Thursday, September 6, 2007

Confronting the Chutzpah

I have no idea whether or not there is a satisfactory translation of chutzpah into Chinese (after all, there really isn't one for English); but a Reuters report seems to indicate that the highest-level government officials are now backing away from Health Minister Chen Zhu's recent Chutzpah Award winning statement on safety:

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday his country took food safety "very seriously", echoing comments by President Hu Jintao in Sydney.

Whether or not there is any substance behind his rhetoric remains to be seen. Nevertheless, I suspect that I was far from the only one to point out just how ridiculous Dr. Chen had made himself; and sometimes seeing a problem in the most ridiculous light turns out to be the first step towards taking it more seriously.

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