Chinese dissident's "Rear Window" video of the cops keeping him under house arrest
Chinese dissident Hu Jia was placed under house arrest in Beijing in 2006. He has spent the time since recording the movements of "secret" police officers who surround his house, harassing his wife, acting like thugs, falling asleep on the job, playing cards, and grinning up at him. It's a kind of dissident's Rear Window, and the footage is haunting and unforgettable -- especially the sequence starting around 1:48, where a grinning, hulking cop on a phone plays the "Oh, sorry, was I standing in front of you? I'll move. Whoops! I'm still blocking your way. Ha ha." game with Zeng Jinyan, Hu Jia's wife, acting for all the world like a seventh-grade bully. Link
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NOTHING TO SEE HERE! MOVE ALONG! All criticism of of valuable trading partner, China, should be ignored. Enjoy the Olympics, folks!
""acting for all the world like a seventh-grade bully""
That line right there pretty much sums up every cop in the world.....and no I am NOT over generalizing.
Elysianartist, yes I think you might be over generalizing. That doesn't make it any better in China, though. Seeing it, like this is one way to make the problem go away. "A watched society is a polite society," which includes watching the cops.
" a watched society is a prison society"
#2: I'm the last one to take a stand for the authoriton, but yes you are. I can't say I've been a good boy all my life (LMAO) but every time I've come into contact with law enforcement they've always been frustatingly polite, infuriatingly professional, with no slacking on their or the bystanders' security, yet they're always cool, detached in a way that tells you "This is our job, we don't need any shit" ... Which is exactly the attitude I can vouch for.
#2: I'm the last one to take a stand for the authoriton, but yes you are. I can't say I've been a good boy all my life (LMAO) but every time I've come into contact with law enforcement they've always been frustatingly polite, infuriatingly professional, with no slacking on their or the bystanders' security, yet they're always cool, detached in a way that tells you "This is our job, we don't need any shit" ... Which is exactly the attitude I can vouch for.
Takuan, if a watched society is a prison society, are you saying we shouldn't be seeing what's happening in China? Or anywhere else? Or are the freedoms of an open, egalitarian society limited to the individual, but not to organisations of people? Can I watch you while you work in a building I own(not the bathroom)? What about organisations such as the police? Can they film the sceen when they pull a person over on the road? After all, it's for the protection of your rights and the cop's. I'm actually interested in where the theoretical limits are and how they are defined. Right now in Detroit a corrupt goverment offical (the Mayor) is in trouble because some cops snitched on him. The record is there, a digital record that the cell phone company has. Is this an example of a prison society? Checks and ballances.
Hu Jia is in prison since December last year, his wife and his two month old daughter still live in house arrest.
Wasn't China supposed at least to act as if they had something resembling free speech before/during the Olympic Games?
@#2: Come to Vancouver, BC. The city police here are quite polite and professional. Just watch out for the RCMP. They might tase you for being confused.
...every time I've come into contact with law enforcement they've always been frustatingly polite, infuriatingly professional...
Lucky you. They torture, maim and kill tens of thousands of people every week worldwide.
ah here we are;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pATjJVdalZc
Or, apparently, put on sidewalk mud-wrestling exhibitions.