Two brave, unknown, heroes

One of them, a Chinese, pops into my mind from time to time because once seen, never forgotten. The newsreel shots of him taken in 1989 turned him into an iconic figure and are probably available on YouTube if any of my more geekish readers can find it for me.  I refer, of course, to that young Chinese man who stepped out in front of a tank on its way to put down the Tiananmen Square demonstration.  I think the thing that sticks the image firmly in the memory is the incongruous plastic shopping bag he carried in one hand, for all the world as though he had just popped out to his local Tesco, or perhaps, the nearest Chinese take-away, and somehow all those tanks had really pissed him off!  Whenever I see some of our home-grown, wet, useless, Trot-lot pseudo-revolutionaries 'bravely' confronting sundry British 'Plods' whose boredom with whatever demo is going on is only exceeded by their delight at the overtime, I think of that unknown Chinese and understand a little better the difference between real courage and phony bravado.

I am not sure if my next hero is a man or a woman.  Worse still, I cannot confirm that this is true, I am relying on a friend who read it in the paper.  As we all know, that well-known Russian mafia Capo, Mr. Putin, has been, er, dallying with a rather attractive ice-skating lady (or perhaps she's a gymnast - possibly even a ballerina, although I doubt very much whether that thug is likely to be a balletomane.) Anyway, even the Russian papers have been enjoying a snide giggle or three, and as a result a Bill was hurried through the Russian parliament (my turn for a giggle) banning the media from reporting on the private lives of their, er, 'glorious leaders'.  This Bill was passed by several hundred to one, and my admiration for that 'one' knows no bounds.  He, or she, is an exceedingly courageous person.

If anyone has further and better particulars on either of the individuals concerned, I would be delighted to know more.  In the meantime, I salute them both.

Comments

[JuliaM]

"Whenever I see some of our home-grown, wet, useless, Trot-lot pseudo-revolutionaries..."

These days, they'd probably be demonstrating against the poor lone Chinese man, due to his carrying of that 'incongruous plastic shopping bag'. It's killing the planet, don't you know....

[David Duff]

You're killing me, Julia!

Especially with your post on Gordon Ramsey.

[the ill man]

"These days, they'd probably be demonstrating against the poor lone Chinese man, due to his carrying of that 'incongruous plastic shopping bag"

I would hope so too! I don't expect such selfless martyrs to carry Prada, but come on..... a discrete, yet stylish manbag of some description would have looked so much better for the tv cameras.