Joe Bosco, Blogger - Page 8

You are certainly right that most if not all of the students who are invited to attend the China Foreign Affairs University come from well-to-do parents. As to their parents being corrupt CCP members, that I can only guess at, but I am certainly willing to take your word on it since you are an expert in the law enforcement field in China.

But to his other readers he confessed, in a separate note: "Great, the police officer thinks I am an elitist stupid hypocrite. And someone else thinks I am insane. This has not been a good day."

Then Burger came to extend a comforting hand:

Great replies, Joseph, and a great post.

It's fine for us to disagree with one another, but is it really that hard to do so with respect and courtesy? I made a point on my own site recently that prompted a commenter to snipe "So what?" How about, "I see where you are coming from, but I see it differently...."? But maybe you and I are from an older school. I love a spirited debate/argument, but we mustn't forget about protocol.

Bosco was appreciative:

Richard, Thank goodness there are still folks around such as us; however, you are a good deal better of a human being than I am as yet.

I learned of the affinity between Bosco and Burger shortly after I'd posted my rebuttal to Bosco's attack on Burger's Peking Duck blog. On returning to Peking Duck to see any follow-ups, I found that all commentary on CFAU — from Burger's "Now this is an interesting story" onwards — had disappeared. In its place was a new message from Burger: "I have deleted this post and its comments as I had serious cause to doubt its authenticity. My apologies."

I asked Burger via email: "What on earth were you afraid of? Debate?"

It seems that Bosco, the fighter who'd risked imprisonment defending free speech in America, had convinced Burger that discussion of this subject "would not be productive." As Burger explained it to me:

I'm sorry, but there are some people I know and trust, and I believe what they tell me. Joseph seems to know your story well, and as one of my closest friends I believe him. I can't risk using my site as a platform for the complaints of others unless I sincerely believe in their complaint. In this case, Joseph convinced me that debate on this point would not be productive and could cause unnecessary harm.

I expostulated: "Richard, this is the very essence of censorship.... If the Bosco bumpkin's allegations were true, he could answer my rebuttals and make his case."

Article Author: Uriel Wittenberg

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