Qin Gang, Professional Chinese Liar
This man, like every government spokesperson, is a professional liar. Here's what he said in reaction to Bush's Thailand speech about human rights (itself an act of gagging hypocritical proportions, but you already knew that):
The Chinese government puts people first, and is dedicated to maintaining and promoting its citizens' basic rights and freedom.
I hear the following from some people questioning my philosophy: how can "unalienable rights", how can "natural law" exist when they don't self-enforce? Gravity doesn't bail on us at the state's command and light can still be split into various wavelengths, but rights do nothing of the sort.
Rights are not self-reinforcing things. Rights violations as tiny as stealing a paperclip from an employer and as incomprehensible as unflinching genocide have occurred since the beginning of humanity. These acts, responsible for an Olympus Mons of victims, were not stopped by some meta-power that corrects deviations from the ethical standard.
The same goes for speaking the truth.
Chinese citizens have freedom of religion.
There is no cosmic force that erases falsehoods and distortions as they are uttered. Desperately wanting one to silence liars as they speak is one of those great "facial tic" moments I have each day. You hear someone say something not just outrageously retarded, but in gross violation of reality and all I can think during the first few moments is "ow..."
The desire, as illogical as it is, to see liars shut up is so powerful it hurts.
These are indisputable facts.It hurts and infuriates even more when the liar claims the power of objective truth when the reality is so very different:
Human Rights Watch
Index of Economic Freedom - China
Amnesty International
Tibetian Center for Human Rights and Democracy
Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index
Religious Freedom in China
Human Rights in China
And from me:
China's "outward signs of capitalism"
Unclear on the Concepts
China is a billion-person liberty train wreck and the only joy I get out of liars like Qin Gang is their reactionary annoyance when someone they cannot ignore publicly reminds them who they are.