Friday, May 25, 2012

Kardashian dissidence & diffidence


I’ve not been following the whole Chen Guangcheng story very closely. The limit of my interest is to wonder why he is inevitably referred to as “the blind Chinese dissident”, as though blindness somehow distinguishes him from other dissidents, or defines his dissidence. (As opposed to those dissenting on grounds of being foot-washing Baptists, or rodeo clowns, or Trotskyites.)

It apparently even trumps the fact that he’s a lawyer.

Whatever.

Chen sneaked into the US embassy in Beijing, sparked massive heartburn at the highest levels in the Chinese & US governments & the Marines at the gates were probably field stripping their automatic weapons again & again in their off-hours. But then they found an escape hatch that permitted Chen to become a visiting fellow at NYU’s school of law.

(Kind of interesting that it’s the law school & not, you know, the Braille Institute.)

But I did perk up when Andy Borowitz “reported” that, a day after Chen landed at Newark, he was “already sick of Kardashians”.

Amen, brother.

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