s Liu Xin who is an anchor for China’s CGTN.
The South China Morning Post reported, both women are well known in their own countries and regularly deliver opinions that support the administrations of their respective countries. The debate will focus on the trade war, but the two anchors could also clash on topics ranging from foreign policy to human rights.
“Liu, 44, hosts a current affairs programme called The Point and was an English literature major at Nanjing University, winning a number of awards in English competitions,” explaining why I call Liu the Brain.
Trish Regan, a former beauty pageant contestant, was Miss New Hampshire and represented her home state in Miss America 1994 pageant where she probably met Donald Trump who bought the pageant in 1996.
Regan went on to study voice (singing) in Austria and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston before earning a B.A. in history at Columbia University in 2000.
How do you think Regan’s education helped qualify her to become a Fox News mouthpiece for Donald Trump? In her shows, Trish Regan typically supports President Donald Trump’s line on China policy. Trump is an avid Fox viewer.
“We can make China’s life much harder economically, I promise you that, than they can make us,” Regan said on May 6. “We are their number one customer … Tariffs are our weapon. This is an example of a president [Trump] doing exactly what a president should do.”
Regan went on to say: “From logos to software, you name it, the Chinese have stolen it. And they will keep on stealing it if left unchecked … I’m not willing to give up on being the world’s largest economy so easily. I’m not OK with another country stealing it away from us.”
Liu replied, “Compared to other developed countries, the US has the highest income inequality, the highest youth poverty rate, one of the highest infant mortality rates. Its citizens live shorter and sicker lives.”
Fox’s Trish Regan opened the 15-minute encounter with the show’s only real argument – over whether Liu was speaking for herself or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – which led to the two talking over each other in the most intense moments of the interview.
“Trish, I have to get it straight. I am not a member of the Communist Party of China (CCP),” Liu said after Regan introduced her as a member of the CCP. “This is on the record, so please don’t assume that I’m a member, and I don’t speak for the Communist Party of China; and I’m here today, only speaking for myself as Liu Xin, a journalist working for CGTN.”
When the Fox-Trump Bimbo attempted to pin down the Brain over the theft of intellectual property she told Liu there was “evidence that China has stolen enormous amounts of intellectual property, hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth.”
Liu replied that IP infringements were “a common practice probably in every part of the world”, including the United States.
The Fox Bimbo was wrong and Liu was right. Chief Executive Dot Net listed the Best and Worst Countries for Intellectual Property Protection and China “came in just over halfway down the list and China was praised for the introduction of basic IP rights and proposed patent reforms.”
If you are curious about the actual ranking that is published annually by The Global IP Center dot com, click the link in this sentence and discover that there are 25-countries ranked lower than China and Venezuela is in last place proving that Liu was right when she said IP infringements was “a common practice probably in every part of the world.”
The Global IP Center’s annual report says, “according to Index data in this edition and in previous editions, only China has shown real—albeit incremental—signs of positive reform efforts. China’s score has increased again this year, and China has been a consistent performer across all six editions of the Index.” … “However, over the past 3 editions, America’s performance has weakened.”
In addition, if you take the time to check Media Bias/Fact Check, you will discover the Bimbo’s employer Fox News (this link will take you to the Media Bias site) is rated strongly Right-Biased due to wording and story selection that favors the right based on poor sourcing and the spreading of conspiracy theories that later must be retracted after being widely shared.
“Fox hosts may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit (leave out) reporting of information that may damage conservative causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy.”
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
World Press Freedom Rank: USA 45/180
How about Liu Xin’s employer CGTN?
China Global Television Network was rated LEAST BIASED by Media Bias/Fact Check. These sources have minimal bias and use very few loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes). The reporting is factual and usually sourced. These are the most credible media sources.
Factual Reporting: HIGH
Country: China
World Press Freedom Rank: 176/180
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.
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