Tell it to Steven Hawking. A person's physical stature does not limit his/her potential for work that does not rely on his/her physical stature (e.g., English teaching, as well as physics). The cultural attitude that those who are discriminated against because they do not fit the culturally desired norm should be outcast or should be provided for by special environments that can be sold as entertainment venues to those who will not deal with their own prejudices is a cultural attitude that perpetuates discrimination against all who are 'different'. The problem here, as elsewhere, is a matter of dehumanizing those who are 'different' - prejudicial culture that regiments anything that deviates from its standards, rather than dealing with the prejudice itself. Why not have a theme park within which 'foreigners', with all their funny habits, can be kept, so that they do not disturb the 'normality' of cultural prejudices? Actually, there could be many: one for 'black people', one for Tibetans, one for Japanese, one for gay people, one for Han Chinese people who have given up their 'traditional' clothing for 'western-style' clothing (e.g., the great majority of Chinese, over the past century or so) - in fact we could subdivide and subdivide until nothing was left but mutual nonrecognition. All these would help to maintain the narrow identities of 'normality' that can be relied upon to advance support the cultural attitudes that promote the continuing inability of people to recognize each other as human, and to celebrate and accept their differences - not as entertainment items, no matter how 'cute', but as full human beings. How different is all this from apartheid?
This effort to maintain prejudice can, of course, be profitable to those who invest in it, and convenient for social engineers and political elites who want to maintain an elite power status by reliance on it.
The place is an insult to our common humanity and a spotlight on cultural attitudes of exclusion. Those who find that they enjoy such displays should take a good look at the nature of the culture that has formed them so narrowly. Cultures change; cultures have always changed; cultures are presently changing and will continue to do so; there is nothing sacred about cultural attitudes. Our common humanity is an ongoing project, and those who imagine they are not part of such a project are simply contributing their own blindness to it, and limiting themselves in the process. It's not the 'dwarves' who are the problem, its the people who will not accept them as within the boundaries of 'us'.
Forgotten Flying Tigers headquarters and barracks found in Kunming
Posted byWas his name, I think.
Update: Kunming Metro Line 3 open as of August 29
Posted byFocusing only on 'sites' is no way to come to understand a city, even in a short time.
Yunnan chemical factory becomes testing ground for citizen lawsuits
Posted byI hope this is well-publicized in the Chinese press.
China cracks down on pyramid scheme "epidemic"
Posted byYES - hammer these greedheads!
But it might be better to consider that societies that reward the greedy with what is considered to be 'success' are very likely to see greed proliferate, which will, in turn, piss a lot of people off, sooner or later.
Film Review: Animation Dahufa stirs up controversy in China
Posted byFor really interesting works on the history and development of Chinese animation over many years, see the works of Weihua Wu, including CHINESE ANIMATION, CREATIVE INDUSTRIES AND THE DIGITAL CULTURE (another possible title: THE AMBIVALENT IMAGE FACTORY: ANIMATION, CULTURAL INDUSTRY AND THE I-GENERATION CHINA).