Empire State Building Goes Red and Gold for People's Republic Anniversary

There's a saying I ran into, decades ago, that makes a lot of sense: Don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out.

New York City's Empire State Building's lights were red and gold, to commemorate the 'glorious people's uprising' that threw off 'the shackles of the oppressor' and ushered in 'the enlightened era of the People's Republic of China:' 60 years and still going.

Sure, twenty thousand-plus people starved to death as a result of that revolution: but they were probably enemies of the state, anyway.

Me? I'm a fan of tolerance and all that: but this does seem to be a bit over the top.

I'm inclined to be on the same page as a politico from New York State:

"...New York politicians have paid notice as well, and say they are let down by the light-up. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said it was a mistake to pay tribute to what he called 'a nation with a shameful history on human rights.'

"Historians of the revolution noted the unimaginable — and often forgotten — toll of the revolution and China's communist rule, which has taken tens of millions of lives through years of war, famine, reeducation and wholesale slaughter...."
(FOXNews)

About those little boo-boos that the People's Republic of China has done over the last six decades? Feel free to ignore them, or pretend they didn't happen. After all, that's a quote from FOXNews - and 'everybody' knows what they're like.

Oh, well: I'm sure whoever decided on the light show had a very definite reason.

Related posts:

• "China Shot 12: Don't Worry, They're 'Mobsters' "
  (July 19, 2009)
• "Uighur Riot? Revolt? Foreign Separatists? Depends on What You Read"
  (July 10, 2009)
• "Tiananmen Square Commemoration in Hong Kong: No Tanks"
  (June 5, 2009)
• "Tiananmen Square 20th Anniversary: A Losing Battle for Traditional Information Gatekeepers"
  (June 3, 2009)
• "Tibet: Fifty Years of Chinese Liberation, and Counting"
  (March 10, 2009)
• "Chinese Navy to Somali Waters - Time Running out for Somalia?"
  (December 18, 2008)
• "A Reporter Escapes the Taliban, Monks Escape China"
  (June 20, 2009) (Updated June 21, 2009)
• China's position generally is that they weren't involved - and they could be right:
  • "Pentagon Hacked, Removable Media Banned: Cyberattack Hits American Military"
    (November 20, 2008)
  • "World Bank Under Cyberattack? Surprise!"
    (November 2, 2008)
  • "World Bank Group Network Hacked; Chinese IPs Used: Just What We Need"
    (October 10, 2008)
• "Place Names in Conventional English Form, or 'Correctly?' "
  (April 26, 2008)
  • Includes excerpt from a comment on an earlier post

In the news:

• "A Red and Yellow Glow for Celebration, and for Protest"
  City Room, The New York Times (September 30, 2009)
• "Empire State Building Goes Red for Communist China, Sparking Protest"
  FOXNews (September 30, 2009)