Bruce Einhorn, Asia regional editor in BusinessWeek’s Hong Kong bureau, wrote a heavily politicised article on China’s snowstorm in which he suggested that “with millions stranded by snowstorms and infrastructure problems, antigovernment protests are likely”. Having recently relocated to Shenzhen and as someone who hails from a country where leaders are arguably elected, all I can say is that Einhorn has stuck his foot so far down his mouth that he has to reach between his legs to tie his shoes. Just check out the comments section to see how Einhorn was roundly criticised for his biased journalism.
However, Einhorn defended himself by saying:
“Hi everyone, this is Bruce Einhorn. Thanks very much for taking part in this back and forth. One request: It’s fine to accuse me of all sorts of bad things and call on BusinessWeek to fire me, but please, keep things civil. We’ve had a lot of comments that we can’t post because they contain profanity.”
Well, Bruce, the real world has, and always will have, stuff that isn’t something to jump up and down in joy for. Get used to it instead of closing your eyes. If you are going to write an article to push your own political agenda, be prepared to let those who don’t agree to tell you to fuck off.
Or, in the words of President Andrew Shepherd in An American President:
“You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the ‘land of the free'”.
Quote of the day:
Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.
– Mark Twain
