Heading over across
the Pacific for the first time in this calendar year today. There is always something irresistibly
optimistic about the California sun though I couldn’t take it as a constant,
when I lived there. Walking around the transport from the international
terminal to the domestic there at SFO one is nearly always confronted with that
indomitable Apollonian brightness. It’s
not like changing planes in Chicago or Detroit.
You could just as easily get cold, wet grey as anything upbeat. The bright view down to the “Industrial City”
of South San Francisco, is on my mind as I prepare to head out.
And then it’s down to a city I’ve never seen before. There are more major city vacuums in my mind
in the U.S. than there are here in China.
I have always heard of but never visited San Diego. It is always plugged as being a city of
“perfect” weather and lovely beaches, manageable size and a bit conservative
and stayed. I won’t be challenging these
myths, residing as I will be at a resort out of town for a sales meeting. Perhaps I’ll have some time to get around the
city some and see whatever architecture exists that is more than 60 years
old.
Preparing for the twelve hours or so in a plane. Most people watch movies. I never do.
Depending on the viewing mechanism, you sometimes have no choice but to
view whatever it is out of the corner of your eye. But generally I burrow into reading until I
zonk out. And with seats being only
modestly comfortable, there ends up being long extended periods of reading. You need to do some work, invariably. But the computer batteries will only last so
long and I don’t think United has added plug’s yet, which is fine by me, as
long as there is a light to read a book by.
I have at least three lined up for the duration.
This attack in the Kunming train station is horrific, senseless
auguring nothing good. I spoke about it
with a cabbie today. It’s always a good
way to learn what the official media is saying about the issue, as the rough
assumption is that the cab driver will be feeding back what he’s heard. I’d loved to be proven wrong on this, but
today for example, this gentleman said, it was Uighur terrorists who were paid
to go and cause this trouble. (A rough
way to make your money.) Uighur’s all carry knives and this is what they
do. And on the situation in the Ukraine,
he suggested that America had forced the situation. These may both be true, these may both be
opinions he has formed after conducting research. But in the moment, they sounded like precisely
what I expected CCTV to be explaining to the Chinese people what they should be
thinking on the matter.
And unlike the U.S. where you might get a centrist position
on international news as well as a whole lot of complete ignorance, you would
likely be able to tell if someone was watching Fox or reading the Huffington
Post if you pressed and if they had an opinion at all. The proper position on these matters always
feels more pervasive here. Snap
decisions, assumptions, well worth questioning.
So what did happen in Kunming? Ten attackers wearing black, wielding knives
cut their way through a crowded train station hall, slashing and stabbing 29
people to death and injuring some 70 others, until they were all, but one, shot
down. Perhaps they will learn more from
the one they captured. So far no group
has claimed responsibility. But clearly
this was a rough, planned attack, with medieval delivery, designed to frighten
as much as it was kill. This was not the
work of a solitary lunatic, or a momentary snap of 丧心病狂[1] within an isolated group. This, like the car bomb in Tiananmen, is the
architecture of some collective effort
Assuming it is the work of a Uighur separatist movement they
aren’t doing themselves any favors with this bloodthirsty approach. I can appreciate that they are frustrated by
the lack of progress on talks for greater autonomy. But it’s hard to imagine this accomplishing
anything other than a severe reprisal by authorities and a hardening of
attitudes by the vast majority of everyone else, like my friend the cab
driver. With all the corruption in China
I still find it remarkable that thugs and terrorists alike still seem resigned
to “only” knives. Though it is small
comfort to the victims, we can only imagine what this would have been like if
these assailants had automatic weapons.
Or what the Chinese response would be like, if they ever, God forbid,
pull off something more massive.
Music brings me back to my pending journey. My little bop mix here on the Macbook has
Grant Green track on “Street of Dreams” from the album with the same
title. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_of_Dreams_(Grant_Green_album)
On the cover the of the album, cast in a blue cyanotype is a
photo of the street signs from San Francisco’s North Beech where Green St.
bumps into Grant Avenue. The album, with
the all star cast of Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, and Larry Young on organ and
Elvin Jones on drums was recorded back in New Jersey in 1964. I won’t make it that far on this trip, though
I wish I could take in both coasts. But
it will be nice to sip espresso in the bright sun and cold air of North Beach
this weekend. It’s been a while.
[1] sàngxīnbìngkuáng: frenzied (idiom); completely crazy and
ridiculous / loss of reason / insane / crazed cruelty
No comments:
Post a Comment