Of course there is propaganda. But propaganda is not the monopoly right of Chinese government/media. Isn't it ridiculous just to look at how the contributor of that entry frequently cited the sources of non-Chinese media? Does the contributor have any idea that this incident would have been completely censored by non-Chinese media had not some Chinese students took several pictures of the attack and posted on the BBS of Chinese websites?

I ranted in my blog when I saw this from an overseas website, and later on learned how quickly the whole incident had spread to the websites and blogs in China.

In this world, there are two types of recipients of propaganda. Those who know it is propaganda, and those who do not. I do not feel sorry for either. But I truly sympathize these who have all the resources available, are free of mental disability (which means their brains can perform logical thinking), but still fall into the latter category.

Now Jin Jing received an invitation by the French President for a trip to Paris. Ola'a, eventually someone has to come out and fix the mess. So unfortunate it happened to be that short man.

A video clip of Jin Jing's Paris trip.

http://v.ifeng.com/include/exterior.swf?guid=893ab325-8a39-4418-b1dc-f43dabe68fa5

These french people... How ironic...

But that throws all the recent babble about the "sacred" Olympic torch and Jin Jing the "angel" into clearer perspective, doesn't it.

For all of the Chinese PR babble about the "sacred" torch and Jin Jing the "angel", how many victims of the earthquake are now taking the slightest bit of comfort, consolation or spiritual sustenance from contemplating the Olympic Torch?

All it takes is a reminder of the essential human conditions of vulernability, suffering and death, for false idols like the Olympic Torch to be revealed as deaf, dumb, mute and impotent gods, powerless to inspire faith, hope or charity.

Meanwhile the truly sacred symbols of the Buddha, the Koran and the Cross of Christ continue to inspire those three "great things that last" - faith, hope, and charity - among the Chinese believers in those true faiths, in ways the Communist Party is revealed, once again, to be impotent to do.

True, neither the Buddha nor the Koran nor the Cross of Christ could prevent the earthquake.    But the spiritual power in those truly sacred symbols is the power to inspire transcendence of suffering and death, a power which does not reside in the "sacred" torch or in its corporate sponsors.    Call the Christian eucharist (the consecrated bread and wine, the "body and blood" of Christ) a superstition if you will, but those who believe in it are sustained mentally, spiritually - and thereby even medically, to some extent - by its symbolism of transcendence of suffering and mortality.    The same will never be true of Coca Cola, and Lenovo's computers will never inspire righteous moral struggle in the way the Holy Koran does.

No one could have possibly dreamed up a story line about attacking a lady in a wheelchair to tug at the audience's heart strings. That would be unpossible, right?

Go take a look at the video Tom links to in that post, of a woman being thrown out of a wheelchair in a fake "professional wrestling" stunt.

That got us thinking about other kinds of staged acts of apparent violence.   It should get the rest of you thinking too.   Beijing's Western PR whores have been asking you to believe what your eyes tell you about the apparent "attack" on Jin Jing.   They have asked you, rhetorically, "how could it have been staged?   Don't you believe your own eyes?   Isn't it obvious?"

Well actually, no, it's not obvious.   No more obvious than the staged stunts in Batman, or Zhang Ziyi's ability to fly, or any stunts performed by the Three Stooges.   Did you know that the sounds of violence in all the Three Stooges movies were artificially produced, on machines?   That's called "special effects".   Please - Roland, Richard and Dave - please teach your children the difference between special effects and reality.   The real Three Stooges understood the difference, and expected their audiences to do so as well, unlike those PR machines who have nothing but contempt for their audiences.

Dramatis personae:

Moe, the alpha stooge = Roland Soong

Larry, the mumbling fair and balanced stooge = Richard Panda

Curly = could only be the incoherent, petulant, prolix Dave

Before

After

And yet, it did not stop a cynical global public from asking whether such an apology would have been forthcoming from the first Western leader to suggest boycotting the Beijing Games if French businesses who had set-up shop in China weren't losing money. Indeed, it would seem that France is conforming to what Slavoj Zizek, in a fascinating letter to the London Review of Books, identifies as the West's usual behaviour of ceding ethical and poltical values to economic pragmatism.

In my paper, "Towards the Future: The New Olympic Internationalism", recently published in Owning the Olympics, I suggested that the IOC could not afford to not hold the Olympics in China. I suggested that the decision to allow Beijing to host the Games can read as a sign of a shifting geopolitics where traditional assumptions about the global hegemonic position of Western states can no longer be taken for granted. Today, China is an economic superpower in an interdependent world and the fortunes of France and other Western nation-states are, in a large part, dependent on the fortunes of China. Thus, the role of diplomatic vehicles such as the Olympic Games in building stronger relations between China and the West are increasingly important. Sarkozy's post-Carrefour about face and his refusal to respond to international NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch, who have asked him to confirm a Beijing 08 boycott can be read as evidence of a growing recognition of this interdependence.

While France may have been apologetic for the attack on the torchbearer, Paris continued to provoke China. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Paris' decision to make the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of Paris "can only be considered as another grave provocation of 1.3 billion Chinese people". As Steven Erlanger, writing in the International Herald Tribune, suggests, the decision to make the Dali Lama an honorary Parisian may primarily be a career move for Bertrand Delanoe, the current mayor of Paris who hopes to become the leader of the French Socialist Party. As Erlanger writes, "the gesture by Paris allowed Delanoe to distinguish himself from Sarkozy, who has waffled about whether he will attend..." the Beijing Games. The Chinese response to Paris indicates that the diplomatic power and global voice of world cities may actually eclipse that of the nation-states in which they're located. One can only assume that British Prime Minister Brown felt a surge of relief when Ken Livingstone lost the recent London Mayoral contest. Livingstone, known for his sour relations with New Labour and his "radical" views on many issues, was much better positioned than Delanoe to create a major controversy given the role that London, as the next Olympics host, is expected to play in Beijing's closing ceremonies. 

The post-Carrefour fallout has taught us that Olympics diplomacy requires heads of state to attend to two complex tasks: 1) addressing the concerns of other states; and 2) managing their own people. Sarkozy has thus far failed at the second task. In this, he is not alone. The CCP has so far failed to manage the intense nationalism that led to the anti-Carrefour protests and other anti-West and anti-French protests throughout the country. As the Economist reports, by April 20th, 2008, the Chinese government was urging Chinese citizens to respond calmly to what was percieved (correctly, in many cases) as anti-China propaganda in the West. On May 1st, 2008, despite continuing attempts to control the shamed-inflamed nationalism, the protests continued.

Two Birds with One Stone: CNN and Carrefour

The May 1st protests were considerably smaller. This may be attributed to either the government crackdown or to the ephemeral nature of nationalist outrage. At the moment, it isn't clear. What is clear, however, is that the pro-Tibet/anti-Olympics protests in Paris, San Fransico, and other cities have had numerous effects:

1. They've turned the Olympic Spotlight on the interdepdence of today's nation-states.
2. They've given voice to racist and xenophobic groups in both China and the West.
3. In not trying to 1) directly communicate with, 2) measure the responses of, and 3) frame the issues for Chinese audiences, they have inadvertently shamed-inflamed an antagonistic form of Chinese nationalism.
4. And, they may have helped the political career of a French mayor.

How any of this helps Tibetans, I don't know. Perhaps this weekend's talks between Chinese officials and envoys of the Dalai Lama will be productive and will, in the long run, be seen as resulting from the actions of Olympics protests in the West. However, that appears to be a farily optimistic prediction, especially in light of today's news that despite these talks, China's state press has "accused the Dalai Lama of 'monstrous crimes'". In light of this news, the apparent goals of the majority of the Western protesters remain as elusive as ever, if not more so...

Now you might recall that rightly or wrongly, the American Left widely perceived the Willie Horton ad to have been a racist smear upon Black Americans, because Willie Horton was, after all, Black.

So now I wonder where are all those same self-described "liberal", "multicultural", "anti-racist" American voices now that the propaganda campaign surrounding Olympic Torch-bearer Jin Jing has relied just as cynically upon racial stereotyping as did the Bush campaign's Willie Horton ad.    Or has anyone even noticed?   The grimacing face of her putative Tibetan "attacker" - whose name and nationality conveniently remain unidentified - has been published all over China, playing upon Han Chinese racial fears of Tibetans.

What, pray tell, is the difference between the employment of racial stereotyping in the Willie Horton ads versus the PR campaign portraying Jin Jing "attacked" by someone who merely appeared to be Tibetan?   At least Willie Horton really was Black, and really was a criminal.   But we still don't know who the name or nationality of man in the Jin Jing photo.   Only that he appeared to be Tibetan, a fact which Beijing and its PR whores have played up to the hilt.

Now here comes Lenovo corporation - the torch designers - shamelessly escalating the Jin Jing propaganda campaign:

Seizing the moment, Lenovo's chief marketing officer spent the week in Beijing laying out plans for final execution of Lenovo's sponsorship activities from now through the end of the Games in late August. Near the top of Deepak Advani's list: raising the visibility of Jin's connection to the Lenovo brand.

Meanwhile the fact remains that the Jin Jing "brand" was created through employment of racial stereotyping and playing upon racial fears.    How many American "liberals" have noticed?   How many give a damn?   Evidently among the American Left, outrage over racism depends on whose yak is gored.

Months, years perhaps of fighting against the censorship perpetrated by what is after all still a dictatorship, have taught "Jacaranda"'s authors "Ned Kelly" and "Catherine A Young" that the way to deal with criticism is by censoring the offending text, and by banning its author.

(that is...me!)

With friends like these, the Tibetan and journalist Hu Jia's plights are unlikely to get any better for the foreseeable future.

==========

What has happened then? While researching my "Tibet and the Olympics: Remember Jin Jing" blog on Apr 22, I have stumbled upon Jacaranda's "Bart Simpson and Jin Jing’s spin-doctors" where Mr Kelly strongly suggests that the whole Jin Jing Olympic torch relay incident has been staged, and promises "further analysis of more evidence surrounding the incident".

I then added to their blog this comment (visible at "Under the Jacaranda Tree: Bart Simpson and Jin Jing’s spin-doctors") about such "further analysis":

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter any longer. The pictures are out there. There are two assaults, not just one. Ms. Jin’s facial expression is that of a person in distress, or an unexpectedly great actress.

So obscure photographic analysis and talks about the behaviour of foreigners marching towards a demo in Paris, won’t do the trick. You may as well try to stop a tsunami with a teaspoon.

Evidently I am unable to read my own words, because they look like a straight and mild statement of personal opinion to me...yet either Mr Kelly or Ms Young took very and grave offence at them. And so despite claims of technical issues with their website, they posted a new blog on Apr 23: "Why we have banned a recent commenter".

Don't waste time in looking for that blog now, as it has been deleted: not early enough to disappear from my Wordpress dashboard though, with the text

[...] MEANWHILE, we received a comment from this OBVIOUSLY MAINLAND CHINESE W*NK*R! [...]

(without the *'s) linking to my "Maurizio's Testimonials" page. In the meanwhile, my comment did not pass their web site moderation. Still it has not been published on "Jacaranda", despite a second attempt to submit it.

==========

Based on the above, this can be said about Ned Kelly and/or Catherine A Young, the authors of the blog "Under the Jacaranda Tree":

(1) They are so full of anti-Chinese anger, they write blogs of hate with little or zero critical thinking (I mean...leaving aside accusations of autoeroticism 8-), who can even think that I am "obviously mainland Chinese" when my pictures are all over the place?)

(2) They are so full of themselves and of their redeeming crusade to save the world against evil Beijing, they cannot tolerate the mildest form of dissent, launching themselves in verbally violent, frankly unjustified fits against the dissenter, whose words are censored and whose very name is banned from their site (sadly, this is exactly the behaviour of the Chinese government)

(3) At some point, they must have realized the absolute idiocy of their "W*NK*R" blog, removing it in the hope no-one would notice (thus demonstrating little familiarity with the ways of blogging, backtracking and Wordpress)

==========

Mr Kelly and Ms Young know that I know, because I added some reference in my second commenting attempt (remember, they have censored that one too). They also know how to contact me (all it takes is a comment to my website).

A word of apology, and removal of the censorship, will make a huge difference: I am a regular guy expressing his sometimes flawed, other times not-so-flawed thoughts. The "sin", rather than Onan's, seems to be my desire for independent thought (independent, that is, from Mr Kelly's and Ms Young's...)

Yet it is worrying that either or both of them could so quickly think of me as "obviously mainland Chinese". In the absence of any reply, one will have to agree with those that believe that behind the pro-Tibet campaign, there lies the spectre of anti-Chinese "post-racist" sentiments.

...look again. Something is missing from all the photos. Where are the police during the attack on Jin?  ...The goon squad is missing! Probably millions of people have seen these photos and nobody picked up what you did.

...The Chinese police were sticking like glue to the torch carriers. Look even at the long shots. Not one of the blue-and-white jogging suits is around before, during, or after the attack.

One woman called Marie said she was mobbed by screaming Chinese students as she tried to watch the relay go past. She had to be rescued and escorted away by police....

...

Alistair Paterson, 52, from Lake George outside Canberra, said he was standing with his seven-year-old daughter on Limestone Avenue with an older couple, their teenage son and two other young women when they were attacked by a group of about 50 people draped in Chinese flags....

..."I got a flying kick in the leg, another bloke was hit in the head with a stick with a Chinese flag attached to it and our banners were torn down," Mr Paterson said....

..."This gang of thugs rolled right through us and we had kids with us. My daughter was still shaking an hour later and is very quiet even now.

Will Roland Soong or Richard of The Peking Duck - or Xinhua - call this a "PR victory" for pro-Tibetan protesters?   Will they call this terrorised seven year old girl the "Australian Jin Jing"?

Pigs will fly first.   And I don't expect to see Dan Harris of CLB flying by my window anytime soon.

L’athlète chinoise en chaise roulante, Jin Jing, porte la torche olympique durant le relais parisien, le 7 avril 2008. Sur les vidéos et photos la concernant, aucun paramilitaire chinois n’est visible, eux qui normalement constituent la barrière ultime entre les manifestants et la torche. Aussi, le dispositif policier français est extrêmement poreux, permettant à plusieurs protestataires de s’approcher très près de Jin Jing. Les images de cet évènement servent actuellement à alimenter le patriotisme en Chine et dans les communautés chinoises à l’étranger. Avec succès, car un mouvement anti-France est en branle. (Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

Des manifestations patriotiques ont eu lieu dans plusieurs grandes villes de Chine dernièrement. Elles sont à peu près identiques en substance à celles que nous avons vues au Canada. Sauf que la cible privilégiée, en plus du Tibet et des médias occidentaux, est la France.

La France, en raison du comportement de certains Français lors du passage de la torche olympique dans les rues de Paris le 7 avril. Avec Londres, c’est l’endroit où les manifestations contre le régime chinois ont été les plus importantes.

Mais un évènement en particulier a créé une véritable tempête, alimentée par les internautes et les médias chinois. Il s’agit des images de l’athlète chinoise en fauteuil roulant, Jin Jing, devant résister à des vagues d’assaillants essayant de lui arracher la torche des mains alors qu’elle portait l’objet dans une partie du relais parisien.

Jin Jing est devenue le symbole de la résistance de la Chine à tous les «délinquants» qui critiquent son dossier des droits de l’Homme. Car les vrais «délinquants», selon la propagande officielle, sont les «violents séparatistes tibétains qui ont essayé d’arracher le plus pur symbole de l’olympisme des mains d’une personne en fauteuil roulant».

Un athlète non identifié porte la torche olympique à Paris, protégé par la police française et des paramilitaires chinois. (Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Images)

Mais une observation des différentes vidéos et photos ayant capté l’évènement laisse planer plusieurs doutes. En effet, la protection autour de Jin Jing est minimale, ce qui est louche, considérant son handicap. Aucun des «hommes en bleu», ces paramilitaires chinois ayant pour mission de protéger la torche, n’est présent pour se porter à la défense de l’athlète en détresse. Pourtant, tous les autres porteurs de la torche à Paris, selon les archives d’images, étaient entourés des «hommes en bleu». Puis lors du relais de Londres, on les a vus intervenir directement contre un manifestant ayant réussi à mettre sa main sur la torche olympique.

Ces faits, jumelés à la manière avec laquelle les autorités chinoises ont récupéré l’évènement, montrent qu’il y a anguille sous roche.

http://www.lagrandeepoque.com/LGE/content/view/4020/105/

Jin Jing.

Paralympian.

Just doing her national duty, carrying the Olympic torch for China.

Her nationalistic fervour is obvious.

Fought to hold on to the torch.

Against attempts by thugs fighting against for true democracy.

Despite being wheelchair bound.

(for full pictorial details, see http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20080410_1.htm)

Hero to Zero

She did not intend to be a hero. An accidental hero, nevertheless. To the Chinese.

“An angel”, they cried.

Weeks later she voiced her government’s position against anti-French demonstrations.

Got the ultra-nationalistic youths frothing at their mouths. Like rabid dogs.

“Traitor”, brainless”, they branded her.

Same woman. Same nationality.

Today the thug for democracy can go his way happy in his knowledge that he has contributed much to the demise of democracy.

The propagandist can go home to his wife, pleased in the knowledge that he has raised the contempt image of China in the eyes of the world.

The Chinese people can go to bed secured in the knowledge that they have won a hollow hard earned victory.

Jin Jing can just look out her window at the stars and wonders if her courage for her country was worth it.

The nationalistic youths are still fuming. With Jin Jing. For expressing what the Chinese government had no balls to convey.

Heroes for democracy? Crap.

Nationalism? Crap.

Politicians? More crap.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter any longer. The pictures are out there. There are two assaults, not just one. Ms. Jin’s facial expression is that of a person in distress, or an unexpectedly great actress.

So obscure photographic analysis and talks about the behaviour of foreigners marching towards a demo in Paris, won’t do the trick. You may as well try to stop a tsunami with a teaspoon.

Una risposta e' facile: certo non il Governo Cinese, la cui autostima cresce di giorno in giorno e che puo' sfruttate anche la luce riflessa dalla gloria di Jin Jing, la sorridente atlente Paralimpica costretta su una sedia a rotelle dopo un tumore e che ha difeso la torcia olimpica con tutta se stessa contro non uno, ma ben due assalitori a Parigi.

Qualunque siano i meriti della "causa" tibetana, mi ha intristito fin dall'inizio vedere la staffetta Olimpica diventare occasione per confronti violenti, anche se solo nella forma di "pacifici" attraversamenti di fronte al tedoforo. Queste foto mi hanno convinto ancora di piu':

Le proteste continueranno: ma dopo quanto accaduto a Jin Jing, saranno peggio che inutili. Come lo si volti o lo si giri, ogni tentativo futuro di collegare le Olimpiadi di Pechino alla situazione in Tibet sara' quasi sicuramente una manna per quel nazionalismo Cinese che vuole andare contro tutto e tutti, Tibetani inclusi.

NOTA BENE: C'e' chi dice di avere le prove che sia stata tutta una montatura. Ma in realta', non e' che importi piu' di tanto. Le immagini sono state viste da decine di miloni di persone. Ci sono stati due assalti a Jin Jing da parte di manifestanti. L'espressione facciale dell'atleta e' quella di una persona scossa e spaventata, o di un'attrive insuperabile, fino ad'oggi sconosciuta.

E quindi che senso ha mettersi a disquisire sui dettagli delle fotografie? Sarebbe un po' come difendersi dallo tsunami con un cucchiaino.

Well, the answer is easy: not the Chinese Government's, steadily growing in self-confidence and basking in the reflected glory of Jin Jing, a wheelchair-bound smiling Chinese Paralympic girl athlete and cancer survivor, holding on to the torch "for dear life" against not just one, but two physical assaults in Paris.

Whatever the "cause" behind, I have felt uneasy from the beginning, seeing the Olympic torch relays become occasions for violent confrontations, even if in the form of "peacefully" crossing the path of the bearers. These pictures have convinced me further:

Protests may and will continue: but after the Jin Jing's incident, they have become worse than pointless. For all intents and purposes, all future linkage of the Tibet problem with the Beijing Olympics will more likely than not simply further the cause of Chinese nationalism against the rest of the world, Tibetans included.

NOTE: There are people out there claiming to possess evidence demonstrating that the incidents have been staged. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter any longer. The pictures are out there. There are two assaults, not just one. Ms. Jin’s facial expression is that of a person in distress, or an unexpectedly great actress.

So obscure photographic analysis and talks about the behaviour of foreigners marching towards a demo in Paris, won’t do the trick. Anybody not believing in Ms. Jin's ordeal, may as well try to stop a tsunami with a teaspoon.

Le geste du président vise surtout à faire baisser la tension, mais selon moi la tension vient d'une simple mise en scène. Les Français et les Parisiens doivent demander aux autorités pourquoi la sécurité autour de Jin Jing a été relaxée? Ils doivent demander où étaient les paramilitaires "hommes en bleu" au moment où Jin Jing portait la torche.

Ne soyons pas dupes et soumis. Il est impensable que quelqu'un ait pu s'approcher si près de la torche avec le dispositif policier en place, à moins que ce soit délibéré.

Jin Jing is that girl in the wheelchair who protected the torch when them Free Tibet people tried to grab it from her in France.

Carrefour is a French supermarket chain that was/is highly popular in China. There are currently a lot of people calling for a boycott against the store while the government is trying to reign it in.

The Mob is made up of hyper-nationalistic Chinese youth who voice their opinions mainly on the internet.

So according to this article in English and this re-post in Chinese, The Mob has apparently turned on Jin Jing. Now this is the reason why the CCP is so afraid of the hyper-nationalism that is sweeping across the Chinese Internet.

One day, this girl was revered as a living goddess. She was a hero for the Chinese people who protected the torch from those evil foreigners and Tibetans. Now in my opinion, she's not a bad person but oh she is such a tool for the Chinese government. I mean it's not necessarily her choice. She most likely out of love for her country and her responsibility as a torch bearer protected that torch on her own whim, but afterwards, since she became like this symbol of Chinese defiance to the west, she has to be put under strict government control to make sure she doesn't say anything like "We should tear down Mao's Mausoleum and finally fullfill his desire of cremation" or "BOYCOTT CARRREFOUR! KILL THOSE FRENCH BIATCHES FOO!"

I mean of all the people who could have brought some sense into the nationalistic youth these days, it would have been Jin Jing. Afterall, she is their symbol, right? Or so the CCP thought. They sent her on a mission to placate the mob, but to no avail. They called Jin Jing a cunt, a traitor, a brainless one legged bitch, and so on. Now the people who said these things are the most extreme of the brainless idiots. I mean I was reading (Ok, I tried to read it but it was taking too long so I got my girlfriend to read it to me) the comments and most of them seemed to support Jin Jing. Of course, this is after the censors got rid of all the worst comments, but yeah.

The problem is, the rational voices in China and the west are not heard. It's only the loudest, most extreme points of views that are reported. It does give a good sense of that mob mentality, peer pressure, and snow balling that is driving China's nationalism away from just protecting the country from foreigners, but to attacking 'traitors' within the country as well. It's like they're getting tired of hating on BBC, CNN, and Carrefour, so now they have to find people closer by the criticize. And the CCP fears that if The Mob criticizes Jin Jing, they will most likely be next.

We'll see what happens when May 1st comes around. I'll be standing outside the Zhong Guang Cun Carrefour observing the action... and then I'm gonna go to MIDI and listen to some Chinese punk rock.

While I support any fight for independence, i believe that using the Olympics leaves a bad taste in the mouth. China you see, is the one who will be hosting the 2008 Olympics. Although the torch relay is so far going smoothly, it did not go well at the start.By demonstrating at the route of the torch relays, supporters of Tibet now have a hard time of convincing the Chinese of its independence. Their actions have also "turned off" some people.

In San Francisco for example, as a result of the demonstrations, the route of the torch was changed. This saddened and anger some fans who felt they were "robbed" of the opportunity to watch the Olympic torch. The clincher however was in Paris. Because of what happened in Paris, China has become more solidified. While most people would say that China regulates the news entering the country and thus making them biased, the Paris incident did nothing to increase support inside China.

So what did happen in Paris? Well, it's the story of a 27-year-old amputee named Jin Jing. Since she was unable to join the Beijing Handicapped Olympics due to her age, she opted instead to be a torch bearer. She was selected and was chosen to be the torch bearer on the Paris portion. I believe I've already said that their were pro-Tibet demonstrators at this routes right? At this particular one, here's what happened:

Worth a thousand words isn't it? It didn't help that Jin said she will do anything to protect the torch. Like I said, leaves a bad taste in the mouth. If you want to view more pictures, there are some available here.

It is also good to note that this particular incident didn't make it to most media outlets. Correction, non-China media agencies. had it not been for a particular column, I would not have heard of it. In fact, I had to do a couple of searches on Google News to get more details about it. It's really ironic that Western media always say that the Chinese government is censoring news entering the country. Well, what happened here? Censorship perhaps? Or maybe some other word that still means the same thing.

I have still to come up with a stand whether or not to support independence for Tibet. What I am sure though is that the Olympics should be free from politics. I want to see some games. So to Jin JIng, I have five words for you.

"You go girl! Good job."

While disabled athlete Jin Jing was carried the torch during the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay, wheeled on her wheelchair, several protesters ran around her, and one tried to snatch the torch.

The guys in blue tracksuits are nowhere to be seen, so this must have happened before Jin Jing's torch was lighted, probably on her way to the relay.

The incident, unheard of in the West, has incited anti-French sentiment in China, and there are grassroots calls for a boycott of Carrefour (a French chain of drugstores and supermarkets with many branches in China) and of French products.

More generally, there has been broad outrage at the coverage of the riots and crackdown in Tibet by Western media. In this CNN interview, for example

one sees images of Tibetan protesters being taken away by uniformed officials, with a clear implication that those are images of the crackdown in Tibet. The uniformed officials, however, look less Chinese than I do, and the images are either from Nepal or India.

The very popular "anti-cnn" website has a number of such occurrences where images from Nepal and India are shown as from Tibet.

While the incompetence of Western media is no news to those who read them regularly, it takes an ominous tone in China, where media distortions are a state policy. An otherwise sane friend of mine has posted on his Facebook page (ostensibly, unironically), this article that argues how the protests along the torch relay were the result of a CIA conspiracy.

In lighter news, the Chinese government demanded an apology from CNN after commentator Jack Cafferty called the Chinese "goons and thugs."

They "apologized" by explaining that the remark did not apply to all Chinese people, but only to the government. The Chinese government has not accepted the apology.