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Saturday, Nov 01, 2014 - 23:58 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Damn Straight It's True

Some say that they can take anything as long as it's said directly - well, Hong Kong's CEO (strictly speaking, it's "Chief Executive", but then his official domain is "ceo.gov.hk", so make what of that you will) seems a subscriber, going by how he declared that election reforms would play to the poor, whom happen to be the majority, numerically, and who knows what evils would be unleashed if the government pandered to those who earn less than US$1800 a month (in his defence, he came prepared with the statistics)?

Politicians being what they are, this refreshing candidness didn't last long, and the obligatory statement of regret (not amounting to an apology) surfaced a week later. Meanwhile, the sorta-popular protests have shown no signs of dying down, with polls finding a clear split between elderly, less-educated status-quo maintainers and the younger occupiers; apparently, the former are against populist policies, while laying claim to a silent majority... hey, I've heard this somewhere before...

This fact does bring us to an apparent contradiction - if the Hong Kong authorities are being panned for spiralling rents and poor welfare, why are the very poor people that they are putting the squeeze on, staunchly supporting them?

In the American context, the question translates into why the (very large) working and lower-middle class would ever vote for Republicans instead of Democrats, and the standard answer is that they "...see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrasssed millionaires" (though it probably goes a bit deeper than that)

Still, one does suspect that barely making it (as opposed to outright desperation) might cause one to value stability over a potentially beneficial roll of the dice - the college grad who loses his job in any upheaval could potentially take his talents overseas, or wait the lean spell out if he had been doing well, but those living hand to mouth might not have that luxury.

Back to the root of it all - is it reasonable for Hong Kongers to be able to elect whoever they want (without pre-vetting), as their Chief Executive? Yes, he's nominally the head of government in the territory, but his duties and powers appear largely ceremonial anyway, like the President of a certain similarly-sized city-state (who also has to undergo a strict vetting procedure, which has also come under some debate). It seems mostly a matter of "face", as when said city-state confronted the unsavoury possibility of having a non-incumbent party sanctioned President voted in several years ago, before heaving a sigh of relief.

Which brings us to - unfortunately, I don't see the CCP backing down over this, rightly or otherwise, and they may well be running out of patience, no thanks to the tenacity of the demonstrators, some of whom seem to have come up with the bright idea of taking the show to Beijing. Then again, why not, since nothing officially happened there in 1989?


This Never Happened To Me



I'm sure Mr. Neuroscientist will be well-acquainted with many of the locations in this week's Youtube hit. I just want to say that this was never for a problem for me when I was walking in Manhattan. Maybe if I were white or buff...

Joking aside, the original video seems to have been edited such that compliments paid by pigmentally-challenged members of the male gender were severely under-represented; media bias? You be the judge.


Constitutionally Approved

While we're on the subject, Section 377A has been upheld. For the uninitiated, a quick overview is in order:


(Original plug/socket image source: obsessionistas.co.uk)


In the technical sense, I'd probably have to agree that the Court of Appeal's decision was sound, but mainly because our constitution is relatively lousy on human rights in general. Apparently, they tried the gender equality angle, but it didn't work out in the end. That said, this law's almost never enforced, so it looks like another case of "giving face" to our pro-family organizations. Knowing this administration, though, economic arguments - maybe, say, some CEO of a huge multinational dropping hints that this is a sticking point against relocating here - might be a lot more persuasive.


Since It's Halloween

...have some adorable hopping vampires (and vamps). I'll leave the head in a jar for next time. The milk will kill you if the shock doesn't, so it seems, which is why I find it increasingly difficult to take food scientists seriously.





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