Thursday, June 28, 2018
Random Thoughts Maxim True Blood and China
Random Thoughts Maxim True Blood and China
Maxim Koreas �Glorification� of Rape
After Maxim Koreas infamous magazine cover that had everyone clucking their tongues, Maxim Korea has finally apologized. Never mind the fact that the article was saying �Ladies, please dont go for the bad boys, because this is what real bad boys are like.�
Did the article confuse �bad boys� for criminals? Yes. Was it silly? Quite. Was there an element of victim blaming? Perhaps. But was it a glorification of rape or violence against women? No!
Maxim Korea has apologized and I would have told them to apologize, too, if I had been their PR representative. From a business and PR perspective, it is better to apologize, cut ones losses, and move on. But as a matter of principle, this was a case of a magazine bowing to pressure from people who most likely did not or could not read the article and who reacted only to the pictures.
From now on, the only pictures that anyone should ever post are pictures of kittens and puppies. I bet that even Mein Kampf would be considered to be all right if it just had more cute pictures! And why not? No one seems to be able to read a thing when they are distracted by pictures because �pictures speak a thousand words.�
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True Blood and Black Markets
I realize that Im late to the game, but I only just finished watching the first season of True Blood. I thought that the whole �out of the coffin� aspect of the plot was interesting. However, what was even more interesting was the fact that vampires were purchasing bottled synthetic blood.
But economically, the story doesnt make much sense. Why does this company have a monopoly on synthetic blood? In the show, there does not seem to be any other business that offers an alternative brand of synthetic blood. Youd think that more businesses would want to get in on that action.
Also, the vampires themselves claim that the synthetic blood does not taste as good as the real thing. So why isnt there a black market where humans sell their blood to vampires? That way, the vampires would still be able to enjoy blood that tastes good and they would not have to resort to violence � the latter, which is the primary cause for their overall bad reputation among humans.
A mutually beneficial economic relationship between humans and vampires via the selling and buying of each others blood (seeing how vampires blood is also a highly sought-after recreational drug) would be far more helpful to create a peaceful relationship between vampires and humans than just about anything else.
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Chinas New Best Friend For Now
The recent military parade that was held in Beijing did not make any historical sense. The Peoples Republic of China was not established until 1949 � four years after Japans surrender. Not even Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek could take credit for that. Japan surrendered to the United States. China had little to do with Japans surrender.
However, even if China had played a major role in Japans surrender, the parade is proof that the Chinese do not understand irony. What could be more ironic than to commemorate the defeat of fascism with ones own goose-stepping parade?
The news media also made a big deal of where President Park Geun-hye was seated as opposed to wherethe North Korean representative was seated.
Yes, its true that China prefers its partnership with South Korea to its alliance with North Korea. However, it would be a mistake for the South Koreans to think that this somehow marks a significant shift in Northeast Asian geopolitics. Henry Kissinger once said �America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.�
This does not only apply to the United States.
This does not only apply to the United States.
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