Thomas Friedman’s Favorite Dictatorship Bans Puns

Thomas Friedman,
wealthy dispensor of
statist conventional wisdom, once ruminated on Meet the
Press that he
has “fantasized” about how much better off the United States
would be if it briefly ditched representative democracy for China’s
authoritarianism:

What if we could just be China for a day? I mean, just, just,
just one day. You know, I mean, where we could actually, you know,
authorize the right solutions, and I do think there is a sense of
that, on, on everything from the economy to environment. I don’t
want to be China for a second, OK, I want my democracy to work with
the same authority, focus and stick-to-itiveness. 

The “authority, focus and stick-to-itiveness” of the People’s
Republic of China also includes
crackdowns on dissidents, the destruction of homes
standing in the way of Olympic stadium progress, and now,
forbidding
the scourge of puns. 

As reported by The Wall Street
Journal, China’s State Administration of Press,
Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) has outlawed puns
and wordplay in advertising and broadcasts because they are
“contradictory in spirit to the promotion and continuance of
excellent, traditional Chinese culture.” The Journal also
reports:

As part of an antipun rationale, authorities also cited the need
to improve China’s soft power abroad. Building soft power, the
regulator said, required creating more cultural awareness and
confidence.

“Confident Culturally Aware Soft Power” sounds like a possible
title for a future Friedman
column, but China’s one-party communist government extends its
soft power much further than outlawing attention-grabbing fun with
language. According to
Business Insider, China has
banned hundreds of words and phrases. Here are some
highlights:

“Victoria” (Weiduoliha)

In Roman mythology, Victoria was the goddess of victory. So does
Weibo block the name because of that? The lingerie models? No, it’s
blocked for Hong Kong’s Victoria Park. 

Every June 4, Victoria Park acts as the site for a candlelight
vigil commemorating those who died in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Other demonstrations frequently use the park as a home base,
too. 

“May 35” (Wuyue sanshiwu)

Since May has 31 days, the date “May 35” would technically be
June 4 — the day the army arrived in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in
1989 to deal with demonstrators. 

Since June 4 is obviously blocked on Weibo, users found other
ways to discuss the date: “day four,” “the beginning of June,” and
even phonetic translations of the words “six” and “four.” All of
them have been, or still are, blocked.

“Meow” (mimi)

Known to Westerns as the sound a cat makes (or an oboe-like folk
instrument), “meow” in Chinese is roughly the equivalent to “tits”
in English. 

The banned phrases span from subtle political protest to silly
sexual innuendos to words like “wifi,” which the Chinese government
views as a creeping Western threat to the aforementioned “soft
power.” 

Headline writers have
had a blast wielding “the lowest form of
humor” while reporting on the pun ban and
comparisons to the fictional government and its
“Newspeak” language depicted in George Orwell’s 1984
are obvious. But for big idea-thinkers like Friedman, this
latest Chinese action serves as a helpful reminder that Big Brother
also never lacked for “stick-to-itiveness.”

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