March 27, 2006
Trojan Pandas
The Butterstick juggernaut rolls on today, as NBC 4 fills a content gap with a story on how the little fellow, now eight months old, has switched from merely chewing on bamboo to actually swallowing the stuff (he also tries to get ahold of his mother's fruitsicles, which sounds dirty, but they're really just fruitsicles). And, of course, we swallow the stuff, happily clicking on the link and receiving as our reward images of the little devil, who remains dangerously cute.
But are we swallowing propaganda?
Such is the conclusion drawn by Newsweek, which writes this week on how the Chinese may be using the irresistible adorableness of pandas as a brainwashing tool. The magazine focuses on the case of pandas recently given to Taiwan. It seems a naming contest held in mainland China bestowed upon the Formosan fuzzballs the names "Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, echoing the Mandarin word for 'reunion': tuanyuan." You can be sure they weren't talking about The Smiths.
So, what's China's angle with us? Figure they knew we wouldn't choose those China Washington mashups, and, Americans being a peaceloving people, they had to know we wouldn't vote for "Strong, Powerful," or "Dragon Mountain." Obviously Tai Shan was the only conceivable possibility. So, why is China trying to get us warmed up to the idea of a "peaceful mountain," and is the adoption of the renegade Butterstick moniker actually a means for us to thwart the nefarious plot? Or is a panda sometimes just a panda?
Picture taken by Ann Batdorf of the National Zoo.
|
Obviously it's a ploy to counter act all those "red menace" stories about how the large and ever growing China is going to swallow the West whole. Of course it won't, its just a Peaceful Mountain. See how this works?
I wonder if Taiwan will come up with another moniker, maybe "One panda, two nations?"...
From what I understand, international law on endangered species says that pandas can only be LENT to other countries. By trying to GIVE the pandas to Taiwan, China's trying to push a not-so-subtle point that Taiwan is a renegade province of the PRC.
Perhaps that's the reason, not paranoia about sort-of-homonymic names.
If loving Secret Agent Butterstick is wrong, I don't wanna be right. Viva la revolution, Comrade!
Alyson's got a very interesting point. Though, in the case of DC, I'd point out that they're not lent, but leased.
It's rare that Communist China gives anything to anybody so I guess we should be greatful. In the January 2006 edition of National Geographic, page 30, they did a story on what country win's the greatest genocide award of the twentieth century. Communist China easily beat out Germany, the Soviet Union and Japan. They definitely are not our friends and are fundementally against the ideas of freedom and free speech that readers of this site cherish so dearly.