Generally speaking, Americans have no understanding of what real pollution is, since it has been so reduced in this country over the last four decades. It’s amusing (and sad) to hear young people fret about the modest inconveniences that the media hype as Threats To The World. Such ignorance is dangerous, but that’s a story we won’t dwell on now.

Of course, it’s a different story in China, whose cities’ air is among the dirtiest in the world, and whose water is undrinkable. The AP sums up the situation in that country as we approach the time of the Olympics:

China is home to 16 of the 20 worst cities for air quality. Three-quarters of the water flowing through urban areas is unsuitable for drinking or fishing.

We’ve previously noted the serious problem of safe water in China (here and here, for example). These are problems that America has not known for a long time. As for fragrant, compelling air, how many Americans can recall the Elizabeth, NJ or Pittsburgh or other industrial locales of fifty years ago?

The list of measures that China is taking to make the Olympic Village a Potemkin Village of cleanliness is pretty impressive, and a reminder of the kind of government China is blessed with:

– half of Beijing’s 3.3 million vehicles will be pulled off the roads
– polluting factories will be shuttered
– chemical plants, power stations and foundries left open have to cut emissions by 30 percent
– construction in the capital will be halted
– vehicles will be allowed on the roads every other day depending on registration numbers
– 300,000 heavy polluting vehicles…were banned beginning July 1
– factory shutdowns in the city and five surrounding provinces

So Communist China is shutting down much of its industry in five provinces in order to create nice visuals on TV and avoid the spectacle of wheezing or collapsing athletes. That seems like quite a story in itself, a sizable political story, a lesson about the use of raw political power to broadcast an atypical, distorted image of life in China’s capital. (We’re not criticizing China’s decision to make Beijing look good for the Olympics, by the way, only that this substantial backstory remains largely unreported.)

In that context, it is interesting to note that this AP story was filed by Stephen Wade, a sports writer, not a political reporter. We’ll have to wait and see whether the news anchors of the networks see fit to report this story themselves, or whether they’re just too busy following President Obama around to even notice.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at 2:21 pm and is filed under China, Democrats, General, MSM, business, radical chic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.