"Plutocrats Against Democracy" (Krugman): My thoughts

Paul Krugman's Plutocrats Against Democracy column yesterday is a great read. I don't agree with Krugman all that often, but this piece is clear, well-reasoned, backed up with solid data even if he can't help himself from taking some partisan swipes while he's at it. Also, he uses Hong Kong as an example for a macro-generalization about what is happening in the world, so if you're glued to the #umhk definitely check it out.

What get's me thinking is Krugman's spectre of polarity. He frames it as Plutocrat vs. Democrat, and everyone has her or his preferred words- I call it Local vs. Cosmopolitan.

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Balance 6.4

Hong Kongers are practical. This is the ethos; this is verifiable fact.

Practical can mean balanced. It means keeping your head down and "getting on with it." It means walking past the nutters, ignoring the quacks.

But every once in a while, even the most practical people, those who would much, much prefer business-like stoicism must say something. 

There is a group in Hong Kong called the "Voice of Loving Hong Kong" (香港之聲). They have a multimedia campaign that pronounces that no casualties were suffered, at all, twenty five years ago.

There are political reasons why these are "sensitive issues." We get it. No savvy HK person doesn't get that. But to be so crass- so smug- to not only say "no comment," but to brazenly affirm that nothing happened is just such an affront. Such a baldfaced disregard for one's own plausible deniability (in the case the facts do, at some point, prove them wrong), is shocking, if not just sad. Shame on "Voice of Loving Hong Kong."