Hong Kong
“Seven” the movie with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt was on TV tonight. The ending with “Vengeance” being served really freaked me out. As I was musing on the meaning and (in some ways) the morals about the film, right and wrong vs apathy, and who has the right to serve out punishment, the news followed, which weirdly were quite in tune with the themes of the film. (I hope you’ve seen it).
Pride: Reinterpretation of the Basic Law
The first was the Central government blah blahing about the Basic law. Today is the 14th anniversary of the signing of the Basic Law, just in time for China to tell us how Hong Kong should read it. The actual way we are going to be told what it all means in terms of democracy, voting, is coming Tuesday. Whooo hooo. I am not going to be looking forward to it, because some legislators and heads of think tanks are already saying that Hong Kong should stay calm with the outcome, and that “mass protests is not the answer,” which indicates not good things to come.
Hello? Since we can’t VOTE? What would you suggest is the better way to show our displeasure? Violence? I think between the two, I am going to go with the peaceful protest each time. I mean, lots and lots of us care about this, oh, just about 60% of the population, so really protesting about it to show we don’t agree is really the best way forward, don’t you think? Really unless those people were able to give us alternatives and solutions, it’s a little ridiculous to tell us NOT to do something that worked well in July 2003.
Vanity: Vote in a Fake Election!
It also amused me a great deal that all through the movie there were public service announcements encouraging us to register to vote. Hello, dear HK Government? You’re telling me to register to vote at the same time sucking China’s xxxx and telling me that I should participate in a rubbish election (where only one third of the legislators is picked by the public i.e. less than the majority, so you can’t pass anything) in the first place, at the same time most probably going to okay the fact we’re not going to get universal suffrage? I can’t be the only person to see the hypocrisy and ridiculousness in that right?
Envy: Taiwan Protesters Over the Candidate they want didn’t Win
Then came Taiwan Riots. Some people in Taiwan feels that the election was not a fair one, I personally don’t know, there hasn’t been any proof it wasn’t, except that some people feel that way, and I think the rioters are being sore losers. Accept that not everyone thinks the same and President Chen is in power now, don’t like it, move to China and you will always always be sure who is going to be in power right? The main party will always be at the helm and then you won’t have to be upset at those who you support lost.
Lust: Not Happy with a Crazed Women Not Going to Jail
Then a woman in American who beat her children to death plead insanity and wins. All five psychology experts did say she was suffering from delusions. Some feel that it’s a lost, and justice was not served. Come on.. she’s going to be put in a high security mental institute along with a knowledge she killed two of her kids and maimed the third for life, isn’t that punishment enough for anyone? Lets be honest with ourselves, some people really are “crazy,” and they suffer from mental illness, no matter how bad they behave, they might really need help more than they need to go to prison and be punished.
Vengeance: Bombings in Spain and Shooting of Protestors in Iraq
Followed with the news in Iraq where the Spanish forces -which are about to be pulled out- opened fire at protesters, who started throwing things (Guns vs bricks, always a pretty picture) and accidentally killing four Salvadorian soldiers. Boy that sucks, your country is in debt to the US because they pump money into the country and you get sent to help them out and you die.
Then of course more Spanish/Iraq news. The “master mind” of the bombing has blown himself and a few other people up, as the police came to get them. Endangering even more people, especially their neighbors and I suppose making a statement with violence again. One of the policemen has been killed and its possible that there are more bombs hidden elsewhere. Fine, they made a statement by sacrificing themselves, but really haven’t they killed enough people already?
Sometimes I wonder why watch movies? You can watch insane terrorists who kill innocent people destroy themselves as the law closes in and people who suffer mental illness go to court in real life! Who said that news was boring? They obviously don’t watch the same thing I do. Fiction is really only a way us humans deal with the incomprehensibility of life. Without the realities who can dramatize it? There is a line in the movie when Brad Pitt asks a runner for a brothel, “Do you like what you see everyday?” and the creepy guy goes, “No, I don’t. But that’s life and you deal with it.”
Sloth: Hill Fires Through Incense Burning
Then it’s Ching Ming, and people burn incense and paper money to pay respects to their ancestors, except some lazy, selfish, people do not look after their fires which has lead to 60-something hills fires to occur all over the city. Thank you people. Let’s just burn the city down because you can’t be bothered to bring an oil tin (which is what most people use).
Gluttony: (Wanting More than deserved) Kids like PopStars but they Should Like Politicians (???)
Then to finish of the daily reports of ridiculous stuff that goes on outside our control, a thousand teenagers were asked to rank their “Idols” and pop stars “twins” came first, followed by Bruce Lee and someone else, and on the fourth was Sun Yat Sen, the founding father of modern China. I thought he did well, and it was heartening to see that he even made it to the top five, but the educators are concerned and urging parents they should teach kids to care more about historical figures and politicians rather than pop idols and actors. Boy.. even *I* of all my political leanings think they need to lighten up. Kids are kids, they don’t really understand those things yet, and to be honest, if we forced the issue I would be interested who those “educators” put on the list of people they admired. It all really depends how you set up the questions anyway.
Sadly though, my stupid Chief Executive, Tung Chi Wah, ranked at 38, the highest person in the Hong Kong political arena to be listed, followed by the former Premier Zhang both over legislator Martin Lee at 48 who is a very to the point (if somewhat tiring) democracy advocate. Honestly, I do sleep better knowing more kids find Jackie Chan and Andy Lau inspirational than Tung Chi Wah. If he ranked the top five, I would find that more disturbing than anything else.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 