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Basketball As China Metaphor: The Expanded Edition.

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

Will Lewis over at Experience Not Logic has an interesting post up riffing on my post wondering why China cannot produce an elite point guard, nicely weaving in the David Brooks/James Fallows/John Pomfret discussion on individualism versus collectivism. (I always love it when someone elevates one of my posts to a higher intellectual plane, figuring at least something good has to rub off on me because of it.) Will quotes this from Pomfret, questioning why Brooks viewed China's putting a 9-year old hero in the Olympics' opening ceremony as a sign of totalitarian:

What am I missing here? How is a sense of responsibility, instilled in any leader, no matter how small, in any society (ever hear of a class president?), taken as a sign of totalitarian brainwashing or a propaganda campaign? Don't we hear this kind of sentiment in the voices of Americans who go down into mines or back into fires to save their comrades? "I'm the fire chief, I couldn't leave my men behind." And so what if it's a 9-year-old? Bully for him. If anything, China's system discourages the type of initiative evidenced by pint-sized hero. Maybe that's the reason he was marching next to Yao.

I do think Brooks does has it wrong and I think he is being too cynical to boot. From the song, "Nothing Man," we see how heroes typically denigrate the "specialness" of what they have done:

You can call me Joe Buy me a drink and shake my hand You want courage I'll show you courage you can understand

And from the song, "Into the Fire," about the firefighters who went into the Twin Towers after 9/11, we learn about how "duty" plays a role in heroics in the U.S. as well:

It was dark, too dark to see You held me in the light you gave You lay your hand on me Then walked into the darkness of your smoky grave Up the stairs, into the fire Up the stairs, into the fire I need your kiss, but love and duty called you someplace higher Somewhere up the stairs, into the fire

Like every country, China has kids who go back into schools to save classmates and teachers who run away.

Full post as published by China Law Blog on August 16, 2008 (boomark / email).