Comments on: quite a rant

By: wangbo

wangbo — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 08:01:45 +0000

Aha! And I hope Prince Roy comes back and sees that link.

By: For Prince Roy

For Prince Roy — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 07:47:32 +0000

http://home.netvigator.com/~paul852/art.jpg

By: wangbo

wangbo — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 02:35:22 +0000

Rebecca, when you see her next, tell Oiwan that even though I’m a bit of a dissenter on this case, I wish her all the best.

By: Rebecca MacKinnon

Rebecca MacKinnon — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:36:04 +0000

Thanks and no worries. Yes let’s hope the courts are more sensible, and see the sense before Oiwan bankrupts herself.
I have a feeling we have not seen or heard the last of Beifeng…

By: wangbo

wangbo — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 06:05:30 +0000

Rebecca, I’m not sure I expressed my views on the case as clearly as I could’ve. Anyway, you’re right, perspective matters and my view from Beijing does leave me thinking there are bigger issues. But as you say, that’s all a matter for Hong Kong people to sort out themselves. I only mentioned your name in the post because you’re one of the more prominent people writing about this issue, I certainly didn’t mean to ascribe any particular view to you, I’ll let you say what you think about this. Looking back at what I wrote, my point was that none of us, myself included gets to dictate standards like some TELA official. Poor choice of words on my part, perhaps.
And you’re absolutely right, the punishment does not fit the crime. I hope that the courts see things a little more sensibly than TELA does, and I do hope this case and all this trouble help to get TELA sorted out.
And yes, Beifeng was an interesting character. I’m sorry I didn’t spend more time reading his blog before he took it down.

By: Rebecca MacKinnon

Rebecca MacKinnon — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 05:33:05 +0000

Hi there. If I were sitting in Beijing and didn’t know Oiwan, I might also think there are bigger issues to carry on about. I can’t believe I’ve spent so much time arguing over a picture of tits. But just to clarify, I haven’t been yelling that TELA is wrong to want to ban tits – if that reflects the Hong Kong people’s will, that’s their business. I don’t believe that foreigners should impose their morality on Hong Kong’s people one way or the other. The problem is, TELA appears to be pretty unaccountable and not very unrepresentative of Hong Kong society’s current mores. If I was Oiwan I wouldn’t have done what she did and kept my powder dry for a more clear cut case. But still, slapping her with a criminal record, bankrupting her and generally ruining her career… I just don’t see how the punishment matches the crime.

Oh and by the way, I’ve been keeping an eye on Beifeng’s blog for some time. Another recent post focused heavily on the theme that we are all part of a neo-colonial conspiracy using certain local people as puppets. A couple months ago he wrote a post advocating that a Filipina student should be deported because she had posted a story online about racism against minorities in Hong Kong. His argument being that she was fomenting anti-Chinese hatred.

Very fenqing, this guy. Whoever he is.

By: wangbo

wangbo — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:53:19 +0000

Cat, sorry, somehow you got caught up in the spam filter thingy. You’re lucky I decided to check it today, normally I don’t because I’ve never come across real comments being marked as spam before, and all the comments that have been held for moderation have been clearly spam. Bloody disobedient software.

Anyway, yes, Beifeng’s deletion of his blog is a mystery. Can’t figure it out. And I did want to go back and read more of his stuff, but now it’s all gone.

By: cat

cat — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 07:54:06 +0000

Wangbo, I’m disappointed too – I didn’t even know the blog existed until it was gone – I had to find a full copy of the latest post elsewhere, and I can’t get hold of anything else. I didn’t agree with everything that I read, but it was well thought out, had some serious points and challenged a number of easy attitudes. And I’m a bit confused – maybe he/she just rattled off a rant without thinking, but it didn’t seem that way to me – seemed like some effort and thought had gone into it. So why delete it all?

By: wangbo

wangbo — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:38:34 +0000

Yep, and I certainly wasn’t expecting that. Not complaining, though.

By: John

John — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:33:46 +0000

I see you’ve made ESWN’s recommended reading list.