tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33284356.post2697223211115988430..comments2023-11-03T09:03:31.520-07:00Comments on Old Tales Retold: MinesManfredhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371908794759510886noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33284356.post-55417583297954591652007-09-15T09:44:00.000-07:002007-09-15T09:44:00.000-07:00Sorry it's taken me so long since my last comment ...Sorry it's taken me so long since my last comment left at your lovely blog.<BR/><BR/>As for Chinese people being either outraged at elites or cowering lambs, I'm not sure that the two are somehow mutually exclusive. If the elites were not local mine bosses, but rather Hu Jintao, I'm sure there would be less actual spitting going on. <BR/><BR/>Also, I think that there's a sense that economic elites and political elites should be treated differently. Thus, it's easy to spit in the face of someone who's killing people to make money and less easy to spit in the face of people who are killing people for some larger political/social goal. And I would not put local authorities in the "political elite" category here, as they are so clearly profiting directly off of local corruption.<BR/><BR/>Also, as you said with people in the US, I think people in China often do blow off larger political issues as being too complex for them (maybe Hu Jintao knows something I don't, maybe I just don't understand the complexities of internal migration, etc.). If Chinese coal companies were as large and technocratic as U.S. ones, perhaps the reactions wouldn't be so visceral. I don't know, I'm just speculating here.Christine Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03371714866508418748noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33284356.post-80903705684292903522007-08-27T08:40:00.000-07:002007-08-27T08:40:00.000-07:00"The US is just, by and large, a much safer place...."The US is just, by and large, a much safer place."<BR/><BR/>Well, yes. That's certainly true. And mine deaths in the thousands are make mine deaths in the dozens pale by comparison.<BR/><BR/>Maybe a better angle than my original post would be: authoritarianism has to live up to its claims to legitimacy ("serve the people," "tradition", whatever it is) in a way that a country like America doesn't, in PART at least because an authoritarian government's legs are so rickety. <BR/><BR/>But I still think China is different from other authoritarian governments in the level of expectation people still have of it, tanks in streets and corrupt officials notwithstanding. <BR/><BR/>I don't think people have the same expectations of Russia.Manfredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05976969909875190739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33284356.post-90340259174144734512007-08-22T18:39:00.000-07:002007-08-22T18:39:00.000-07:00"Or maybe there is simply a stronger tradition of ..."Or maybe there is simply a stronger tradition of challenging authority---really spitting on it and dragging it through the streets--- in China than in the States, absurd as this may sound to some."<BR/><BR/>I dunno. Maybe right now, but I think that could be attributable to the much-more-real prospect in China that malfeasance of elites will result in the <I>specific death or harm</I> of one's self or relations, friends, etc. The US is just, by and large, a much safer place.jkdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17735094589150138519noreply@blogger.com