Friday, June 07, 2019
UPDATE
I realize that this essay is quite "dated" now -- the events described having occurred over fifteen years ago. I'm still leaving it posted as-is because: The Communist Party still holds monopoly power over the citizens of China and, like anywhere this situation exists or has occurred, corruption is rampant and human rights abuses extreme. Every year the gloss of commercial life affords the Chinese government a façade of legitimacy but one must remember that, though tempered on the spectrum of authoritarian rule, China is still by every definition, a dictatorship. As I had written in the essay below, I have little doubt that this circumstance will change in the very near future. Only then will the citizens of a great culture be able to express their full creativity and potential. Much of what I had written in this essay (particularly near the end) addresses basic issues regarding the left-wing authoritarian worldview in general and how it has always manifested in those societies that have been overtaken by its delusions. I feel that these observations will always remain relevant as human nature will always be diverse and there will always be some among us who will seek to impose the utopian vision – and its inevitable nasty results. China's modern history is a lesson for those who can learn from history – and meaningless to those who are unable to discern the obvious. I hope those who can learn from history outnumber the latter.
