Lots of people buy Honda or Toyota. 3/4 of my departmental office owns a Honda or Toyota. There is no way that I would buy a national product that is inferior just because it is made here and so many people I know feel the same way that I’m having a hard time thinking of anyone I know that buys National just to buy National.

I own a 92 toyota corolla that still serves all my needs. I’m not a big believer personally in going out and buying a new car every few years like several people I know. To me a car gets you from point A to point B when the bicycle or my legs won’t do the job. I live downtown in a large city so I can get to just about everything I need to with little effort.

The news media may make you feel that way, but I believe the real reason this is such BIG news is that its unexpected. People have gotten into their heads that Toyota/Honda are infallible brands. It is shocking to them that this would happen with Toyota cars.

The shock factor is why I think the news media is jumping all over it here (i.e. I do not include fox news in the classification of news media btw). And in the end the news will cover what gets people to tune in. That’s why we will have a month long coverage of michael jackson’s death and investigations rather than covering things that actually matter (e.g. Darfar or any of dozens other massacres happening around the globe).

The thing is you have to give Toyota credit for taking action on the scale that they have.

I did not mean to say that Toyota is the best automaker. I don’t really know because I don’t even have a driver’s license. But, at least it’s obvious that they are ahead of the American automakers.

My point was that this problem with the gas pedal is completely blown out of proportion. If the same problem happened to an American car right now, nobody would pay much attention. This whole ordeal is driven by nationalism.

Dalai Lama himself is not much of a sore topic, as sore topics go. The communists couldn’t care less what he DOES himself because he still does not really threaten them — he’s been screaming himself hoarse for fifty years with no effect whatsoever on the actual situation in Tibet. What they are concerned with is the leadership of various nations receiving him as a leader of his people, or receiving him as a guest period. It’s a symbolic acknowledgment of the legitimacy of his position, rather than the Chinese government, as the leadership of Tibet. So, rather than “love Dalai Lama”, write things like “Tibet independence”, “Tibet general referendum for declaring autonomy”, “Obama should invite Dalai Lama to the White House for a state dinner” etc., will probably have better effect.

Other thing that really gets the communists’ goat are the Falungong cult and Taiwan. You really want to piss the commies off? Try reporting on Falungong member claims about communist brutality, such as organ harvesting by military hospitals, calling for a referendum for Taiwan to declare sovereignty as an island nation like the Philippines, calling for the U.S. to fully commit to defending Taiwan against a communist Chinese invasion, things of that nature.

People who complain about the U.S. government have a lot to learn about what “brutal” really means. Everytime I see someone from either side of the political spectrum comparing American presidents or other politicians to people like Hitler, it bothers me because that really is trivializing what those people and governments did.

I think that it is difficult to understand a culture that you were not personally raised in, and this causes much confusion.

Also, China is in Asia which is entirely different to the west! In Asia things are taken for granted which we take very seriously and vice-versa. I read the above article and found it quite believable.

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Alright, I am just happened to be here and I dont mean to make arguments, but as a Chinese who grows up in China and is still living in China, I will just say there are some points I need to make clear about these comments.

The IP concept and legal protections of IPRs is expanding now, I major in law and I could see the progresses we are making in China, I am sure you ppl in western country will feel that in a near future.

And, nothing is taken for granted in China, even if some ppl here are “stealing” something from others, you have to admit that some of them are making innovations and try to benefit the rest.