iLook China, With An R Rating.

I have had the blog iLook China on my blogroll for the last few months and I have to say that I only read its frequent postings maybe half the time.

It is often too intellectual, too historical, too tangential, and, most importantly, too pro-China for me. But it just occurred to me that I was not being fair in not listing it on our blogroll. It is a thoughtful blog with an oftentimes original take on China issues and my sometimes disagreeing with it is not a good reason not to have it on our blogroll.

Just to be clear, I am not listing it just because it has a different viewpoint; I am listing it because it is well-written and thoughtful. Just by way of an example, check out the post, "The Sky is Falling in China but only in China," which discusses the unfairness of a Los Angeles Times story using one recent crash as evidence of how China's airline safety is slipping. 

iLook China is written by Lloyd Lofthouse and its tag-line is "looking at China from an outsider's point of view."  Lofthouse describes his blog as follows:

For outsiders, there are many misconceptions about China, and the Western media often does not get it right (at least in the way they interpret why something happens the way it does in China). My goal is to create a place where people outside China may discover China’s history, country, culture and government and to understand better.

I’m sure that I will be making some Americans angry. Some may even feel I’m a traitor when I compare American culture to China and find America lacking. Since I was born in America and worked here for forty-five years before I retired from teaching in the public schools, American culture is the only one I can use in my comparisons.

Who is Lloyd Lofthouse? Well, he lives in the belly of a Chinese family, and he earned a BA in journalism after fighting in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine. While working days as an English teacher at a high school in California, he enjoyed a second job as a maitre d’ in a multimillion-dollar nightclub.

He now lives near San Francisco with his wife, with a second home in Shanghai, China. Lloyd has traveled to China often since his first trip in 1999. He has also spent a decade researching China, and his first two novels are about China.

Lloyd’s first novel, My Splendid Concubine earned honorable mentions in fiction from the 2008 London Book Festival, 2009 San Francisco Book festival and the 2009 Hollywood Book Festival. His second novel, Our Hart, won honorable mentions in fiction at the 2009 Nashville Book Festival, the 2009 London Book Festival the 2009 DIY Book Festival, and the 2009 Los Angeles Book Festival

His short story, A Night at the Well of Purity, was named as a finalist for the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards. He also writes The Soulful Veteran, a Blog about the Vietnam War, combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I was emailing with a fellow China blogger earlier today about intemperate comments on our respective blogs. I told this blogger that I actively enjoy deleting comments from those who have nothing to do but to attack me or others personally, but that, somewhat paradoxically, I love getting comments from serious people who completely disagree with me. I love getting those comments for many reasons. First off, it shows I am reaching those who disagree with me, which means I am doing more than just preaching to the choir. Second, I am more likely to learn something from those who disagree with me than from those who agree. Third, I believe our readers should see both sides of issues and appreciate seeing both sides of issues. I see my role as presenting my side of an issue and therefore it is up to others to present the other side. If I fail to publish comments from those presenting the other side, I am doing our readers a disservice, particularly if the opposing opinions are well-reasoned.  

Since you-all are big boys and girls capable of thinking for yourselves, I have added iLook China to our blogroll. I should have done it sooner. 

What do you think?