Sunday, April 17, 2005

Running Dog's Take

Running Dog is back and is providing invaluable commentary on the anti-Japanese protests currently sweeping China. Go here and here. You many not agree with the Dog's take - I'm not sure I do, completely - but what he/she has to say is more than worthwhile...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lisa,

Running dog is just a plain hater in my view. I am offended by his biased take on everything (the whole Diaoyutao, Japan and China issues). The guy has spent so much energy and time staying in China badmouthing anything Chinese... He should have run to Tokyo already. Even if he trys to speak as an activist on issues, its hard to take it as he's completely lost his credibility. Running dog is just a running dog.

Other Lisa said...

Dear JR,

I am going to guess that Running Dog's commentaries would be similar regardless of where he was - in other words, if he was living in Tokyo, he'd be criticising Japan. If he were in London, he'd be trashing the Brits. His perspective is generally cynical, from what I've seen, and certainly more extreme than my own. I'm more optimistic than he is and think that some good may come of these protests (check out a comment from Joseph Wang that's posted at Peking Duck - I think it's really right on). But anyway, I don't think Running Dog is a hater, from what I've read. The way he writes is very much in the tradition of snarky British sarcasm. And that really comes from a profound disappointment in the way we humans manage to mess things up and hurt each other...

Anonymous said...

Lisa,

He is British??? He sounds like a racist colonist who treats Chinese like the white mans burden.

Being sarcastic or being racist, he wrote shamelessly,"does being Chinese mean never having to say you're sorry?" Isn't that just a pure sensational and provoking statement from a pompous prick supremacist to declare his hate for Chinese people. I have no tolerance for racists and haters.

Other Lisa said...

Dear JR,

Yes, that is over the top. But I'd bet you good money he'd sound that way regardless of who he is writing about. I'm assuming he's British (not sure why), and there is a tradition in British humor/commentary that is really scathing. I get a round-up of UK papers and the commentary there is really rough and tumble at times.

Listen, I'm more of a "play nice" kind of person myself. I believe in courteous debate that allows room for disagreement. So I can understand why you might find his comments offensive. It's not my style of argumentation either, and I don't agree with everything he has to say. But I thought it was a valuable enough perspective to post.

Anonymous said...

Lisa,

Let me apologize if I sounded too angry, but it was not directed at you but at running dog's offensive uses of words. I didn't bother to read in detail what he had to say after those sensational titles.

Other Lisa said...

JR, no need to apologize. Like I said, I am not a provocateur and don't want to needlessly offend either!

Anonymous said...

I think JR takes our nonsense far too seriously. We just don't like mobs - that's all.

Other Lisa said...

Dear Running Dog,

Thanks for writing. As I've said elsewhere on this blog, I appreciate your snark - I paired you with James Wolcott, actually, someone you'd appreciate if you haven't checked him out.

I am still chuckling over your sex toys post, something I meant to link to and didn't quite manage.