Censorship!

Provincial Map of China. 

This trip blog was sadly interrupted by censorship.  After our port stay in Busan, South Korea, we slipped over the Yellow Sea to Dalian, China, a remarkably large and robust trading city on the tip of a peninsula in the northern Chinese province of Liaoning.  There we discovered that Google, our blog's host, does not operate in China.  Google pulled its search engine and other services out of China in 2010 when faced with the reality of Chinese Censorship which required Google to block many sites which the Chinese government objected to.  It's known as the Great Firewall of China.  I remember reading about this incident and thinking that Google had done the right thing, but then, like most news items, it faded from my memory and my attention.  But now, as Google is considering kowtowing to the Chinese demands and returning to this lucrative market, the ugly face of censorship has come into clear focus.

One of the benefits of travel is allowing you to appreciate your own situation.  That is especially true of the privileges and rights we have and take for granted as citizens of the United States.  China brings that all into focus.  So I am going to take advantage of those unique American freedoms in the next few blogs and tell you what I really think about China.  It's not all pretty. 

Meanwhile, upon returning home, we were greeted by surly employees of TSA.  Normally, we have TSA pre-check since we are trusted travelers.  Since our boarding passes had been issued by Nippon Airways in Shanghai, however, they did not have that information.  When we tried the TSA pre-check line, the agent scowled and told us we should've asked United Airlines to re-issue the boarding passes.  We were told to enter the regular line.  It was not a busy evening, so I guess they were looking for the right people to annoy.  I was patted down by a dumpy little lady who probably hasn't smiled in years.  Dwight, in his terminal-owned wheelchair, underwent a 20-minute wipe down checking for explosive agents. 

Why do we put up with this?  Does this really make us safer?  Are we that cowed by the idea of a terrorist blowing us up?  If we complain about having tyrannical leadership now, we probably have asked for it by agreeing to accept contempt and rudeness from under-educated employees while going about our normal business.  A good step toward restoring America to greatness would be to do away with TSA, or at least to train their agents to show some human kindness and discretion in their treatment of travelers.