Hong Kong is in shock after a self-immolation/arson attack on a crowded MTR train put a dozen people in hospital on Friday. (Chief Executive candidate Carrie Lam’s response to the news: “What’s an MTR train?”) Authorities assure the public that the incident was not terrorism; the signs are that it is another case of a mentally ill person going over the edge.
Genius press-relations officials swiftly put out a whiny defensive statement insisting that the government takes mental health really, really seriously. In other words, of course, it does not – it has under-funded such services for years, despite widespread criticism.
No prizes for guessing why. Such expenditure would not benefit the construction industry, the ‘tourism’ sector, or the property cartel – so it doesn’t happen. Why waste money on reducing waiting lists for people suffering depression, when for 100 times that much you can build a cruise terminal no-one will use?
On other matters, the South China Morning Post provides an interesting juxtaposition on the subject of think-tanks. One article says the China’s think-tanks are (in essence) garbage because the institutions are told what to think by the Communist one-party system. Another reports that a Hong Kong think-tank with strong Communist Party ties proposes allowing Mainland women to give birth again in local hospitals, supposedly to guarantee the city a vital stream of future workers – presumably with ideologically pure DNA.
Another juxtaposition from media-land jumps out at me today: the SCMP has a front-page ad for a Lalique glass sculpture by architect Zaha Hadid, while Marketwatch reports that pop singer Prince’s works will be available on online streaming services…
What do these items have in common (aside from ‘purple’)? First, in both cases, highly respected creative individuals’ works are being debauched by tacky commercialized outlets. Second, both individuals died around 10-11 months ago.
Lastly, a peculiar YouTube channel that could use a bit more traffic. Not sure who Boiling Point are, but at around 9m30s, they engage in an earnest discussion about this very website, believing it to be clumsily pretending to be by a rich expat banker and concluding that it is probably CIA-backed. Of course, that’s what Chief Executive CY Leung pretty much said about the Occupy/Umbrella movement. These guys don’t look like United Front operatives, but maybe that’s what we’re supposed to think…
The guy in the middle is called Ben Garvey. Former (not very good) journalist. I could tell you more but not without blowing my CIA cover.
The boiler Point channel seems to have a lot of fake subscribers considering the extremely low number of views on each video.
All of the videos have only ~500 views, which is less than .5% of the subscribers(111k). Normally you would expect that over 25% of all subscribers watch your videos, 0.5% as this channel is unheard of unless most of them are fake ones.
Did anyone watch the video all the way through? I was sticking pins in my eyes after about 30 seconds.
“…unless most of them are fake ones.”
The POTUS would agree…
Henry
The rich expat banker, backed by the CIA, going under the nom de guerre of Hemlock, presumably watched all the way through, to be able to identify the referene to himself.
I could not actually stand to watch (listen to) the extract of 9min 30 secs.
Seemingly one person in HK, namely said Hemlock, has an even more boring life than me.
I am seeing Pringles posters all over CWB and yesterday he was at the Marathon, taking selfies with runners.
If I’m having trouble sleeping at night then I know what to watch for a couple of minutes. “Boiling Point”? If ever there was an ill-chosen name.
I enjoyed Boiling Point’s development of the CIA conspiracy theory: — “I have assumed that Hemlock is an Expat Banker, but he doesn’t write quite like an expat banker, and I don’t think an expat banker would do what he does so he’s not quite an expat banker so — rather than assume that my original assumption that Hemlock is an expat banker may be false — I have now decided to assume he must be a CIA operative pretending to be an expat banker.”
Confirmation Bias, brilliant illustrated!
Boiling Point says:
“American. CIA. Banker. Some guy who imagines himself living a luxurious life in Mid levels. Never heard of him and neither have any of my foreign friends. Online masturbation.”
Damn! They got it in one!
The tongue-tied gweilo flinging air quotes to the wind whilst repeatedly rapping his knee with a pen like an inmate in a mental hospital was an added bonus.
The three featured in the video are prime examples of why I fear for our collective future…fcuking oxygen thief’s the lot of them!
“Sometimes I wonder if it is a CIA blog…” – LOL.
And besides … how ignorant are these peeps of the reality of the Hong Kong elite.
Company gwailos are at least 2 or 3 social levels above 99% of expat bankers, tend to be much better informed on local affairs, and are far more strategically pirate-like.
As in most expat investment bankers tend to have the investment time horizon of a Guangdong fishmonger, the independent, critical thinking capabilities of lemmings-in-herd, and the personal integrity and empathy levels of violent sociopaths – or CCP ideologues. Per Nassim Taleb’ insightful nomenclature – the IYI class – intellectual yet idiots!
Company gwailos though … enablers and face-men for, and beneficiaries of, the old-school pirate massib that runs this place. Good work if you can get it, say what Reginald old chum?
If Hemlock were only 20% or 30% more cynical, bit more relentlessly piercing, and even more resigned in his tone to the absurd fatuousness of social power relations – then the possibility that he is a relapsed white Russian spy, working with the CIA to hinder the bolshevik Kremlin, and restore the Tsarist Regime through colour revolution … well that would need some serious, deep consideration.
Another annoying Australian!
Hemlock has long revealed himself to be anti-communist and anti-China. He has family in the USA, and visits more-or-less annually for a “debriefing”. He mingles British and American English at random and is a staunch capitalist who espouses the grotesque belief that commerce “creates wealth”. The clues to his CIA liks are all too clear.
@LL – if everyone who has relatives in America, detests China’s brutal dictatorial regime, and espouses capitalism is a CIA agent, then the CIA must be several million strong. I plead guilty to the first two of these three conditions myself. As for mixing British and American English, that is common among long-term expatriates who mix with all sorts.
Next thing they tell us that Dr Adams is a MI6 ‘operative’ (whatever that means). And what about that l’il Nury ? He always wears sunglasses so………..
@LL
Hehe. Prettty much anyone who’s actually tried communism for a year or two isn’t a fan — unless you were trying it as one of the animals who were more equal than the other animals…. as an old Russian joke runs: “Capitalism is the exploitation of one man by another. Communism is the reverse.”
And I reckon if Hemmers was really in the CIA, surely he’d spend most of his time trying to sell us all cheap Afghan skag, to fund his black ops and illegal wars.
@Old Newcomer.
I blame the US dominance in spell checkers. Sometime ago I just gave up correcting the corrections and was far too lazy to find a UK English dictionary.
Australian guy likely has never had any interactions with ex-pat bankers beyond scowling at a few in a Wanchai bar.
He’d never be caught dead in LKF, of course; likely prides himself on hanging out with “locals” somewhere on the Kowloon side.
Needs to learn how to GET TO THE F*CKING POINT. Or work out what his point is before opening his mouth.
Everyone knows Hemlock’s on her majesty’s payroll, anyway.
I love the air quotes, always a sign of deep philosophical thinking.
Personally, I always thought Hemlock more Mossad then CIA.
@Newer ON – you can reset the spell checker to your preferred language – Microsoft even offers Australian English – but how many people bother? Or even know this?
Ben Garvey is at “The Australian Centre on China in the World”. I guess a CCP funded nest of stooges. Or a Chinese version of The Onion and I’ve missed the irony. Staff members include (and I kid you not) Barmy, Dynamic and Strange, which sums up the institution rather nicely:
Geremie R Barmé, Emeritus Professor and Founding Director
Beyongo M. Dynamic, PhD student
Sharon Strange, Research Officer