Impetus: Known Chinese counterfeiter living a comfortable life in the United States; ostensibly living the American dream off of hocking knockoff products.
Not long ago, I watched a mockumentary on HBO, 7 Days in Hell, starring Andy Samberg and Jon Snow Kit Harrington, who played opposing tennis players who were locked into the ultimate stalemate at Wimbledon, that lasted for seven days.
Not giving anything away, because it’s really funny, and I would implore anyone who likes tacky comedy, the utilization of fake, CGI male genitalia as cheap laughs, and the use of cultural stereotypes to watch this one-shot deal, but there’s a part where Andy Samberg is in Swedish prison, and decides to escape one day, so he can return to professional tennis. And through narration after Samberg successfully escapes, it’s explained that “by Swedish national law, successfully escaping makes him a free man.”
That’s kind of the thought that went through my head when I was reading this article about Chinese counterfeiters living the comfortable life in the United States, while blatantly hocking counterfeit products to amass their money, and hoarding it overseas in the motherland.
Yes, I know the United States has all sorts of “bigger issues” like people being butthurt over the Confederate flag, people being butthurt that gay people are allowed to marry one another, people being butthurt over the state of a fucking website, and other “hot button topics,” but counterfeiting in America has gone on practically since the dawn of the automobile, and thanks to the combination of American ambivalence, combined with the Chinese always protecting Chinese, the rough equivalent of nothing is ever, or will ever seemingly be done about it.
Honestly, I don’t really care about how counterfeiting takes money out of the pockets of the already filthy rich; I don’t care if Michael Kors or Louis Vuitton are denied a few million dollars here and there because there are people selling knockoffs of their crap for one-fiftieth the cost, but it’s more about the principle of the whole thing that I wish were defended.
But I think it’s the arrogance in which Chinese counterfeiters exhibit by being so blatant and unabashed by their piracy that annoys me, and I wish that something would be done about it. It’s like throughout history, there’s all sorts of examples of Chinese cheating without abandon, whether it’s fielding 14-year old gymnasts in the Olympics, making movies that shamelessly lift concepts and characters from existing properties, to shit like all the counterfeiting, it’s just like how can an entire culture be so ethically differing from so many other countries in the world?
The fact that it goes so high up the ladder, and that Chinese crooks get all the protection in the world from Chinese government, for no other reason than their nationality, makes me wonder just how far can the circumstances go before even the government has to stop and think “whoa, maybe even we can’t justify this, just because they’re Chinese.” Like I’m sure a Chinese murderer could go on a killing spree in Los Angeles, escape to China, and be able to basically get away with it, so it seems.
Either way, stories like this, about a notorious counterfeiter living comfortable in America disgusts me. Here it is, right out in the open, and nobody does a got damn thing about it.
