Love the country, love the party

There is nothing more sickening than the way “love” has been commercialized and politicized in China and, increasingly and inevitably, Hong Kong.

Businesses from banks to cooking oil manufacturers make TV commercials which associate their services or products with love. Worse still, China and Hong Kong propagates love – love of the country, the region, the Communist Party, the people. What is this love anyway? Why? How to justify it? What sort of love does the deeds of those in power demonstrate? Is it in line with their words?

Amazingly, though, many people buy this – people who, I believe, do not understand love; people who either have not loved or been loved.

The commercialized love lures you into spending your money. The politicized love lures you into sacrificing your life and, worse of all, even the lives of others.