again from EastSouthWestNorth: translated story by an assistant professor on the values gap between older and younger generations–in relation to the ‘cultural heritage vs. business development’ debate and that silly sex survey in the student newspaper at Chinese University (which the Obscene Articles Tribunal ruled as “indecent” a couple of weeks ago).
The sinners are still casting the stones, while those with flaws are picking on other people’s flaws. The moral judgment by the media, the judgments by the Obscene Articles Tribune and the disciplinary hearing at the Chinese University of Hong Kong are no different from the bulldozers at Star Ferry. When a bunch of 50- and 60-year-old rulers could not win by rational argument, they invoke the power of the system. This is like when a child asks a question that a parent felt should not be asked, the parents slaps the child and says: “You are not allowed to ask!”
I hope the writer is right about the younger generation identifying with post-materialism… in my governance and law class (the only wholly undergrad law class I took here) I was once in a group discussion on the protection of cultural heritage sites in HK–and despite the fact we were supposed to be taking the side of the preservationists, the students were still really concerned about trumping business interests (to the point of suggesting that our ‘heritage committee’ include representatives from property developers??). bizarre. but I guess law students tend to me more conservative in general. at least I hope that explains it. (then again, this is the same class in which I nearly threw a tantrum when a guy said there was no human rights problem in HK.)
hmmm, and I’m not sure anyone’s hit the ‘post’ part in post-materialism: shopping is still hands-down the favourite pastime here, spanning across all the generations.