China

            China? Can you read me, China? Is my blog being blocked by government censors? I'm curious because here in America we buy a lot of stuff that's been manufactured in China. I just wanted to extend my greetings to you and let you know that your hard work is not going unnoticed. In fact, it's almost the only thing we notice because pretty much everything in every retail store was made in China. When I've visited big warehouse stores like Wal-Mart I've never seen a product that was made outside of China. In a way, you should be proud. Your work is valued by corporations selling goods in the U.S. That's something.

See, I don't know what you know and what you don't know. The United States has long had trade agreements with China and here in the U.S. we can read all about what happens in your country, whether in newspapers, magazines, books, or on the Web. One of the things I've read, though, is that the Chinese government restricts what its citizens--you (hopefully)--can access online. In other words, it's not clear to me whether you can access my site or not. I'd like to think you could if you wanted to do so. I mean, you might not want to read what I've written. You might think it's all a load of crap. Of course, you have a right to your opinion ... well, you would if you lived in the United States. I'm not sure if you have a right to your opinion in China or not. I'd certainly like to know, though.

Do you know why I want to know? Because I don't really feel good about buying products from China not knowing whether or not you have basic rights like freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the right to a fair trial, privacy rights, labor rights protecting you from workplace abuse, and so on. On the other hand, I don't really have much choice when it comes to buying products since about 90 percent of all goods sold in the U.S. seem to come from China.

I don't know what you've heard about the U.S. but some people here like to say one of the great things about America is the choices we have. But, truthfully, when it comes to making purchases ... well, there aren't a lot of choices in terms of where goods are made. Sure, there are probably hundreds of brands of televisions sold by dozens of corporations, but I'm not sure any of those televisions are made outside of China. There are some things made outside of China, especially luxury goods and organic products. But only about 10 to 20 percent of Americans can regularly afford those things. Those folks can buy $10.00 bottles of environmentally friendly dishwashing soap while the rest of us can only afford the stuff that pollutes streams, rivers, wetlands, and lakes. I guess I could just take a chance, water-wash my dishes, and hope I don't get a bacterial infection or anything. But that's a hell of a risk because insurance in the U.S. doesn't cover much in the way of medical problems. A truth in advertising ad might read like this: "We will accept payment for premiums in exchange for consideration of claims we will eventually reject."

I'm starting to realize we have it as bad as you do in China--according to what I read about China. Heck, our media outlets might be feeding out more propaganda than yours. It's hard to say. I know I can go online and read websites from foreign countries, though, and there are no restrictions so according to what I've read we have better rights in that sense. I've also heard that Chinese labor rights and environmental regulations are much worse than those in the U.S. Not that we have decent labor protections or environmental oversight. Europe is kicking our ass on those fronts. They also are killing us in education. But then again, so is China. I don't know what's going on with education in the U.S. For one, we still practice the same factory-style model championed by Horace Mann and John Dewey. It's outdated but it's hard to change gigantic bureaucratic structures in the U.S. Is that the case in China? I'm curious about how you fund your schools. In the U.S. property taxes are used to fund schools. So if an American goes to school in an area with high property tax revenues then there are ample funds for teacher pay, extracurricular activities, special projects, and resources to implement more cutting edge educational approaches proven by research to be much more effective than the factory-style model. It's ironic that we use the factory style model since corporations have outsourced all of our manufacturing to China. Never let it be said that irony doesn't exist in the U.S. Americans may be becoming too under-educated to recognize ironies, though ... or maybe even to know what the word means.

Allow me to return to the workplace, though. As bad as trends are here in the U.S. when it comes to workplace stability, income, benefits, protections against abuse, and job satisfaction, productivity has increased. We're more productive laborers than we used to be even though workers have less to show, personally, for their work. But from what I've read, the lot of Chinese workers is much worse than ours and yet you also are highly productive. Apparently, there is little correlation between workplace conditions and benefits and the efficiency of productivity. No wonder corporations are able to cut labor costs so much ... it simply doesn't matter in a business sense. In that sense, Americans and Chinese workers have a lot in common: The personal lives of workers are of little consequence compared to the importance of economics. As long as transactions are ever-increasing then it doesn't really matter what quality of life any human being has. I don't know about you in China, but we in America have been deluded by myths and stories that individuals matter. It's just not true; the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that productivity and profit are infinitely more important.

We're not really free in the U.S. The words "freedom" and "liberty" go hand-in-hand with American rhetoric, but it's bullshit. We have some freedoms China doesn't, but I'm guessing Chinese peoples have some freedoms we don't. I'd like to know what they are and I'd like to hear from a "working class" Chinese person about the freedoms that exist in China. I don't want a state-sanctioned description of freedoms. I want the "man on the ground."

Can Chinese men and women legally pay for sex? The only place in the U.S. where prostitution is legal is in Nevada as far as I know. I know Americans can't legally purchase cocaine or opium for personal use. We can't squat in an abandoned house even though there'd be no harm to anyone. I can't walk down the street naked without getting arrested. Legally, I can't have a poker night at my house where cash is used in betting (pretty easy to get away with that one, but the point remains). Uncle Sam wants a piece of the pie if there are any transactions being made and if they can't taste the exchange and take their cut then they make those activities illegal.

Is it like that in China? I'd like to know. Hell, I might want to move there if it's legal to walk around naked. I wouldn't mind picking up a few bucks selling my body for sex, either. Is there high sexual demand for Caucasian American males? I know there used to be opium dens in China but I believe that was before Mao and the Communist Party. If it's legal to smoke opium out of a hooka, well, yeah, I'd give it a whirl. Ideally, I'd like to be naked smoking opium while getting paid to pleasure a woman. Call me old-fashioned but that's always been a goal of mine. Is that something I could expect to experience in China? Would it be legal there? I know I couldn't do it legally in the U.S. and, unfortunately, it seems unlikely to happen for me at all here in the U.S. I don't know how it is in China but it's so easy for a woman to get laid in the United States that the idea of paying a man for sex is absurd. Sure, maybe a famous actor or professional athlete. But otherwise women can just go to the nearest bar and bat their eyes at a guy who's had a couple drinks and he'd likely be ready to hop into the backseat of a car ... or stand against the side of a dumpster.

Women in the U.S. say they like having sex as much as a man but the fact that so many of them are particular about the, uh, particulars tells me that it's a bunch of bullshit. I can guarantee you that only a woman strung out on crack will be willing to have sex in places more disgusting than I will. Not one of the women I know as friends or family would fuck in the places I would at the times of day I would with as much abandon as I would. I am attracted to about 80 percent of women. That's a rough estimate and when I say I am attracted to 80 percent of women I mean I would fuck 80 percent of all women. At least 80 percent of women are fuckable in my eyes. I may want to fuck some of those 80 percent more than others, but that doesn't mean I don't want to fuck those others! If I had more dicks then I'd use 'em, trust me.

Women, though? I seriously doubt many women would be willing to fuck 80 percent of the guys they see each and every day. It's not a matter of being pickier, either. At least I don't think so. What's sad is that American women think they need to be a size zero or size two to be sexy and beautiful. No! Get that fucking shit out of your heads right now! Please, I'll fuck a size fourteen in heartbeat. Ridiculous Hollywood, supermodel bullshit giving perfectly hot women hangups about their bodies which makes them NOT WANT TO HAVE SEX! Do you realize that? Those women's magazines and Playboy porn have actually ruined any possibility of a true sexual revolution by convincing 90 percent of women that they are unattractive and unfuckable. Goddamnit, I will caress your fucking love handles while I eat your pussy! Am I getting through to you at all? I hope so because I'd like to have access to women who are attractive but don't think they are.

*Sigh* Now where was I? Oh, yeah, China and getting paid for sex. Yeah, I don't think my naked opium smoking sex-for-pay gig is going to work out here in the U.S. I'm open to it, I'd like it to happen, but nothing's developed so far. Being naked, smoking opium, and having sex is doable; it's the getting paid for sex part that just ain't happening. Which is why I really need to know what's going on in China. I'll buy as many damn Chinese products as I can afford if I find out my dream is possible there. Hell, which would you rather do? Work sixteen hour days six days a week on an assembly line attaching plastic legs to Barbie dolls in a 100-degree sweatshop while a foreman smacks your hamstrings with a cane 40 times a day or lie naked in an opium den smoking from a hooka while fucking for money? To each their own, but I've made my choice clear. The only thing left to do is find out if China is censoring my blog. My Chinese brothers and sisters, if you're freely roaming the World Wide Web, let me know what's happening, huh? Thanks.