No, That Would Be Mao
"JIANMIN VILLAGE, China — Last year, Chinese officials celebrated the completion of the Three Gorges Dam by releasing a list of 10 world records. As in: The Three Gorges is the world’s biggest dam, biggest power plant and biggest consumer of dirt, stone, concrete and steel. Ever. Even the project’s official tally of 1.13 million displaced people made the list as record No. 10. Today, the Communist Party is hoping the dam does not become China’s biggest folly." [NYT 11-18)
"Biggest folly"? Like, persecuting anyone who wore eyeglasses or taught school or played the violin in the 1960s, because they were, you know, "intellectuals"?
"In recent weeks, Chinese officials have admitted that the dam was spawning environmental problems like water pollution and landslides that could become severe. Equally startling, officials want to begin a new relocation program that would be bigger than the first."
But smaller than the "relocation program" formerly known as the "Cultural Revolution," right?
"The rising controversy makes it easy to overlook what could have been listed as world record No. 11: The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s biggest man-made producer of electricity from renewable energy. Hydropower, in fact, is the centerpiece of one of China’s most praised green initiatives, a plan to rapidly expand renewable energy by 2020."
You gotta love those green initiatives. In fact, you gotta praise 'em. They make up for a thousand slave labor camps , don't they?
"The Three Gorges Dam, then, lies at the uncomfortable center of China’s energy conundrum: The nation’s roaring economy is addicted to dirty, coal-fired power plants that pollute the air and belch greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming."
OMG!! You mean it's NOT the United States that's causing global warming? Hey- does this mean those Kyoto folks had their head up their heinies when they excluded China from restrictions- you know, the ones we would have had to follow? Nah, that can't be right. The Kyoto accords were a good thing, do you hear? Good, good, GOOD THING!
"Dams are much cleaner producers of electricity, but they have displaced millions of people in China and carved a stark environmental legacy on the landscape."
Hey, it's not so bad, is it? I mean, it's not like Mao's come back to life and ordered the destruciton of the landscape himself again, right? This time it was the environmentalists! And they're the good guys! So this wave of destruction is A-OK in their book!
Right?
"Biggest folly"? Like, persecuting anyone who wore eyeglasses or taught school or played the violin in the 1960s, because they were, you know, "intellectuals"?
"In recent weeks, Chinese officials have admitted that the dam was spawning environmental problems like water pollution and landslides that could become severe. Equally startling, officials want to begin a new relocation program that would be bigger than the first."
But smaller than the "relocation program" formerly known as the "Cultural Revolution," right?
"The rising controversy makes it easy to overlook what could have been listed as world record No. 11: The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s biggest man-made producer of electricity from renewable energy. Hydropower, in fact, is the centerpiece of one of China’s most praised green initiatives, a plan to rapidly expand renewable energy by 2020."
You gotta love those green initiatives. In fact, you gotta praise 'em. They make up for a thousand slave labor camps , don't they?
"The Three Gorges Dam, then, lies at the uncomfortable center of China’s energy conundrum: The nation’s roaring economy is addicted to dirty, coal-fired power plants that pollute the air and belch greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming."
OMG!! You mean it's NOT the United States that's causing global warming? Hey- does this mean those Kyoto folks had their head up their heinies when they excluded China from restrictions- you know, the ones we would have had to follow? Nah, that can't be right. The Kyoto accords were a good thing, do you hear? Good, good, GOOD THING!
"Dams are much cleaner producers of electricity, but they have displaced millions of people in China and carved a stark environmental legacy on the landscape."
Hey, it's not so bad, is it? I mean, it's not like Mao's come back to life and ordered the destruciton of the landscape himself again, right? This time it was the environmentalists! And they're the good guys! So this wave of destruction is A-OK in their book!
Right?
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