#1: Controversy

I’m not all that comfortable blathering on about myself, but this seems to be standard operating procedure for this kind of thing (a blog). This week’s entry will be a little background about what I will not be talking about.

Those who know me also know that there are few things I’m unwilling to discuss, criticize, dismiss, argue about, make fun of, etc.. I was always told not to talk about religion and politics: where’s the fun in that? I have lots of views about lots of things, although I’m the first to admit that many of them are half-baked. A few of them, I like to think, are fully-baked.

At the same time, I’m going to a country where there are certain things better not discussed in a public forum. If you’re here to see my views on, say, the three Ts and an X, well, I won’t be doing that here. (If you don’t know that reference, then you probably aren’t here for that anyway.) However, I’m happy to discuss all these things and more in person. So if you happen to be in Suzhou, pop by for lunch and, well, controversy. I’ll buy

Does this approach make me happy? Of course not. Do I feel cowardly avoiding such important issues here? Certainly. But in most senses of the term—probably not Plato’s—I am a realist.  

There will be many other things to discuss here, of course: Suzhou, the PRC, wherever in the PRC I happen to get to, philosophy, reading, baseball, teaching, the gym, language, and, especially, the people I meet (Chinese and otherwise). And I won’t avoid commenting on American politics; there’s only so much one can ask, after all.

One last point for my readers in China: I do not know if one needs a VPN to reach this site; I do know you will to view some of its content. 对不起.