bread and circuses

Well all around me people are stupefying themselves on the fireworks and the goosestepping that is Beijing 08. My housemates actually stayed up to watch it, 'oohing' and 'aahing' at the attendant pyrotechnic masturbation that comes with the opening ceremony.

I know I'm being way too counter-cultural and self-righteous in saying this, but for chris's sake (i live with two chrises, btw) If you don't like the way China engages with its own people and those outside its considerable borders, TURN IT OFF. It's way-too-cool to poo-poo the CCP for their heavy-handed ways when the torch relay is in Paris or London, but we wouldn't extend our indignance to not partaking in this spectacle. It makes for good telly, after all.

If everyone denied coke, McD's, microsoft et al their valuable eyeballs during this circus, maybe the reduction in advertising revenue might lead to more stern treatment of this totalitarian regime. Oh, wait a minute – business is booming, it's an emerging market and their products are all produced and consumed with gusto in the land of the sleeping giant.

Welcome to the future. I'm just glad Ruddy is over there sweet talkin Wen and Hu.