Thank you, Captains

Some accuse psychology of studying the obvious. For me, however, reporters and bloggers writing about China are far worse than any scholars of cognition.

Today, traditional and modern news sources burst with tired stories about China and Chinese people. Typical stories tend to draw the following comparisons:

• Coastal v. Central
  
• Collectivism v. individualism (a.k.a. East v. West)
  
• Rule of law v. Rule by law
• Freedom v. control
  
• Pollution v. Health
• Chinglish v. English
• Euro States v. ChIndia
• Myth v. Reality
  

These contrasts, and the vernacular used to craft them, caused one lay-led house of worship to adopt a "no tired observations about China" norm for sermons from visiting clergy. Blog entries (like this one) about sub par China reporting likewise serve as the balded tires of Sino-media.

Enter Lessig-acolyte and law professor Tim Wu, identifying the problem and doing some good reporting on the Games from a temporary perch here in the Middle Kingdom. Wu gets several demerits, however, for using the phrase "coming out party" right out of the gates.

Yich.