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James Powderly of Graffiti Research Labs Detained In China
An anonymous reader writes "News from Free Tibet 2008 that internationally known artist, technologist and co-founder of the Graffiti Research Lab, James Powderly, was detained in Beijing early on August 19th while preparing to debut a new work and technology of protest, the L.A.S.E.R. Stencil. According to a Twitter message received yesterday by Students for a Free Tibet at approximately 5 pm Beijing Standard Time, Powderly had been detained by Chinese authorities at 3 am. His current whereabouts remain unknown. Powderly was the inventor of throwies." (Powderly's detention was also mentioned at Make Magazine's blog.)
He made the mistake of catching the wrong bus to the olympics.
Powderly was the inventor of throwies."
Was? You're writing him off already? Geez! And people say *I'm* a pessimist.
I've never heard of most of these "activists" before the Olympics and I've got a feeling we won't be hearing much from them afterwards. If people have been involved with pro-Tibet, pro-Darfur, pro-democracy, pro-whatever stuff all along, then good for them. But most of these loudmouths getting press recently seem to only be interested in complaining when their neighbors are taking pleasure in something China-related.
It reminds me of all those goofs who are so indignantly outraged every Thanksgiving, but never lift a finger to help American Indians on the other 364 days a year. Or even on Thanksgiving, for that matter.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Rosa Parks was given a speedy trial, fined $14, and on appeal wreaked havoc on the laws that were the foundation of racial segregation in the United States.
Since this guy is a US citizen, the Chinese government will probably let him live. A Chinese citizen probably wouldn't be so lucky.
Hopefully this event teaches him, and and others in his home country to appreciate the freedom that they have when they're spewing their typical "baby out with the bathwater" rants about how fascist the US government is.
Rosa Parks
Are you really going to compare graffiti -- a nuisance of a chosen action -- to a civil rights struggle? Based on the color of a person's skin?
People like Rosa Parks were heroes to all, especially to racists and passive people who needed to have their eyes open. I'm not sure who James Powderly thought he was representing but going to a foreign country and committing what is a crime in that country just makes a bunch of people uneasy.
Oh, and non-destructive graffiti is pretty damned cool.
Light is still a form of polution. Though non-destructive, it is most likely still annoying. While I agree with the cause this man was "fighting" for, I am indifferent to his ineffective methods. He would most likely be arrested in my country too.
His methods weren't opening people's eyes, they are alienating people like me who would rather see a message sent to the Chinese government that makes them think about their injustices.
My work here is dung.
That's pretty disingenuous. Writing propaganda these days? "Arrest people who make signs with simple blinking LEDs"? Interesting description. Would you have a problem if I ran up to your house and poured pig's blood all over your porch? Why not? It's easy to clean up! "many people in the USA have been arrested for pointing lasers skyward as well"? Oh, you mean the couple of people who were attempting to shine laser lights in the eyes of pilots of commercial aircraft, and readily admitted to it? If I shone a laser in your eye while you were driving, would that bother you? Do you think someone should be arrested for possibly f*cking up your vision for the rest of your life? How about when that process might end up killing you, and any number of your passengers? I've heard b.s. "we are so bad we shouldn't criticize anyone else" and "Nazi Imperialist U.S.A." before - but I have to say - good job! If this post were a joke, I'd be very impressed. It's unfortunate that you probably mean it. Have you ever noticed that lying for your cause doesn't actually help it in the long run? Let's fix problems honestly, shall we?
How do you know? Isn't it a tad/i hasty to be making assumptions? And hasn't he actually achieved at least something? When was the last time anything you did got mentioned on the front page of Slashdot?
What does the fact that he isn't Tibetan or a Chinese citizen have to do with anything? What I'm getting out of your post is, "people should mind their own business and not rock the boat." Is that the impression you meant to convey?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Going to foreign countries run by totalitarian governments to protest is a bit on the unwise side regardless of how just the cause.
The cake is a pie
Disrespecting the athletes by marring the games with these protests is no better than what happened in Munich in 1972.
His laser wasn't that powerful.
Amen! Don't you love the way capitalism lets you profit without worrying about the moral standards of the companies you invest in? I mean, I can invest in a company that will do awful things I would never do personally, and I never even have to hear about it, let alone lose sleep over it. And even if I do hear about it, well, I'm just a little investor, I didn't make that decision, it's not my fault! I love diffusion of responsibility.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
In NYC on Aug 10th, some protesters projected a film onto the Chinese Consulate in NYC.
Here's video on YouTube [Warning, there are some graphic scenes].
Not a laser, but interesting trick nonetheless.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
I like to think that going over and killing twelve people is slightly worse than mildly pissing a few people off with an unsolicited light show, but then i'm a bit weird like that.
He's an American citizen being detained during the Olympic Games. He's not going to disappear. They'll question him for several hours, probably including sleep deprivation and a lot of yelling, and then kick him out of the country. There was another guy earlier on in the Olympics that got detained for trying to protest, and that's pretty much what happened to him.
The Chinese are trying to look good in front of the world, "disappearing" a foreign national, especially an American, during the Olympics would not be in line with that goal.
He went over there to get publicity for a cause, and he got publicity for a cause. You could argue he achieved less than he might have, but to say he achieved nothing is idiotic.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
From TFA:
The work, "The Green Chinese Lantern," uses a 400 milliwatt handheld green laser with micro-stencils to beam simple messages and images up to three stories high on surfaces such as billboards, buildings, and bridges. The Laser Stencil technology was developed in conjunction with Students for a Free Tibet.
[...] For more information and high-resolution photos of the work, please visit http://graffitiresearchlab.com/?p=161
What does this have to do with my online rights? Shouldn't this be filed under politics?
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
"Hopefully this event teaches him, and and others in his home country to appreciate the freedom that they have when they're spewing their typical 'baby out with the bathwater' rants about how fascist the US government is."
By your logic, practically nobody in the world is in a position to complain about their situation, for you'll nearly always be able to find somebody who is worse off than you are. Keeping quiet about abuses at home because other, worse abuses are taking place elsewhere is hardly a reasonable thing to demand of another. Please keep your jingoism to yourself.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
Actually, they were "were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and placing a hoax device in a way that causes panic" according to Boston.com, and the charges were later dropped. Which is still a stupid overreaction, but not the same as charging them with "terrorism".
Tibet has been part of China since 1792. Yes, for over two freaking centuries! You might not like it, but tough shit. And guess what, if a bunch of Chinese students came to the US and flung banners around Stanford demanding we give California back to Mexico, we'd probably tell them to get their butts back to China and mind their own business. Heck, we'd probably even detain a couple of them.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
It is not necessary for things to be as bad as they can possibly be before one has the right to complain about things that are wrong. The U.S. has in many ways grown greatly more totalitarian over the past eight years. Saying "It's not as bad as China, so the problems don't matter" is the height of idiocy. That's like saying "Linux doesn't crash as much as Windows, so it must be perfect.
Indeed, it is precisely because people do appreciate those freedoms that they rant about signs of growing fascism in the U.S. government. They who have never seen the light cannot know that they live in darkness, and so do not complain. Therefore, I would contend that the people who do not rant are the ones who do not fully appreciate those freedoms.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
So what? Are you suggesting that only those directly affected by human rights abuses can protest them, and everyone else should just mind their own business? In the Rosa Parks example given above, groups like the Congress of Racial Equality, which included white college students from northern states, took part in protests during the Montgomery bus boycott. Should they have just minded their own business?
That's debatable. The actions of any one person may be equivalent to "the movement of butterfly wings," as you stated below, but to quote Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
I don't care why you're posting AC
I understand that graffiti is often little more than vandalism today, but don't dismiss it completely. Graffiti is a tool for communication, and when other forms of communication are being censored or cut, it becomes very powerful. Graffiti is noticible, and can transmit a message to thousands of viewers, for very little cost. Take a look at the works of Banksy on the palestinian walls. This might sway you.
We are all free to express our desires to anyone. We are free to demonstrate and protest that which we find morally objectionable, and no arbitrary borders or citizenship should stop us. I find your stance morally reprehensible, as it seeks to divide people into arbitrary groups who are not allowed to support each other in seeking redress for wrongs. You advocate a particularly sick form of authoritarianism.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
People like Rosa Parks were heroes to all, especially to racists and passive people who needed to have their eyes open.
People like Rosa Parks were carefully chosen by lawyers to become sympathetic test cases before the Judiciary and the court of public opinion.
You think Rosa Parks was the only black woman who got arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus? Even Rosa Parks wikipedia page can't help but mention a pregnant 15 yr old girl named Claudette Colvin.
Light is still a form of polution. Though non-destructive, it is most likely still annoying. While I agree with the cause this man was "fighting" for, I am indifferent to his ineffective methods.
It shouldn't really matter how James Powderly chose to protest, in much the same way that it shouldn't have mattered that Claudette Colvin was unwed and pregnant by a much older man.
I'm sure when the right kind of protestor gets arrested, you and others with your mindset will take notice.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Powderly regularly protests all kinds of oppression, both at home and abroad.
When he protests in the US, people say that there are much worse things going on elsewhere (usually citing China). When he protests in China, the same people say he should to mind his own business.
At least he's doing something, and his sudden disappearance for throwing up a banner with a few lights on it certainly highlights the oppression that we all know exists in China.
"The cup is in turn designed for holding hot or cold liquids, and has an open rim and closed base." --US Patent #5425497
Tibet has been part of China since 1792. Yes, for over two freaking centuries! You might not like it, but tough shit
Tibetans don't think they've been part of China since 1792. They thought they were running Tibet. And they did, until they were invaded in 1959. You might not like it, but tough shit
And guess what, if a bunch of Chinese students came to the US and flung banners around Stanford demanding we give California back to Mexico, we'd probably tell them to get their butts back to China and mind their own business.
NONSENSE! We'd laugh. That's it. We'd laugh and laugh and laugh.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
Strictly speaking, if you're talking about continuity of government, the "Chinese Government" is a robust democracy in Taiwan - they are the heirs to the traditional Chinese government. The murderous thugs ruling mainland China don't have a pedigree going back past 1949.
I've always wondered if there would have been a war in 1997 if England had said, "Ok...our 100 year lease on Hong Kong is up. Time to give Hong Kong back to China...here you go, TAIWAN!"\