My Take | US arrogance and ignorance on full display over Hong Kong
In our city, or as in much of the rest of the world, American officials can’t hear anything other than how awesome they sound when they speak
I saw an amusing T-shirt for sale online at a MAGA (Make America Great Again) website the other day. It has this printed on the front, “Sorry I can’t hear you over the sound of my freedom.”
It’s apparently a parody of “Sorry, but I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am”, a more sinister internet meme often attributed to a now-defunct US mercenary group called Blackwater, which was infamous for its killings of civilians during the illegal American occupation of Iraq.
If you listen to how US officials, both current and retired, talk about Hong Kong – and actually about the rest of the world generally – you have to wonder if they hear anything other than the sound of their own awesome voices.
Take Gregory May, the US consul general in Hong Kong. He has professed a love for the city’s two-dish rice meals, and even once took a social media photo of himself buying boxes of them in the street.
“So tasty and affordable,” he posted on Facebook.
Well, I am glad there is at least one thing he likes about the city, though I seriously doubt he actually liked eating it beyond the posting as a PR exercise. I can’t quite picture him eating a two-dish ricebox in his no doubt ornate office, and I am sure the exclusive American Club in Central doesn’t allow outside food.
