Interesting China Read

The Economist had an article discussing China's perspective/interpretation of current events in the West.

Hardware Hacks are Scary

I vaguely remember hearing that this was possible, back before I got into computer science. Actually, back when I was in the Army. So well over a decade ago.


Still, it's scary and disturbing stuff.  After all, you can at least pretend you can avoid phishing scams and other online attacks. But something built into your computer before you ever open the box? 

Clarity, Cosmopolitanism, and Foreign Policy

When I finally figured out what I wanted for my first tattoo, I went to the tattoo artist and tried to explain what I wanted.  A mountain lion, in profile.  It seemed so simple, right?  I could visualize it clearly in my head.  Except that I stumbled when I tried to explain it to the artist.  He told me to bring in an example of what I wanted...a picture or something.  (So I went prowling through the library, looking for a picture of a mountain lion.  And discovered that what I thought was classic and commonplace really wasn't.  It was hard to find a picture of what I wanted.)


Typing things out in a blog is sometimes similar.  I can see something quite clearly in my head.  It seems so bright, and shiny.  Then when I try to put that vision into words I stumble.  I want to get further into foreign policy suggestions, but I realized that the concepts don't flow together well yet.  Once again, I need to cover a few more things first. 


Kwame Appiah has a book called Cosmopolitanism that I recommend to anyone interested in this topic.  He made the point that we don't have to agree on everything in order to get along.  That is, we can have very different values.  Diverse opinions on what's best for our country.  And yet we can still live together peaceably enough. 


It reminds me a bit of my extended family, particularly during Thanksgiving.  I have relatives across the entire spectrum, politically speaking...and for the most part we can all sit down together and enjoy our Thanksgiving meal.  This does, however, presuppose that we all value our relationships more than our politics.


This year, this crazy election year, I have seen various friends on Facebook talk about unfriending or blocking people they disagree with.  They sometimes make very eloquent arguments for why they do so, and I'm not going to say they're wrong.  I will say, however, that it's not the choice I make.


I keep my Facebook feed pretty much wide open, for a couple of reasons.  One is that I don't want to deliberately create a bubble.  When you start curating your feed, filtering out the people who disagree with you, then you only hear part of the debate. 


In looking back, some of my most rewarding and interesting conversations have been with the friends and family across the political aisle.  (It helps that most of them are intelligent people with thoughtful positions.  I can't say it's often changed my mind, but it has added depth to my understanding of the issues.)  This is also, btw, why I don't like calling various people ReThuglicans or DemoRats or whatever the cutesy insult of the day is.


The choice I make can be good or bad, depending.  On the negative side - I don't take as strong a stand as the issues call for.  I am friends with people who don't always share my views, and who express views that some of my other friends would strongly disagree with.


On the other hand, I can sometimes have an impact that others don't.  Because I'm friends with people I disagree with.  (It helps that I don't fit neatly into political stereotypes.  It's harder to dismiss me as a bleeding heart liberal when I've served my country, in Iraq and Afghanistan.)


The point of what so far has been a more personal digression is this.  Some of the same issues (and strengths, and weaknesses) come into play when we decide how we are going to interact with another country.

Take China, for example.  We have very different values, particularly with regards to human rights.  Detaining booksellers from Hong Kong, simply because they sell books that criticize China?  Awful!  The Chinese government must be pretty weak, to find criticism so threatening.


Is this something we should ostracize them for, like banning our Facebook friends?  Is this something we can disagree on, and still sit down for Thanksgiving together? 


Are we better off engaging, maintaining relationships while making our disapproval known? 


Or are we better off cutting ties, so that we aren't supporting it or a part of it?

History, China, 'Great Man Theory', Etc.

I just finished a book on Empress Dowager Cixi, in China, and my feelings are hard to describe.

First of all, I will say that it's a fascinating glimpse at a time in history that I, at least, did not know very well.  I've come to treasure books that help explain the transition from an older world to our new modern one.  That's part of the appeal of The Devil in the White City, though in an entirely different way.

The Empress Dowager was a pretty impressive leader, and her story leaves me with far too many lingering questions about 'what if?'

What if she had not died when she did?  What if she ushered in the changes she was promoting, first?

What if she had been able to lead in her own right, instead of through her sons?

What if she had found a successor who matched her capabilities?

Plus - how crazy is it, that she was judged so harshly by history?  At least initially.  Would you be capable of doing all that she did, knowing you would be judged poorly at the end of it?

I mentioned the Great Man theory in the title, and Empress Cixi reminds me of that, as well.  Would China have fallen earlier, if she hadn't taken the reins of power?  Did she change the course of history?  Or was it all somewhat inevitable.  After all, if she did make a difference she only postponed the fall of the Qing dynasty.

Overall, an excellent read.  I know we Americans are terrible at history, but it's nice to have some more context for the Opium Wars, the history leading to Hong Kong and Shanghai, what relations with Tibet were like back in Cixi's time...

I also thought it helped explain some of China's territorial claims, as well as it's historical relationship with 'client states' like Vietnam and Korea.