First there were the terrorist attacks in Paris. And then there was the global reaction to the attacks, with its spate of frenzied free-speech cartooning. And then there was the counter-reaction to the initial reaction, which played out mostly on Facebook. And then the China Daily decided to wade into the fray, vaguely blaming Charlie Hebdo for “[persisting] in its way of doing things" and alienating most thinking people with its somewhat baffling display of not-quite-sympathic-but-not-exactly-condemnatory rhetorical showboating.

So what does all of this have to do with China, and how are the terrorist attacks getting read by the Chinese government? Joining our two hosts to talk about this story is none other than Ada Shen, renowned social-media wunderkind, and longtime friend of both Jeremy and Kaiser. Ada joins us for an interesting discussion that meanders us from Algeria and King Lear to ancient Chinese horses and their sometimes-controversial burial customs. So please grab a seat!
 said on
January 18, 2015
Note: published a bit late because of Internet issues, but here is Sinica, and here is the standalone mp3 file as always:

http://popupchinese.com/data/1434/sinica-china-and-charlie.mp3
 said on
January 19, 2015
I love Jeremy for his rant :)
 said on
January 19, 2015
is there any way to share Sinica Podcasts on wechat without linking url? Would like to share this.
 said on
January 21, 2015
Oh my God (Sorry: Oh my...laicity)! This was so good, thank you so much!

I have not heard a discussion with such a set of opinions I could relate to that much. And I have never listened to French media so much as this past couple of weeks, since I am in China.

What does that show about any kind of relation between quality of speech and freedom of speech?

Or have I turned f***ing chlobish, by now (or globich for the snobs)?
 said on
January 23, 2015
It's a podcast. I don't recall reading any disclaimers regarding fair and unbiased reporting. If yo.u want an echo chamber try Fox News
 said on
January 25, 2015
Ibn Warraq:

The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the most important question of our times: freedom of expression. Are we in the west going to cave into pressure from societies with a medieval mindset, or are we going to defend our most precious freedom -- freedom of expression, a freedom for which thousands of people sacrificed their lives? A democracy cannot survive long without freedom of expression, the freedom to argue, to dissent, even to insult and offend...Unless, we show some solidarity, unashamed, noisy, public solidarity with the Danish cartoonists, then the forces that are trying to impose on the Free West a totalitarian ideology will have won; the Islamization of Europe will have begun in earnest.

(This was written about the earlier Danish cartoons)
 said on
January 29, 2015
Answer: No, you didn't get that right. That's not what is meant by echo chamber: One can't echo one's own opinions. But congratulations on uncovering liberal bias in the offhand jest, "...even though he's a Republican." I would have sworn that they were strongly recommending reading the man's work. That's how they getcha!

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/tu-quoque

 said on
February 11, 2015
Bit of a pity the comment thread is getting hijacked by US political polemics. Thought the podcast was excellent, especially the last 15-20 minutes (post-rant - great rant though) when it turned a bit to what it means to be a democracy, and the difference between the US and French (European broadly?) models of democracy. Wish you guys could have dug into this a bit more - the idea that democracy is more than acting within the bounds of not hurting/offending others (US model) but going beyond this, to allowing others' points of view, even if offensive, and not being offended by these (Jeremy suggesting this is the French model?) is quite interesting.
Mark Lesson Studied