Ordinary Gweilo

From today’s Talkback section of the SCMP:

Have I missed something? I scoured the paper on Friday and Saturday and
found nothing on Roger Waters’ Dark Side concert. Did the South China Morning Post
have its eyes closed to this sell-out event at the Convention and
Exhibition Centre? So many came away saying it was one of the most
extraordinary musical and visual events, with hard-hitting political
messages, to have hit Hong Kong in recent years. Is it that the Post has become so parochial that those running the paper haven’t heard of the global musical phenomenon of Pink Floyd?

On the eve of the Year of the Pig, Waters’ giant pig flying over our heads would have been your perfect front-page picture. Or was the anti-Bush message on its backside too much for the conservative establishment you reflect?  Waters and his band must feel insulted that the power and
professionalism of their show couldn’t stir Hong Kong’s so-called leading English-language newspaper.

I’m sure other readers will feel the same  – that this demonstrates how seriously out of touch the Post is with the passions and interests of many of its readers. It is wrong if it believes we’re only interested in how stocks and property prices are faring, parochial small-circle politics, and spending our money on useless luxuries.

Many of us grew up under the influence of Floyd lyrics: "Money, it’s a crime". "We
don’t need no thought control." Thursday’s concert was nothing less than a spiritual homecoming for those of us deeply concerned about the political and religious powers that dominate this world.

Kate Cheung, Lamma Island

Well, yes.  I’m sure I’ve said this before, but the basic problem with the SCMP is that thinks it’s an important international newspaper.  Maybe it makes financial sense to keep up this pretence and thereby sell subscriptions to many large companies, but in terms of producing a newspaper that is relevant to potential readers in Hong Kong it makes no sense at all.

Interesting that they chose to print this letter…