I don't care if it cost a fortune...

[RedHerring2]

The Chinese made me laugh. Although it's not their actual new year for a few more weeks, they thought they would also celibrate with the rest of the world.

However, they said they weren't having fireworks, as they aren't environmentally friendly. At the same time, they are grabbing the earth's resources, exporting $hite all over the world, and someone in China is probably cutting the ribbon on a new coal-fired power station.

Also, let's not forget who invented fireworks.

You couldn't make it up.

Happy New Hypocrisy!

Whitesnake, your graciousness is only surpassed by your negativity.
You may not have noticed, but there are many Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations all over this country and the world on CNY. They are attended by all creeds and cultures, supported by Authorities and provided by the generosity of local businessmen as a gesture of hospitality towards visitors, tourists, etc.

It would, of course, have cleanly sailed over your head that the Chinese should do likewise and provide/support New Year celebrations for tourists, visitors and ex-pats.
So for them to have a New year celebration is a gesture of hospitality. But perhaps you see it as a gesture of sarcasm, irony even mickey-taking.
That's low even by your standards.

The comments about fireworks, although partly true, do not simply refer to this New Year.

I refer you to some information that you could have gleaned from the internet.

No Fireworks at 2011 Summer Universiade
Editor:www.fireworkstown.com Mar 24,2011
By Abel from Fireworkstown.com email:[email protected] translater:docheeto
On March 21, the executive board of the game accepted an interview by central medias and the deputy mayor of Shenzhen, Mr. Zhang Wen announced that no fireworks would be set off at both the opening and closing ceremonies of the game based on frugality, low-carbon and environment protection.
It is hard to imagine the atmosphere without fireworks shows at big events like Beijing Olympics and Guangzhou Asiad. But it is clear that no fireworks shows will be made at the opening and closing ceremoies of the coming Summer Universiade to be held from August 12 to 26 in Shenzhen this year.According to fireworkstown.com reports that two fireworks enterprises are compete for achieving the nomination to have a fireworks show at the opening ceremonies.

It becomes a warning message for fireworks industry not to have a fireworks show for large scale sports games for the first time. For a long time, firewoks show has been enjoyed and focused by people and has been a focal point for fireworks enterprises to promote their brands and seize display opportunities. But the industry insiders say that it is only a measure for the organizing committee of the coming Summer Universiade to establish their images as a way of public relations, professional fireworks show will not be affected.
It is reported that fireworks shows are not recommended by some executive members of the Organizing Committer of London Olympic Games and it resulted in commotion among firewoks people.

http://www.fireworkstown.com/fireworks-news/detail-4091.html

You'll notice, no you probably won't notice, that this was published in a Fireworks magazine.
Perhaps you might notice the date of the publication: 24th March 2011.
It didn't refer to New Years Eve (NYE) but to summer games.


Allow me to also refer you to a piece in the New York Times:

By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: February 9, 2011
BEIJING — Eardrum-piercing explosions. Choking plumes of sulfurous smoke. Showers of sparks that cascade onto homes and heads.
For an unapologetic majority of Chinese, life does not get much better than the 15 days of the Lunar New Year, a hallowed gathering of family and friends punctuated by an almost round-the-clock cacophony of percussive, sleep-rending pyrotechnics.
Banned in most cities until 2006, personal fireworks have become a hard-to-avoid feature of the annual holiday, which ends this year on Feb. 17. Last year the Chinese public spent just over $3 billion on Roman candles and bottle rockets, as well as more elaborate devices whose whistles, booms and celestial light displays could satisfactorily entertain a midsize American town on the Fourth of July.
“There’s something so joyful about all the lights and the noise,” said He Jin, 27, a kindergarten teacher, as a paper carton spewed red and green flames near the undercarriage of a parked car. “A New Year’s without fireworks would be like Christmas without a tree.”
Not surprisingly, the spread of fireworks has had a few downsides, and this year may turn out to be a banner year for accidents. In recent days errant fireworks have killed two people in Beijing, injured 388 others and started 194 blazes, about twice as many as last year, according to the state media. On the opening night of the holiday, one Beijing hospital treated 85 people with firecracker-related injuries, the majority of them involving eyes.
Across the country the damage to life, limb and property has been no less sobering. During the first 32 hours of the holiday officials tallied nearly 6,000 fires, including a conflagration in Shenyang, the capital of the northeastern province of Liaoning, that engulfed the city’s tallest structure, a five-star hotel.
In the eastern province of Zhejiang, six people were killed in a forest fire that officials say was sparked by carousing villagers. Officials also suspect that fireworks set off the blaze that blackened parts of a historic town in Chongqing and another that consumed a 1,000-year-old Buddhist temple in Fujian Province.
(People here still talk about the spectacular fire two years ago, ignited by illegal fireworks, that destroyed the Mandarin Oriental, a luxury hotel whose charred hulk still sits across from the dazzling new headquarters of the state broadcaster, CCTV.)
Despite such mayhem the public response has been relatively muted. Red Net, a government-run Web portal in Hunan Province, called for a reduction in the potency of fireworks. Hui Liangyu, the vice prime minister of China, urged the nation to be vigilant against forest fires. Perhaps the strongest blowback appeared in Beijing News, which stood firm against the return of any restrictive measures but gently counseled readers to ease their fixation on loud and explosive toys.
“People’s understanding of the downsides of fireworks takes time, and it takes time for them to find a more entertaining replacement,” it wrote.
On Wednesday, Li Shuming, a commentator in the state-run Procuratorial Daily, sought to shoot down the common refrain that fireworks were an integral part of Chinese culture, pointing out that pigtailed men and women with bound feet were once de rigeur. “For some, firecrackers enhance the New Year’s mood,” he wrote. “For others, mainly seniors and children, it’s torture.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/world/asia/10fireworks.html

You may notice that this was also published much earlier, in February 2011

Let me also refer you to some comments on a Chinese ex-pat site:

Shanghai ex pat site discussing fireworks on New Years Eve 2011/2012


Xintiandi ones were pretty great.



Anyway, CNY is coming and there will be enough to drive you mad... especially the ones set off at the break of dawn.




Where do you expect tourists to go see fireworks if not The Bund and The Oriental Pearl Tower in
Shanghai?



I know that CNY is celebrated in Asia, of course, but as I was a tourist I won't be able to see any of the CNY attractions in Shanghai



Surprised nobody has pointed out the obvious: official fireworks displays have disappeared from large Chinese cities ever since the fireworks-caused fire which gutted that CCTV skyscraper in Beijing about eighteen months ago.

Restrictions were tightened even further after the apartment block fire in Shanghai early this year. That had nothing to do with fireworks, but still...

Of course, they can't stop millions of people purchasing and setting off fireworks illegally. Generally though, Chinese people seem to favour noise over visuals - so the CNY onslaught is mainly on the ears rather than the eyes. Shanghai sounds like Baghdad on a bad day around that time of year.

http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbforum/no-fireworks-on-nye-why-t136803.html

Some of your half-truths have been mixed up with scurrilous accusations in a simplistic racist, abusive post aimed at the Chinese.

I will alert the mods to your post. It'll be their decision whether it is allowed to remain or not.
I have captured it by using it in quotes so the whole world can understand your motivations behind your fictitious comments and your ability to comprehend information.
It would have only taken two minutes of your time to have checked on the accuracy of your comments before posting them. But I guess this is beyond you.

 

[RedHerring2]

The forum volunteer policeman strikes again.

If you don't like the posts in here - then why are you here?

If that was a genuine inquiry from you, Joe, which I doubt it is, I'm here because I dislike only the odd post here and there. I enjoy the interaction with most posters, but the odd one or two do seem to be hellbent on spreading their racist poison on a DIY site when they would be better served on the EDL web site.

I have indeed considered resigning in protest but I don't think it would make the news now, would it?

As you've appointed me as the site's volunteer policeman, perhaps it's a role that I should eagerly fulfill.

 

[enyam]

Redherring2 offers a different view and the response is leave,yep debating at it's best.

 

[Alarm]

Joe is always a man of few words.

 

[Trazor]

The forum volunteer policeman strikes again.

And he does a terrible job, misunderstanding many things.
Implying that the post of Whitespirit66 is racist is nonsensical, and is the typical reaction of a zealot.

I now see the mods have removed the post of Whitespirit66, you could not make it up.

 

[joe-90]

Redherring2 offers a different view and the response is leave,yep debating at it's best.

Debating means defending your corner - not running crying to the mods every time you come up against a post you disagree with. It's pathetic.

 

[RedHerring2]

Perhaps, Joe you cannot differentiate between running off crying, on the one hand, and reporting something 'cos you think it might be an offence.
As mentioned in another post, when you alert the Mods, you are simply bringing a dubious post to their attention, for them to decide the appropriate course of action. I may not agree with their decision sometimes, even many times, but I have the grace to accept it.

I think I've proved that I'm more than capable in debating the issue with you or anyone.
It doesn't mean that I have to ignore potential offences.

If you saw a petty crime being committed would you stand and debate with the offender, or would you report it to the police?

You don't really need to answer that question. It was rhetorical

 

[joe-90]

I'd talk to the offender and ask him why he was doing whatever he was doing. Be a man for once in your life.

 

[RedHerring2]

I'd talk to the offender and ask him why he was doing whatever he was doing.

And if he refused to acknowledge his crime would you continue to ignore it?

 

[enyam]

I have to admit RedHerring I have read and reread the post you have quoted from Whitespirit and can't for the life of me find anything offensive in there.

 

[joe-90]

I'd talk to the offender and ask him why he was doing whatever he was doing.

And if he refused to acknowledge his crime would you continue to ignore it?

It depends what he was doing. Do you call the police when you see litter being dropped?

 

[RedHerring2]

I have to admit RedHerring I have read and reread the post you have quoted from Whitespirit and can't for the life of me find anything offensive in there.

Fair comment enyam. You have your own opinion.
I saw it as an opportunity, by whitesnake, to have an unwarranted dig at the Chinese, using fallacious arguments to reinforce his point of view.

 

[RedHerring2]

It depends what he was doing. Do you call the police when you see litter being dropped?

If you have a zero tolerance policy, then yes, after the debating, that you suggested, has not corrected the problem.
I have a zero tolerance policy towards most prejudices, especially racism.
When those prejudices are manifest in overtly abusive posts, IMO, it's time to report it.

 

[joe-90]

OMG. You think the Chinese can't look after themselves.

 

[joe-90]

It depends what he was doing. Do you call the police when you see litter being dropped?

If you have a zero tolerance policy, then yes, after the debating, that you suggested, has not corrected the problem.
I have a zero tolerance policy towards most prejudices, especially racism.
When those prejudices are manifest in overtly abusive posts, IMO, it's time to report it.

Do you feel the same about sexism and ageism? If not - then why not?