Nobel Prizes For Everybody

Kirk Douglas

Each day, without having an inclination toward what I'll write, starting is easy. Click New Post for a blank page. Then NY Times so their top stories appear. Libya Attack Gains Steam as Issue in Race for President. So, since what I previously wrote suffices until my first Wednesday in November criticism of the Presidential Race winner, I move on through as many sources of journalism as necessary. The most difficult part is generally what to write about. A few times I've had to find a different topic, and the latest I've ever made the choice is 7:00 PM, when desperate, the conclusion of ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer, substitute hosted by David Muir, honored Kirk Douglas.

Mo Yan

Then, today, passing over the debate and region won Nobel Prize, I read this New York Times headline New Chinese Nobel Laureate Calls for Fellow Nobel Winner's Freedom. So if  Mo Yan, the new Nobel laureate for literature, who has strenuously avoided antagonizing the Communist Party during much of his career, stepped into a political minefield on Friday by calling for the release of Lu Xiabo, the imprisoned writer and fellow Nobel winner who is serving an 11-year sentence for subversion. How can I turn my back on this tale of a winner supporting the underdog? 

During a news conference the day after he won, not far from his family’s rural Shandong Province home where he set many of his epic novels, Mr. Mo, 57, told reporters, “I hope he can achieve his freedom as soon as possible,” according to The Times, calling his remarks spare and decidedly non-confrontational. 

Perhaps he was covering himself, humbly reminding the authorities to not be so trigger happy toward him. The Times implies he - suggest(ed) he was not an admirer of Mr. Liu’s pro-democracy essays that are likely to infuriate China's leadership, which has been exulting in the Swedish Academy’s decision to give a citizen of China its first Nobel in literature.

Liu Xiaobo's Nobel on empty chair, Oslo, December 10, 2010.

The Times states point blank - Beijing considers Mr. Liu a criminal, and his 2010 Nobel Peace Prize has long been seen as an effort to meddle in China’s internal affairs.

How offensive it must be regarded as perched behind curtains where its' unnecessary to face uncomfortable questions that the population can't when faced down by their mighty authoritarian government?

Red Sorghum, Japanese Edition

The Times prints then that - Despite the throng of Chinese reporters attending the news conference, Mr. Mo’s comments did not appear in the state-run media. But quickly spread via Twitter, electrifying Chinese literati, many of whom had been critical of his close relationship to the Communist Party, especially Mr. Mo’s role as vice chairman of the government-run Chinese Writers’ Association. 

Yesterday The Huffington Post was complimentary of Mo Yan's literature prize while citing critics criticism for his acceptance of totalitarianism. 

So today's defense of Lu Xiabo could be plain, old-fashioned, calculated, audience-expanding  commercialism? Except his work is exceptional literature according to the Nobel Prize committee. 
Red Sorghum, The Republic of Wine, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out.

Ai Weiwei
Artsy's Ai Weiwei page

Ai Weiwei, the dissident artist who was critical for Mr. Mo's cooperating and refusal to stand up for persecuted writers, said he was heartened by the remarks. In an interview Murong Xuecun, a prominent writer and frequent jouster with censors, mused Mr. Mo felt inoculated by his newly acquired Nobel mantle. “Maybe all the glory has made him more courageous and more outspoken.” 

Murong Xuecun

Then The Times speculates - It is unlikely Mr. Mo’s comments will derail his celebrity status, at least in the eyes of the government. Thursday, propaganda czar, Li Changchun issued a congratulatory letter heralding the prize as a sign China’s cultural influence was finally catching up to its size and economic heft. “Thus Chinese writers can contribute more to the prosperity and development of Chinese culture, as well as the progress of human civilization,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency. And The Times prints - On Friday, Mr. Mo’s face was splashed across the front pages of most Chinese newspapers. By morning, bookstores throughout the capital had already set up special display sections for his works. By the evening, many stores, as well as online commerce sites like Amazon, were already out of stock.

Li Changchun

The Party owned tabloid, Global Times described Mr. Mo as a “mainstream” writer suggesting the West doesn’t just embrace individuals against the Chinese system,” making the point the system is mainstream. 

Political Institutions defining culture is where I walk away.  

And The Times wraps up. - Eric Abrahamsen, a literary translator and publishing consultant in Beijing, noted that many of Mr. Mo's richly detailed stories are subversive in their depiction of Chinese officialdom, even if couched in the outlandish magical realism that has become his trademark style. “He doesn’t keep bashing himself against the wall by writing about forbidden topics but most of what he has written is critical of party politics. His work is essentially a chronicle of how the Communist Party has messed up China.” 

Conspiracies of individuals within organizations messed up China as all over the world. 

Ran Yunfei

And Ran Yunfei, a writer persecuted for pro-democracy, in a Friday microblog post, said he was glad Mr. Mo had stood up for Mr. Liu, but hoped that Mr. Mo would wield his Nobel armor to stand up for those who have dared to speak truth to power. “He has become very skilled at walking on a tightrope. Now that he has become a household name with the government’s backing, it’s only going to become harder for him to be a real critic of the government.” 

Imagining how hard it is to be critical, really, everyone deserves the Nobel Prize in China. 

While still, here in my home country, I'm not so excited American public opinion seems similar to a ping pong ball slapped back and forth between the same two paddles with the same indifferent spins that keep people wondering who'll win this round of The Politicians' Game.