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Gaia Hates Your Baby
China is trying to craft a softer, gentler image for its population control policies. The current Family Planning Commission slogans strike authorities as a little too...direct.
Slogans such as "Raise fewer babies but more piggies", and "Houses toppled, cows confiscated, if abortion demand rejected" as well as "One more baby means one more tomb" have been declared crude and counter-productive in the efforts to quell the number of births in the world's most populous nation.
The messages are painted on walls and houses all over China, but the government body charged with implementing the one-child policy, the National Population and Family Planning Commission, believes the slogans are coarse, poorly worded and can damage the government's image.
"If such low-quality slogans, which may cause public complaint and resentment, are not corrected ... the country's family planning efforts in the new era will be hindered," said a report from the commission. Family-planning experts have come up with 190 less alarming slogans, such as "Mother Earth is too tired to sustain more children".
Whole thing here.
|8.6.07 @ 4:49PM|#
I, for one, applaud their directness. If only we could get that
kind of honesty stateside.
BTW, did anyone read the last paragraph? Would this put Tibetan
women at a premium?
|8.6.07 @ 4:50PM|#
They should outsource. Overseas Chinese could surely craft
better slogans at very attractive rates.
On a different topic, what exactly is the rate of correlation
between laziness and unproductive snark?
|8.6.07 @ 5:04PM|#
How about, "Maximize your disposable income, stop
breeding."?
Oh wait, they don't have incomes, they're communists.
|8.6.07 @ 5:10PM|#
Not much differant from many enviomentalist.Many think plagues and famine are needed to keep humans in check.Margrate Sanger,planned Parenthood's patron saint thought abotion nesassary it control of the'dirty brown people'.
|8.6.07 @ 5:16PM|#
I'm sure they are counting on communism working once they reach the correct balance of people to resources, like one person to unlimited resources.
|8.6.07 @ 5:21PM|#
I thought they were trying to outbreed the Tibetans to ensure a Chinese majority in that area, so as to win plebiscites.
|8.6.07 @ 5:37PM|#
"Mother Earth is too tired to sustain more
children".
How is this not direct?
Oh yeah I forgot the left now loves bugs and twigs more then they
do Human beings...never mind.
Doctor Duck|8.6.07 @ 5:37PM|#
One more baby means one more tomb
Yes! Going on my bumper. Or maybe "comb". Yeah, I like that
better.
|8.6.07 @ 5:51PM|#
So, a relatively free economy makes the government work harder to convince people to do things...could it be that voluntarism actually generates better results?
wayaway|8.6.07 @ 6:02PM|#
Gaia Hates Your Baby
If anyone can tell me where I can buy the T-Shirt, it would be much
appreciated.
|8.6.07 @ 6:10PM|#
just have the dingo eat their babies.
Maybe the Australians can relocate some dingos there after they get
done with all their kangaroos....
|8.6.07 @ 6:12PM|#
Kenobi,
Along those lines, my entry into the slogan contest...
"So you don't forget you live in a totalitarian state"
|8.6.07 @ 6:37PM|#
Is it a hopeful sign that a communist dictatorship that's killed tens of millions of people is now worried about its public image?
|8.6.07 @ 6:37PM|#
It's easy to scoff - but harder to disprove the contention that the one-child policy has been good for those Chinese that have been born...
|8.6.07 @ 6:55PM|#
Timothy, you owe me a keyboard.
DavidS, I hope you're kidding because if you're not kidding, you
make me sick... and I don't want to be sick because I'm still
laughing at Timothy's comment and I can't puke and laugh at the
same time. I could choke, you see. Besides, now I have to ask how
many children you have and if you belong to the NPG or ZPG. You know, just to see if you have
the courage of your convictions.
|8.6.07 @ 6:59PM|#
It's easy to scoff - but harder to disprove the contention
that the one-child policy has been good for those Chinese that have
been born...
That may or may not be true. But it is even harder to disprove the
contention that the one-child policy has decreased the total
utility of the Chinese people.
The unconceived are the least spoken-for interest group on the
planet...
Paul|8.6.07 @ 7:27PM|#
It's easy to scoff - but harder to disprove the contention
that the one-child policy has been good for those Chinese that have
been born...
One-child policy will end within the decade. I still hold
to my prediction.
Goldwater Conservative|8.6.07 @ 8:24PM|#
How about we nuke the shit out of them and reduce their population?
|8.6.07 @ 8:34PM|#
One more baby means one more tomb
Yeah, I definitely need this on a T-shirt.
(Maybe it sounds more, uh, diplomatic in Chinese?)
|8.6.07 @ 8:35PM|#
How about we nuke the shit out of them and reduce their
population?
I take it back. I definitely want this on my T-shirt instead.
Context not needed.
|8.6.07 @ 8:37PM|#
How about this slogan: "We suck compared to free countries. Don't inflict our dictatorship upon extra children."
wayaway|8.6.07 @ 10:43PM|#
Yep, RC, I'll have both of those too. Entrepreneurs, please get to work...
|8.6.07 @ 11:06PM|#
wayaway & RC
I'm looking into it but unless more people express interest (so I
can utilize bulk production efficiency), I might have to charge
like $85 per shirt. Also how do you want to do this, because I
don't have Paypal or anything?
|8.7.07 @ 12:35AM|#
I have a modest proposal that the chinese communist party might find interesting.
|8.7.07 @ 2:55AM|#
BG,
Not a problem! I'll send you all the money you need. Just give me
your SS# and/or credit card (w/ PIN) at:
greatshirts@notascam.com
|8.7.07 @ 5:15AM|#
"The messages are painted on walls and houses all over
China ..."
LOL all over China? Yes these silly things do exist. I won't deny
it. But it takes place only in some of the remoter areas, and even
we Chinese view such extreme slogans as a joke. So because a few
dumbheaded local administrators prefer harrassment, it should be
viewed as a nationwide frenzy huh?
It is always easier for one to exaggerate (or even demonize) when
his or her channels are limited. So I don't blame a couple of naive
posters with their laughable comments above, since all you can get
is second-handed information, which is inevitably edited to suit
the need of your media. No offence but if some of you could read
Chinese, as my fellows and I can with English, your horizon would
have been different.
More than once we can't help giggling behind the screen on how
inaccurately some people know about us, and yet how complacent they
feel about their knowledge. Nah, I'm afraid China (and in this
case, one-child policy) is a little bit more complicated than you
would like to see.
|8.7.07 @ 6:41AM|#
...So complicated, in fact, that it cannot be justified, nor
even succinctly explained, without a working knowledge of
Mandarin.
Thank you, voice of socialism, for this lesson in humility.
|8.7.07 @ 6:57AM|#
They should think of their children as a resource.
Soylent Chinese green is people!!!... tasty, nutricious, Chinese
people. Yum Yum. If you love people, you'll love new Soylent
Chinese green!
Chris S.|8.7.07 @ 9:00AM|#
SSDLH,
It's natural for Chinese to assume that "all [we] can get is
second-handed information, which is inevitably edited to suit the
need of [our] media." After all, this is how it is in China, and
Chinese citizens find it difficult to understand how
(comparatively) little control our government exercises over us. My
suspicion is that you can "read" English, but you don't truly
understand what you're reading or our motivations.
Here's something for your reading pleasure: The Bush administration
is one of the worst administrations in modern history; Congress has
done nothing to help America; my local government is totally inept.
Let's see how long it takes for this message to be "edited" by the
powers that be. Now try that in China.
|8.7.07 @ 10:46AM|#
Not much differant from many enviomentalist.Many think
plagues and famine are needed to keep humans in check.
Bastards, they all belong in camps!
Drawing horns on people is so much easier than thought, eh?
|8.7.07 @ 3:25PM|#
[sarcasm]RC, sure no problem, the email is on the way. And with the money I make from this, maybe I can finally buy the bridge that guy was telling me about.[/sarcasm]
|8.8.07 @ 1:26PM|#
...So complicated, in fact, that it cannot be justified, nor
even succinctly explained, without a working knowledge of
Mandarin.
Thank you, voice of socialism, for this lesson in
humility.
Sorry but I do find it difficult to appreciate your sarcasm. (Or is
it not? Am I supposed to feel more uncomfortable this way?
...)
Unless you are trying to distort my words on purpose, I apologize
for not having expressed myself clearly. I didn't mean a command of
Chinese per se gets you any answer. I mean a bilingual, and if
possible, multilingual capacity helps. The thing is, when our media
filters out certain information, we can still get it via
international channels. But when your media presents you with
altered facts, some of you tend to buy the extant version of it. In
this case, many posters are obviously appalled by the article's
depiction, which is not 100% truth. -- After all, with a
better-executed freedom of press you have been boasting of, it
doesn't change the fact that your media is as prone to stereotyping
as any one else in the world. Honestly, were I not who I am, and
had I not known how much an overstatement it is, I would be shocked
by it as well.
In their post-WW2 population policy, our government failed to take
the limited resources into consideration at first, so years later,
they were forced to make up for its consequences. One-child policy
is only an expedient, and it does incur various problems -- that's
another big topic -- but not as what some posters interpret in an
out-of-context, presumptuous manner. In fact, I myself was born
under this policy, and I don't have much to complain about.
The bolded part is where you to lose a point. My people are often
accused of being politically-oriented in each and every aspect of
life, when now it's you who automatically equalize my opnion with
an ideology. Yet I stand on behalf of myself. I'm telling you what
I know about the issue (i.e. crude slogans painted "all over the
China" is an exaggeration). It's just I happen to come from the
place that is being discussed. Voice of socialism? Nah, it is the
voice of an individual that differs from yours. Your summary of my
image raises me too high, really, for my love for my country
doesn't grant me the duty to defend her present government. All I
attempted to do was offering some different angles that you're not
likely to approach otherwise. And it is beyond business, but out of
pure personal interest. What do you think I can get from the
communist party by stacking up lengthy posts on a foreign website?
A pamphlet of Mao's thoughts?
I hate rambling but it seemed nothing could be covered in a few
words. Anyway, thanks for all the philanthropic sympathy
above.
Cheers.
|8.8.07 @ 1:51PM|#
Is it MSG-free, though?
Haha, people never cease to make me laugh.
Which MSG are you referring to though? The condiment that is
dispensable, or the TV channel that can be received by Sopcast,
which IS free (in another sense) here? By the way I love Marv
Albert on YES when he commentates the New Jersey Nets games, but
apparently they are not popular on either side of the Pacific
Ocean.
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