Money is more honest than prestige and honours.

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I have really been taken aback by the childish, ignorant and spiteful nature of the speech by Vivienne Poy that I quoted a few posts earlier. Now I discover that she was not only appointed a Senator of Canada, but also Chancellor of the University of Toronto. There are normally considered important honours. Yet she obviously does not have the knowledge or stature to merit these posts. What happened?

I looked up her biography on the Internet. I found out that she is the inheritor of a large fortune originally earned by her great grandfather in the Opium trade. Lee Hysan has an entry in Wikipedia, He was known as the Opium Prince and died of an assassin's bullet in 1928. The company he left behind has a value today of $20 billion HK.

Now there is something honest about money. Money has to be earned in some way. You either provided a service or produced a product or outsmarted someone to make the money, or your father or mother did. Good for you. Money is money, it is not honour.

However, being appointed Senator or Chancellor of a leading University does not necessarily require any skill or aptitude, to judge by Vivienne Poy. It is enough that people know that you have money, (and might bring some to our university) or that you represent the group that a political party is trying to impress ( women, Asians) and there you go. I think I prefer the person with money. Society can choose to envy or respect a person's money or not, but society is not required to respect the person's honour. It is not an issue. Money is money. It has nothing to do with honour.

However, a Senator or Chancellor of a University implies honour. Society is supposed to respect that person, and to judge by Poy's speech there is really no reason to do so.

Comments

[Ha]

Oh. Steve. Keep barking!

[Steve]

Ha,

Perhaps you have some opinions or thoughts of your own you would like to share.

[Vitaly]

That’s not the first time when Canadian values are being compromised. In 2000 for more than a year the premier of British Columbia was the person who didn’t share much of Canadian values. He cared more about his country of origin (India) and spoke out against Sikh extremist movement in India and therefore was targeted by them. Obviously Canadian person wouldn’t do it. That guy became premier without even general election.

I had impressions that many Asians have “us verses them” mentality. My Indian buddy was telling me that if, for example, a convenience store is located in Indian neighborhood then the staff has to be from that community as well otherwise Indians won’t go to shop there. I failed to persuade him that employing based on a racial profile is illegal. I saw situation when businessman from Hong Kong bought a coffee shop and fired all employees who didn’t speak his language, even those Chinese who spoke Mandarin instead of Cantonese. And that happens not that rare unfortunately.

No, I don’t think that appointing that Shanghainese guy was a great idea. Even media portrays him as “a guy from Shanghai”. I heard some Asians saying “we have ‘our’ representative”. Per my experience Western culture is egalitarian whereas Asian and East European culture are not. I saw Korean managers looking down their subordinates (similar how they showed it in the ‘Lost’ series), Hong-Kongese managers making buddies with their Hong-Kongese subordinates speaking Cantonese every lunch break.

Too many immigrants are saying “We are proud of our culture” misunderstanding the purpose of being accepted by Canada. The guy calling a radio show and saying with a thick accent “Christmas tree should be called a Holiday tree otherwise it’s discrimination”. My Chinese colleague complaining that Canada processes immigration case of his senior parents for too long and mentioning that when his parents came here on vacation “they didn’t like it”. What’s for they applied in this case?! It’s like saying at a job interview that you don’t like this company and you don’t like this job.

Country’s capability to integrate newcomers is limited but government now wants to increase immigration from 200,000 till 300,000 per year. “Les invasions barbares”.

Yeah, regarding “childish, ignorant and spiteful nature of the speech”. I would apply this label to your rants about Gulag and Mao. Now you can see yourself in the mirror.

[Steve]

Vitaly,

Much of what you say about the behaviour of immigrants in Canada is true. There is a double standard whereby people like Poy can make any grossly inaccurate generalization she wants about "western society", or they can discriminate in their hiring or renting, and that is OK. However,many recent immigrants are very sensitive to any statement that they feel unflattering to their own group.

I do make a distinction between first generation immigrants and second generation immigrants. If Chinese immigrants think that their man has been appointed police chief, they are in for a big disappointment.

Poy's rants about imagining the Chinese admiral crushing the small Portuguese boats or all westerner's being ignorantwere childish and spiteful because they were not based on serious information.

Which of my statements about Stalin and Mao were not true? Which were not based on reliable sources, including Russian and Chinese sources? You may admire Stalin, but the truth remains the truth. He was responsible for the death and suffering of millions, and in an arbitrary and unjust manner that can readily be compared to the actions of Hitler in the 20th century.These facts are independent of your opinions or feelings.

[Art]

Steve,

actually, nobody admires Stalin here in Russia. But no despise at the same time. He was what he was, he did was he did. That time was different from the present.

Vitaly is right that the rants of that lady are no differnt from your rants on Stalin and Mao.

About the facts. Actually, you have just facts, not _the_ facts. But the fact that you devoted a good number of posts in your _language_ blog to that lady, hints us to the conclusion that emotions play not the last role in your judgment.

[Ilya]

Steve,

Don't argue with those who blame you having lost their arguments. Cheers.