Steve Kelman on Politics, Culture, and Life, 12.24.2021
Harvard Kennedy School prof, moderate Dem, pro free speech/anti cancel culture, pro tax rich, pro Israel.
China to remain closed for foreign travel in 2022
The Economist reports that China is likely to keep its borders closed in 2022. From the Chinese government's perspective, this is a great situation. Chinese can't leave, foreigners can't come in. What could be better? And they escape heavy internal criticism in China because it can be blamed on covid.
Swedes on “goodness” and “virtue signaling”
Have come across a Swedish translation of the phrase "virtue signaling" -- "godhetssignalering" -- in an editorial in Sweden's leading paper. The editorial is a plea for the value of being good to make a comeback in Sweden, against cynics on the left and right. The article notes that this is the 75th anniversary of the movie It's a Wonderful LIfe. I haven't seen that anniversary noted anywhere in the US.
Gender identity in Sweden
I am somewhat surprised to see a lot of gender identity language in the Swedish novel I am reading. For example, just one of several comments -- about "sex organs of people defined as women." What is interesting to me is that this novel was published in 2017, so this material must have been written in 2016 or earlier. I may be wrong, anyone please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I don't believe that this kind of issue, which is now very very big on college campuses, was around that early in the US.
Ad in Spanish for US Postal Service
Saw ad in Spanish on Unavision for the US Postal Service. At the end it said, "United States Postal Service, Prioridad Tu."
Xi Jinping on Hong Kong ”democracy”
Xi Jinping has praised Hong-Kong's election and said it has allowed people in Hong-Kong to be "masters in their own house." This coming from one of the world's leading election experts.
Switching from China Daily to Global Times
I have been looking at the Chinese paper China Daily every morning online and sometimes writing about what I see. I have now decided to start following the English-language website of Global Times instead. This is the highly nationalistic paper often cited in the US media. Decided I should expose myself to the red meat (so to speak) rather than China Daily, sanitized for an international audience.