A friend recently arrived from China tells me he was awake all night reading about Tiananmen Square, today in 1989. For the first time, he saw the videos of students gunned down by their government. His daughter asked why he was crying.
He tells me that back in China, he and the other billion were told that students were being manipulated by Western powers. (Democracy being a Western concept, I suppose you could call this partly correct.) When Tiananmen Square was cleared out, only a few leaders were jailed, the story goes; the rest of the students were allowed to leave peacefully.
People in China who know what really occurred dare only refer to it as "The Day." A day so inconsequential that the phrase "Tiananmen Square" is blocked today from search engines in China. Today, this friend wears black in mourning.
Also Western concepts: fascism, multinational corporations, military juntas, gas chambers.
Posted by: DF | Jun 05, 2012 at 10:23 AM
>"Also Western concepts: fascism, multinational corporations, >military juntas, gas chambers."
-> Fascism -- overcome, except in non-Western countries, although Europe seems to be headed back in that direction with unelected governments taking over.
-> Multinational Corporations -- raising the standard of living around the world.
-> Military Juntas -- overcome, except in non-Western countries
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | Jun 05, 2012 at 01:28 PM
The original premise was "Democracy - a western concept".
Leaving aside the problems with your response such as the actual real-world records of the likes of Shell and Coca-Cola, the you-know-who historical big sponsor of military juntas etc. - you appear to have changed the goalposts to "western concepts - NOWADAYS", which is a different kettle of fish.
Posted by: DF | Jun 05, 2012 at 06:59 PM
You must be self-employed, just like me!
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | Jun 06, 2012 at 06:48 PM