China Shows its Aggressive Side...with Commemorative Stamps

I think it's just that the artist was being fancy because it's a non-standard pose for the dragon. Normally the dragon isn't supposed to be facing you. But, you know, the "normal" depiction has a dragon holding a pearl shooting lightning bolts out of it... so yeah.

Pretty much what Barkey said. Americns love to fantasize about glorious war victory over evil. They dont like as much the actual realities of war.

So it's kinda like Uncle Sam holding a assault rifle?

I fit in that. The tactics and such interest me, but seeing the dead and wounded sickens me. Especially the Veterans that arn't cared for right.

edited 12th Jan '12 5:23:25 PM by Joesolo

I'm not really sure if that analogy with Uncle Sam works well.

Because the pearl with lightning bolts is a "standard" depiction of the Chinese dragon, it wouldn't be seen as aggressive because that's how it normally is like. The talons and so on in the stamp are normal, it's the fact that the dragon is staring at you and snarling. That's not normal at all and probably a lot of Chinese people might not like such a depiction of the dragon (especially since this year it's going to be the Dragon of Water).

So I guess, normally Uncle Sam looks like a jingoistic caricature of Americans pointing at you and requesting your aid. When depicted as such, we don't think of a conscript-hungry American government, it's just how that picture was like back in the day. If you changed it though, suddenly you realise how jingoistic it is.

So, more like this?◊

Why is everyone downplaying the threat!? Papercuts are dangerous, seriously.

@Joesolo: a lot of us fit in that camp. Its why I'm staunchly anti-war liberal. On a intellectual level, I find gun construction and science and battlefield tactics interesting. Its why I love a good fps game. But the thought that real people I know in the military might actually end up looking like the ludicrous gibs of a fps death...that part I'm nowhere near as cool with.

^

The part that annoys me are the folks who go on a tirade about how awesome it was to kill like 9 dudes in COD, and without skipping a breath condemn the real thing. We're at this weird in-between of desensitization. People aren't afraid to see depictions, they'll rant and rave about how cool it is when it's fictional, but the real thing happens and they get all weepy and shit.

I guess it's just obnoxious how opposite things are. America has a fetish for war, but then turns around and runs for the hills when it actually happens. We love to flex our military muscle, we wrap ourselves in our own egotistic adoration until it comes time to flex that muscle, and we deflate into a pathetic little beast.

I don't go to either of those extremes. Especially not the "panic at the sight of war". I don't like it, but I know it's necessary at times. It should never be the first option, but It should be considered in bad situations.

This is dumb. Get over it, it's a fucking stamp.

As for Chinese bloggers having problems with their own stamps, there have always been people that will blindly soak up any information coming from a hostile country. Basically, the total opposite of patriotism. I could never understand that sentiment.

My personal view is that war is necessary sometimes, but anyone who glorifies it is an idiot at best. Its an ugly business that sometimes has to be done, but treating our soldiers like Co D protagonists is one reason war glorification pisses me off. Soldiers are people,not infinitely respawning glory creators.

Barkey, it's one thing to brag about a game, and another to glorify real deaths. Bragging about kills in COD is pretty much just bragging about getting the high score, and the vast majority of people know that, which is why they also condemn the real thing. Plus, cool special effects. (I don't play war games myself, but I do play games.) And considering how readily we went into the Middle East, I wouldn't exactly call us afraid of war so much as fed up with what it eventually cost us in money, lives, and time. The efforts of our armed forces didn't really accomplish much in a timely manner.

^

The people who sent us to the middle east wouldn't pick up a rifle and do a patrol themselves, that's for damn sure.

Ain't that the goddamn truth.

It's just that for me, glorifying the fictional version of it is just as bad. Our younger culture revels in shooting unnamed and unknown "terrorists" in the face by the platoonfull, and at its core, that starts to disturb me, not sure why.

I'm not trying to say that if you aren't a complete warhawk you can't like COD, just that being a pacifist or bitterly against war in the middle east but salivating at the fictional version is kind of hypocritical in my mind. Everyone wants to escape and pretend their the big badass war hero, when they would never dip their feet in that pond in real life.

edited 13th Jan '12 4:26:59 PM by Barkey

Or they could be a bunch of teenagers who need to get a clue...

I agree, but, well, on top of being a not-really-that-great-game, it's pretty obvious that COD isn't meant to be realistic. That some people are honestly so ignorant of the nature of conflict that they look to freaking Modern Warfare for information about it only indicates that some people are fools. COD is about as reflective of war as porn is about real sex: neither are a realistic depiction, and neither come close to capturing what participating in the actual event is like.

"Our younger culture revels in shooting unnamed and unknown "terrorists" in the face by the platoonfull, and at its core, that starts to disturb me, not sure why."

I find it disturbing because, of all the things to appreciate in media, the one that's most popular is something that stupid.

edited 13th Jan '12 5:00:10 PM by stripesthezebra

Well I remember that the original designers for Co D had said that it was meant to be anti-war, not pro-war. (If someone could confirm)

edited 13th Jan '12 5:36:18 PM by breadloaf

That's a pretty cool stamp. Maybe I should move beyond coins in the types of things I collect.

@breadloaf: The storyline is...but everyone plays the multiplayer, which is anything but anti-war.

Stamp looks harmlessly traditional to me. I see the same pearl-carrying dragons...goddamn everywhere pretty much.

Although I should probably mention that most of the dragons I've seen here are depicted sideways, and their eyes are painted white, rather than jet black. The pearl is usually carried in the mouth or on the chin, and it's usually not on fire. I guess I can see how it looks intimidating, it might scare young kids.

Call Of Duty is pretty god damn ant-war.

Like Co D 4: You're a good soldier, eh? You beat all the missions and escped in the helicopter?

Just kidding you get nuked! Then the next two Modern Warfare games bring hell to America, with th Eastern seaboard in ruins.

edited 13th Jan '12 8:28:43 PM by Erock

That's the single-player campaign.

We need to stamp out this threat immediately, post-haste.

This fission must not mail.

We can't allow the Chinese menace to envelope us. This matter must be addressed.

So we should stamp them out, before they get the chance to lick us?