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Americans are paranoid--with good reason
Shanghai Star ^ | 06/15/02 | Elyse Singleton

Posted on 06/15/2002 7:36:33 AM PDT by Enemy Of The State

Americans are paranoid--with good reason

By Elyse Singleton, Shanghai Star. 2002-06-13

I am on holiday in California. It is my first trip to the USA since I moved to China nine months ago. It is all a little odd.

I have been struck by the paranoia. It seems each person is suspicious of the next one.

One afternoon at a children's pool, while minding the clothes and towels of my friends as they swam with their young son, I was eyed with suspicion by the other parents.

Last night, my friend would not allow his wife and a female friend to go down to their outside garage on their own. My friend, who is a reasonable man, calls the police on what seems a regular basis to complain of fighting in the streets. People are afraid of each other.

Fear of litigation means that signs prevail. Streets are blocked off with "do not enter" or warnings that unusual activities will be reported to the police. Signs on private property warning people not to rattle the gate when closing or that soliciting is unwelcome give off a scent of hostility. Everyone has burglar alarms.

In the workplace, people do not joke for fear of giving offence. America has lost its sense of humour.

Race relations, or the lack thereof, do not help. Black and white pass each other in the street as if they were not there at all. Although official segregation was outlawed in the last century, in many respects it still exists in an unwritten, unspoken form.

It is unsettling to drive past a weapons store and realize that it is the right of every American citizen to own a gun. My friends tell me that in their area, there is a shooting nearly every week. They share tales of neighbours burgled at gunpoint. Turn on the television and you are assailed with tales of abducted children and murder.

Since September 11, this paranoia has increased. Before boarding a flight to America, hand luggage is x-rayed and searched. The president is setting up a department to oversee all intelligence and security bureaux. A new form of xenophobia has arisen.

Ask any person in the street how they are and the reply will be a cheery assurance that all is fine. The weather is sunny, and middle-class America has the ability and the money to live well. However, give me a country where I can cycle home at night without fear.

else_7@hotmail.com


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Italics off!
41 posted on 06/15/2002 9:29:47 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
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To: CaptSkip
LOL, good one skipper.
42 posted on 06/15/2002 9:32:57 AM PDT by Texas_Jarhead
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To: thucydides
Why haven't we done that. PC is national suicide.
43 posted on 06/15/2002 10:07:03 AM PDT by weikel
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To: AmericanInTokyo;quix
"I would however have an unfathomable time ever sticking up for the Govt. of Red China on anything, but I can imagine sticking up for the Chinese who are an incredibly great people, whether they are in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China or San Francisco."

This is one area "Qi si wo le". I suppose that perhaps Im being a bit too nit-picky but irks me to no end when I hear people discussing their political views regarding China and their distaste for the "Chinese". (In other words, lumping the people and thier govt. together as one) Perhaps because my fiance is Chinese, born and raised and the fact that I have actually spent time abroad in China off and on, that I am able to distinguish between the Chinese govt. and the Chinese people with the utmost clairty. Chinese people are some of the finest and most genuinely kind-hearted human beings that I have ever met. It has long been my experience that if you ask most Chinese people how they feel about their govt. they will express thier strong disatisfactions with the govt. but then reply that there is no point in worrying over it for there is nothing they can do to change it.
Most of them are truly peace loving people at heart and simply do not have an interest in politics as long as they are able to live in peace and feed their families. I wish more Americans could undergo the rich experience of spending time in China amongst their people, perhaps many would become humbled as well as find a greater respect for America.

44 posted on 06/15/2002 10:10:09 AM PDT by Enemy Of The State
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To: Enemy Of The State
go back to safe China ....puhleeze!!!!
45 posted on 06/15/2002 10:27:21 AM PDT by Dick Vomer
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To: Dick Vomer
This person was merely offering an observation. In the same spirit, may I remark that the country I grew up in was safe even for a youngster in a big city to travel wherever he wanted at any time of day. People would stick up for a kid, the cops watch out for them.

This was true even in the big cities.

The cops were all WW2 veterans, and would take no guff from anybody. They certainly weren't about to go easy on someone who deserved otherwise because of skin color.

Of course, the "foreign country" I refer to was known as the USA in the 1940's and 50's, before it was destroyed by the Left.

46 posted on 06/15/2002 11:03:14 AM PDT by Iris7
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To: Enemy Of The State
You are absolutely correct, it's BS. It's a story designed for foreign consumption to help make them feel better about not living in Horrible Scary America. Further, the person who wrote it appears not to leave her little insular world, and gives no sign that she understands or has contact with a representative sample of America. Gotta love the anecdotal evidence ("my friend... calls the police... on a regular basis" therefore America Is Paranoid! :)

On the other hand, I don't begrudge foreigners their desire to read psychologically comforting stories such as this. Same goes for the idea that is always spread among foreigners that America is filled to the brim with guns. It's a harmless rumor - perhaps actually helpful - and it makes them sleep better at night in their pathetic places, knowing how lucky they are not to be in the Ultra Violent United States. Who am I to burst their bubble? "Yes, this author is right, we're all paranoid! Stay away!" ;)

47 posted on 06/15/2002 11:08:10 AM PDT by Dr. Frank fan
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To: Enemy Of The State
Of course it's bullsh!t. If it were the way she claims it is, people worldwide would be suffering from massive wves of American immigration to their countries, instead of vice versa. If it were the way she describes, the rest of us would see evidence of it, and if it were the way she describes, those guns she admits that everyone can own would have made 'fear and paranoia' pretty much obsolete. They have here; I live in a neighborhood where I can leave my house and vehicles unlocked... and I'm not talking about a government-owned and cockroach infested worker's apartment and pathetic little bicicles. And my neighborhood is not monitored by some communist loyalist grandmother with too much time on her hands, who has the power to determine whether or not a person can leave. Thanks to our right to be self-sufficient in the defense of our homes and lives, we don't have to live in perpetual fear. We don't have to report to the government which church we belong to or ask the government for permission to worship in a government approved church with a government appointed pastor. People around where we live don't behave in a paranoid way as she claims they do out in California. You haven't understood true paranoia until you converse with a Chinese dissident. And their paranoia is definitely justified.

We know this gal's full of bullscat, but the article she wrote is not for American consumption- it is for the consumption of English-speaking Chinese. Here's another amusing bit the person or persons by the alias of Elyse Singleton has written, although she forgets that much of the reason the Chinese are resourceful is because there is not an abundance of food there and what there is is costly. Chinese get thrown out of apartments at will, even if they had a sort of co-ownership agreement wherein they have placed part of their wages. For such people, choice in food is a luxury. Funny how she doesn't wonder why that is:

Pets loved and relished

By Elyse Singleton, Shanghai Star. 2002-05-02

I swear the frog was looking at me. All the other frogs in the tank seemed complacent. They were motionless, eyes closed. But this one was frantic. Every now and then he would make an attempt at escape. On realizing the futility of his mission, he would return to staring at me. Our eyes locked. His pleaded: "Save me."

Live animals on display in restaurants can be off-putting. I understand that the food that ends up on one's table is guaranteed to be fresh (although some of these fish look under the weather at times). But I harbour a squeamishness when it comes to such a reminder of where dinner comes from.

In the West, we tend to err on the side of delicacy. When we serve our dishes, they rarely resemble whatever animal they came from. It's not common to see a recognizable body part. Even fish are transformed from a mass of scales, bones, eyes and heads into a neat, inoffensive and anonymous fillet. We even have a selection of euphemisms. Pig is pork or bacon. Cow is beef. Sheep's stomach lining is tripe. We alienate ourselves to assuage our guilt.

I'm mainly vegetarian, but I indulge in the odd seafood dish. I feel bad and responsible when I see the array of creatures on offer. It's like a mini-death row. Call me over-sensitive or accuse me of possessing a fevered imagination, but I have seen a chicken trembling on its way to its death.

For selection of animals, Guangzhou takes the cake. Restaurants resemble pet shops. Cages contain snakes, rabbits, dogs, chickens and cats. I guess it's a question of attitude. My students were asked to write about which animal they thought made the best pet. Aside from the usual qualities such as loyalty, gentleness or beauty, they rated taste and flavour as worthwhile attributes.

Sometimes it seems cruel. For example, killing a snake at the table and draining its blood for the spectators. In Guangzhou, I was disturbed by what can only be described as a turtle funeral pyre. In a shop window, a large pile of turtles was slowly roasting. I was unable to discern whether or not they were dead when they were placed there, but I have my doubts.

The Chinese are resourceful, they certainly don't waste anything. Take the pig. Every single part of that animal from lips and snout to tail are incorporated into some dish. It's the same with chickens. In the past, I did not deeply consider chicken's feet. However, if I had chosen to contemplate them, they would have definitely ended up on my very long list entitled "inedible". They are hardly fleshy, they are ugly. Sitting there, all scrawny and wrinkled complete with nails. Yet here they're a snack. Give me a muesli bar any day.

Every culture is different. Yet when I felt that frog's eyes on me, I felt a long way from home.

else_7@hotmail.com

48 posted on 06/15/2002 12:24:12 PM PDT by piasa
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To: Enemy Of The State
She has lived in Denver. Figures...
49 posted on 06/15/2002 12:29:57 PM PDT by piasa
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To: Enemy Of The State
And, it is interesting that this person moved to China 9 months ago, and is now seeing signs of paranoia in America. If I lived in California, I would be the same way. With the influx of immigrants to Sioux Falls, I am much more cautious now than I was before.
50 posted on 06/15/2002 12:30:58 PM PDT by Don Myers
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To: tdadams
"Without a trace of irony, I assume she feels safe if only the government has guns, even in light of the Tiananamen massacre."

Well, she is living in China now.

51 posted on 06/15/2002 12:32:02 PM PDT by Don Myers
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To: Enemy Of The State
However, give me a country where I can cycle home at night without fear.

Anyone who cycles home at night should fear being hit by a pickup truck.

This is so obvious that it makes me doubt that the writer ever lived in the US.

52 posted on 06/15/2002 1:22:19 PM PDT by LadyDoc
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To: Enemy Of The State
AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN AND AMEN!
53 posted on 06/15/2002 1:23:15 PM PDT by Quix
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To: Dr. Frank
Well.... filled to the brim with guns...hmmmmm....let me see (as he leans back and looks in the vault) . 6 pistols, 5 rifles, 3 shotguns.... well not filled to the brim but I guess about average for a Texan.
54 posted on 06/15/2002 6:46:26 PM PDT by Dick Vomer
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To: Enemy Of The State
Actually (although it will be vigorously denied) some of the partial explanation of that phenomenon may be US grassroots 'racism' to some extent. Face it, there is no shortage of Americans who like egg rolls but just can't stand 'the chinks.'

You know, I used to hear ALL the time during the Cold War that, "Well, the Russian PEOPLE are the greatest/they are really good people, but their Soviet Government is what stinks." We could empathize with their lot because they looked like us in many respects (if you are a white American').

You really don't often hear such de-linking of the people and their communist oppressors in China. I have only one plausible explanation for that.

55 posted on 06/17/2002 7:33:06 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
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