China: Yellow Peril or Red Menace?

Certain reactionary elements, in their continuing effort to make you believe that "free" markets are the solution to all the world's problems, will tell you that capitalism leads directly to a burgeoning middle class which then wants democracy & cannot be stopped in its desire for freedom, justice, property rights & the rule of law.

Or perhaps not. One Joshua Kurlantzick, in, yes, today's L. A. Times, whips together some anecdotal evidence that the current Gen Y or whatever the fug it is in China today are a bunch of nationalistic a-holes who don't give a fuck about anything but power & are still resenting the Opium Wars.

The explosion of nationalist sentiment, especially among young people, might seem shocking, but it's been simmering for a long time. In fact, Beijing's leadership, for all its problems, may be less hard-line than China's youth, the country's future. If China ever were to become a truly free political system, it might actually become more, not less, aggressive.

Yikes! Though maybe they aren't that different than our own Generation of Sheep stateside:

Academics I know, members of the Tiananmen generation, are shocked by some students' disdain for foreigners and, often, disinterest in liberal concepts such as democratization. University students now tend to prefer business-oriented majors to liberal arts-oriented subjects such as political science. The young Chinese interviewed for a story last fall in Time magazine on the country's "Me Generation" barely discussed democracy or political change in their daily lives.

Everybody wants to be an engineer or a businessperson, & grub as much money as possible. Ick.

Of course, this may all be bullshit to support neo-con lust for yet another "war of national greatness," but w/ a country that can fight back this time, making it a real challenge, not just a cakewalk over some Muslim wimps. (It's very difficult to be as evenhanded & fair minded as we are here, seeing all the possibilities inherent in something. Moral relativism, they call it. Or paranoia.)