我加入了黑手党，请看本党的标志：

漆黑將不再面對／盧冠廷，1990。(曲﹕盧冠廷　詞﹕劉卓輝)

Indeed, people usually have good conscience, but are politically unwise (sometimes I want to say stupid). One of my colleague, who is a Phd canditate on political philosophy asked me why a boycott of Bejing game is not feasible, as I told her that I think it’s a stupid idea. My response is that, even if you have a good heart to help Chinese people by pressing Chinese government to change, you have to take into account of possible consequences; that is, instead of taking a softer position, the government would inevitably tighten its control; and what’s more, the boycott would most probably ignite a widespread nationalism in China. Then what good could you according to your kind-heart-which a pretty much doubt on the government level-anyway? There is an arguement that the protest could send a message to Chinese people that the world is behind them in subverting the Chinese regime. But that’s higly political naive, simply because you actually cannot distinguish absolutely clearly between the government and the people. In other words, you cannot opposing the government without hurting the people. There is always a risk that ordinary people would see the message sent by ‘the world’ as ‘they hate us’, rather than ‘they are with us’. This is even not necessarily that people are basically irrational or -as always protrayed by western media- Chinese people has been brainwashed by their government; the fact is that it is the ordinary people-and unfortunately only them- who are to be really hurt by massive boycott against China, be it in case of WTO or Olymplic. I am not saying there should be no protest. But a massive boycott is anothere thing. I am just saying that before you support this kind of policy, you should think about what would really happen by these policies, just for logic’s sake. The most bizarre thing I see with the western media is actually not their biased reports about China, but its deliberate ignorance of the voice of those thousands of overseas Chinese -mostly students- present at the torch relay to stand for a positive image of the torch and their own country. Actually, as twofish said, they are the future of China. They are going to be at the table of futrual international forum. And if there is anyone who is going to change China’s political regime, it is still them. How could those medias not see that? Sadly, the medias are just interested in collecting the voice of protests to fill in their papers. I think they are pretty disappointed to see that so many Chinese at the spot were not to protest but to support. Here is what a CNN reporter Jack Jeffery said upon the Chiese supporters:”I think our relationship with China has certainly changed, but I think they are basically the same bunch of goons and thugs like they are for the past 50 years.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=584D5fHB2H4) I don’t give a damn to racism, which is far too common in this world. Again as twofish said, it is the ignorance and self-blind that really brings danger. America went to war with Irap not upon racism, bu exactly upon self-deceivingly ignorance.

Here is a topic innitiated by Crooked Timber:

Quote:

"in the past, Olympics politics have involved inter-state rivalry, and have been driven by decisions on the part of traditional political elites. The US boycott of the Soviet games in protest against the invasion of Afghanistan in 1980 resulted from a decision by Jimmy Carter, and the tit-for-tat boycott by the Soviets and their allies of the LA games in 1984 resulted from a top level decision too. The dynamic driving the Beijing Olympics seems to me to be rather different; what we are seeing is that the politics of boycott is being driven by mass-publics, and most recently by protestors, rather than by political leaders. In the absence of the public unrest that has culminated in the recent protests in Paris, I doubt very much that Western political leaders would be muttering about not showing at the opening ceremonies – the geopolitical stakes of market access etc are likely more important to them than the fate of Tibetans. But given the widespread public reaction in the West, even leaders like Gordon Brown, who obviously want very much to attend, are having to insulate themselves from public pressures by taking other actions liable to annoy China (such as meeting with the Dalai Lama). In short, I think we are seeing how public opinion and organized cross-national opposition can create significant constraints on the ability of leaders to respond to what they see as the geostrategic necessity of keeping China happy. This is, as best as I am aware, a new phase in the development of the Olympics."

Here is my post, responding to this topic and some ensuing comments:

"I think there is absolutely no public event today, especially such big one as the Olympic Game, that could be absolutely unpolitical. To deny this is to see human beings as bizzare creature that could suddenly change into another nature, say, purely sport-like. The only question is how to play politics in events like this. I think the IOC’s stance of seperation between olympic and sport could be understood as playing this game politically in a positive way that both respect the sport rules and human rights protection. I don’t think a boycott of the game would result in a better human rights condition in China whatsoever. In contrast, it would inevitably ignite a nationalism in China and prompt Chinese government into taking a tighter position, which would probably cancel the present fairly nice liberal space that has been built since China’s open policy in 1980s. So, in my opinion, this is absolutely the bad politics that could be played with the Game. Some people bring up the example of boycott of Moscow game. Please, I beg you think about the background of that game. It is during the Cold War. Unless you think the Cold War is good politics that could be played by the international community, then please rethink the idea of boycott of such an international game at present time. I am not saying only the Beinjing game, but other events as well, may another ‘politically dirty’ country ‘snatch’ a chance to open to the world either by accident or at the mercy of the western powers. Maybe the only way to play the game politically cleanly is to split it into two games: one to be played only within a bunch of self-righteous democratic countries, another within a gang of evil states. And that’s again a kind of way politics is played, though badly."

放复活节假前信誓旦旦的要在假期第一周完成论文，结果一放假就脑袋转不快了，心有余也脑而不听使唤。耗了一周也没什么让我舒服的结果出现，这个时候出去玩一下再适合不过了。（这样想可能有点工作狂，不过我工作一点也不狂，只是懒惰不愿跑）

和几个朋友一起住到比利时乡下的一个朋友家里，说是village，只是这里的村、镇、市没有那么明显的区别，有的市镇就跟村一样（比如鲁汶还是省府呢，也就几条街人多一点），而所谓的村在我看来只是house集中的地方，大部分住民都在稍微大一点的城里工作。不过我们所去的这个村 好玩在于它在比利时和荷兰的边镜上，邻村就是荷兰，两国人可以混居，说同一种语言，有同样的文化民俗，如果没有一个小小的界标，很难相信这里分成两个国家。我们遛狗都可以遛到荷兰去，然后再回来，不用超过一顿饭的时间，这就是欧洲小国和平相处的好玩之处。看到有个水湾在施工，有片芦苇，还有几只绵羊，闻到它们的粪味，这味道很熟悉，一下子让人感觉这确实是在乡下，跟国内差不多嘛。

我们遛着去了一个荷兰的小城叫Thorn，还是一个旅游小城，其实也是一个村。不过它还有一个好听的名字就 the small white city。城（村）里几乎所有的房子都是漆成白色，周二的上午安静得好像只有我们几个人在街上走，咖啡屋小酒间的桌椅支蓬搬出来的也不多，看得出来这是一个游客并不多的地方，如果不是有朋友在这里，恐怕这辈子也不会想到会来这个地方转转。为什么叫小白城呢？据说原来这个城也不是白色的，而是一个很漂亮的以一个富有的修道院为中心的社区村落，应该也是和平安宁、耕织有序的，后来法国人的军队占领了这个地方，就如鬼子进村，打乱了当地人的生活。修道院关门，村里的人也大多丧失了以前的工作，糟糕的是，法国人还收重税，而且还很懒，只按照户主的窗户大小多少来判定财产额，然后决定大概收多少税。当地人为了逃税，也是为了表示反抗，就把所有的窗子都封住，把房子统统都涂成白色。后来这个白色风格就一直保存了下来，现在当然有了窗，但房子还都是白色的，点缀着黑青色的小街道和一些花花绿绿的酒旗店标，不但不闷，反而别有一番生动。

安静的地方，除了我们自己，没看到有其他游客。但是我还是很喜欢这个地方，温和适当的商业，让人感到舒适，却不会有一点逼迫感。看得出来住民们还是有自己的生活，这个小城可能很大程度上只是一个漂亮的处所，他们觉得可以拿出来给别人看一看，如果来人赞叹几句，也就达到了他们的目的，如果没有人来，也不会有任何关系。欧洲有很多小城跟国内一样也是商业化严重的利害，游玩一不小心就会落入商人的陷阱，变成例行化的走马观花，虽然看起来很有效率，但是意味全无。

如果不是回来是坐那绕来绕去的公交车导致有点晕车外，这次出游就堪称完美了！

半年前吴师兄伉俪走时已经在感慨，以后往何处可以厚脸皮蹭饭而又不觉得不好意思？然后自称神棍的湛和未名上早有耳闻而未曾目见的宝树到来，结果是在三个大男人中最有做饭经验的人成了常东，那就是我。

昨夜午时把湛送上了去德意志的汽车，三人成了两个，再聚饭相也恐怕会有些冷清。

深夜在msn上居然碰上久未联系的一非洲朋友，已然在英伦做交流生，一见面居然交流起恋爱经验来，恍如昨日。

困了，早睡早起，少思考人生。

想想这一年也没做过什么事，却在年关时隐隐有些许感怀在心里挠动，要找个缺口放出来。完成预博的功课和论文后就像病了一场，疲惫不堪，整个第二学期基本都处在休整的状态中。然后是回了一趟家，遇到了一些没有预期能遇到的事，知道了有很多事我确实无能为力，知道有时候我能做的也许有更多。家里和比利时的相隔只有十几小时的飞程，却像隔了一个星球的宇宙空间，早上从梦中醒来，有好几次分不清是在家还是在比。在稀聊的生活中呆得太久，已然习惯了的生活状态只有突然用另一个环境中的经验来对比才会回过身来看清，看清了却又痛苦，好像突然不能接受原来自己本来的生活。好在时间会让人忘记，或起码是假装忘记，好在有小陈、Morgan、宝树一众人等可以时常拿来解闷。

前天不知哪来的心情冒着雨去科隆赶了一场狂欢节的热闹，昨天看了鲁汶中国学生春晚的群魔乱舞，今天要聚众饕餮一顿火锅以庆祝新年，生活还是过得有板有眼的。