Local: Welcome to Peoria, you evil commie bastard
From the Journal Star:
Against a backdrop of unrest in Tibet and protests accompanying the worldwide tour of the Beijing Olympic torch – two issues that have placed China in an unflattering global spotlight this week – the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Zhou Wenzhong, is visiting Peoria Friday.
But unless you are an employee of Caterpillar Inc., a member of the Rotary Club of Peoria or an invited guest of a member, you might not notice.
[snip]
Unless you count his lunch speech to Rotarians at 11:45 a.m. at the Hotel Pere Marquette as a public appearance, there are no others planned. Club members will not be allowed to ask questions of the speaker as they commonly do at their weekly meetings.
The speech was arranged by a Rotarian who is also a Caterpillar executive, Roberts said. He was scheduled to speak as part of a cultural exchange with Caterpillar and is not expected to address – in any way – the Olympic torch, Tibet, or any other recent negative story that has appeared in the American press.
Actually, I don’t want to crash today’s Rotary Club meeting to ask Mr. Wenzhong to rationalize his nation’s brutal occupation of Tibet. As China’s mouthpiece here in the United States, I’m sure he has his spiel down pat. I have no interest in hearing it.
Instead, I would like to ask the Caterpillar executives who will be in attendance how it feels to enjoy the political, religious and economic freedoms that all Americans enjoy knowing that the size of your bonus depends on doing business with a political entity that is every bit as evil and murderous as the Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
I mean, do you guys have to drink a lot or take a lot of drugs to numb your brain enough so that you don’t dwell on the knowledge that your business partners force parents to abort their children in order to limit themselves to just one? Or, even worse, do you go through life perfectly happy to get your money by partnering with these people? When you go to church on Sunday, do you pray for forgiveness for putting money in the pockets of a government that kills Christians, Buddhists and members of other faiths?
Beijing Olympic
I know I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, but hey, that’s just me. So what the hell, enjoy your lunch.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
“Just doing their job” … that is the numb mindset of any corporate member who feels justified in hiding behind the corporate mandate. You will be there, you will smile, you will NOT dissent. You are OWNED by the corporation. Any dissenters shall be thrown overboard. So just “do your job”.
Amen, Billy.
[...] topics Billy Dennis is not happy about the Chinese government representative visiting Peoria today. Interestingly enough, it is this very unlinking of economics to ethical governmental behavior that [...]
Bill,
If your little bit of breathless hyperbole, were to be taken seriously, I’d ask you, how do you live with yourself? You’re enabling a machine you consider on par with the Nazi’s. Hell, you’re actively advertising them;)
Google ads are a bitch sometimes, eh? Still I expect you’ll be giving that revenue back and disassociating yourself with Google — who after all, also by your standards collaborate with Nazi types… and Wal-Mart and Microsoft and…
Whoa, Billy, I hate to sound like a shill for Cat, but I think your being a little too hard on them. First, you don’t have to be a Cat exec to enjoy the fruits of the Chinese system. We all enjoy a higher standard of living because cheap Chinese labor makes practically everything more affordable to the average American joe. Same goes for their environmental mess; they produce cheaper products to sell to us because they are not “saddled” with governmental regulations concerning clean air, clean water, etc. As for forced abortion, while they require it, we allow it. Some may see this as a very subtle distinction (granted others would not). Second, as to religious persecution, China is another example of how unique we are in the world: we view religion as a person matter, while most of the world sees it as just another factor source of opposition to authority. Last, you compare China to Nazi Germany, and certainly I would not argue that that is not a valid comparison. I would suggest however that maybe a better comparison might be South Africa under apartheid. Throughout the 1980s there was a vibrant debate over “constructive engagement” as a more effective weapon against apartheid than dis-investment. As we know, apartheid was abolished peacefully, and historians are just now starting to decide whether constructive engagement played a role in its demise. There certainly is an argument that it did. The same could be said for trade with China. One could argue that being there, as a positive influence, is more effective than not being there at all.
dd,
The Chinese are also responsible for the skyrocketing cost of metals including steel, copper, and all of their alloys, as well as fuel. Unfortunately, their military is probably as populous as our entire country, so there’s not a whole lot we can do one way or another.
Oh, and anyone in this country that looks down on the Chinese because of the enormous economic gap between the successful citizens of the cities and the peasants in the country needs to take a look at their own country first.
Yes. Google Ads can be a bitch at times, as Google searches for keywords in a post to determine which posts appear. That’s why why I specifically banned Hong Kong tourism the site in question from appearing on my blog again. As of this writing, I’ve earned 23 cents today. I’ll donate this and more to a pro-Tibet group.
Satisfied?
Haha, owned.
The Chinese are “responsible” for the skyrocketing cost of metals and other basic commodities? Why yes, I suppose that’s true … they along with the Indians and other Asian and a few African countries experiencing double digit growth over the last 5-10 years. We’re not the only ones who want an American lifestyle with TVs, cell phones, washing machines, cars and big houses.
Of course Americans are still the biggest per capita consumers on Earth … so, from the perspective of the rest of the world, the U.S. is largely responsible for rising commodity prices.
Yes, Americans doing business with China benefits the Chinese government, and the Chinese government has been responsible for some extremely reprehensible acts – Tiananmen, Falun Gong, repression in Tibet & Xinjiang. However, one cannot ignore the undeniable fact that carrying out business with China has also greatly benefited both the American and Chinese PEOPLE along with large corporations and governments.
The Chinese people have seen the most relative benefit, of course. Before the economic reforms instituted by Deng Xiaoping, 2/3 of Chinese lived in poverty. Now, only 30 years later, 10% live below the poverty line. Also, compared to the monstrous & insanely destructive policies of the Cultural Revolution, the current Chinese administration is filled with Care Bears.
It’s easy for some to fling poo at the Evil Empire … but if that rhetoric was ever backed up by policy, the world would be a much poorer and scarier place.
You want to send a message to China?
No more chinese products in Wal-Mart.
Sadly, both countries need each other. Save the high and mighty spiel.
I guess we can overlook a few human rights violations for the benefit of our consumer habits. We’ve been doing it in the Middle East for decades.
I’m not suggesting that we “overlook” human rights violations anywhere, Cory. I am suggesting that ramping up the “Commie bastard” rhetoric and inflaming hostilities across the Taiwan Strait (a la Schock) is not the way to go. I think such tactics only serve to strengthen the repressive forces within the Chinese regime and decrease the chances of reform.
The Chinese generation running the country now clearly remembers the insanity and oppression of the Cultural Revolution. That is oppression to them – the current situation doesn’t even register in comparison. They idolize Deng Xiaoping because his economic policies lifted millions of them out of the muck of a peasant farmer’s life. Perhaps once their children get spoiled by the prosperity the new economic openness has provided, they’ll become less tolerant of the political oppression they currently suffer.
We should be encouraging connections with China (educational, medical and scientific as well business) so that the Chinese people see that there are alternatives to their political system. You can’t force-feed freedom and democracy – a fact proven quite clearly in Iraq.
Whoa, Billy. Might be time to up the old Prozac prescription there, friend. Just like your beloved Israel, if China wants to purchase CAT machines it will get them. All China (or any government) has to do is to buy them from any of the independently owned dealerships throughout the world. By the way, your knowledge of the CAT bonus structure is WOEFULLY lacking.
I’m still working this out for myself, but what good would it do to boycott the Olympics? I hate what China has done to Tibet. I just fail to see how ditching the games will do anything to improve the situation. It did nothing to get the Soviets out of Afghanistan. The Russians just paid us back a few years later when the U.S. hosted the games. Participating in the games doesn’t support hateful government policies. It supports athletes. Right?