To Google and Obama: It's about time.
Sure, the Great Firewall is going to fall like a ton of bricks on everything Google-related (including my email and this blog; thank God for illegal proxies), but for a company whose mission statement is "Don't be evil," this has been a long time coming.
As a NYTimes columnist says:
It has been dispiriting to see America’s banks apparently stand for nothing more lofty than plunder. It has been demoralizing to see President Obama hiding from the Dalai Lama rather than offend China’s rulers.
So all that makes Google’s decision to stand up to Chinese cyberoppression positively breathtaking.
Speaking of Obama and the DL, it seems he's finally getting around to meeting up with His Holiness. Which is nice, if somewhat belated. I recently spent a good half hour at a banquet with some Tibetan students and professors, attempting to explain to an extremely skeptical audience why my global rockstar of a president declines to meet with one of the world's most important spiritual and (let's be honest) political leaders. (I am basically Pres. Obama's unofficial spokesperson in Xining. People ask me questions about his innermost thoughts and motivations as if I have a standing Skype date with the man every night before bed.)
He's very busy, I said. Lots going on. Wars and fiscal crises and all. They were unmoved. Finally I shrugged. China is very powerful, I said. He will. I promise.
So thanks for not making a liar out of me, pres.
No comments:
Post a Comment