pollipops: Haze of Our Lives
Here at TheGuestRoom we like to be fair and balanced. There’s one story that is getting a lot of air time out here and around the world. Pollution in China!
And my guess is that you have been hearing a lot of bad things like how pollution is bad and how it’s killing us, etc. etc.
However, two prominent ‘news’ outlets from China recently reported the upsides to this supposed crisis. Here they are, in random and extremely positive order!
1. It unifies the Chinese people.
Nothing brings people together like a good old chat. Whether it be about sports, politics or deadly toxins from burnt coal infiltrating our lungs and taking years off of our lives.
2. It makes China more equal.
Air pollution doesn’t discriminate! The poor breathe in just as much bad air as the rich. We’re all dying together! Tough to get fairer than that!!
3. It raises awareness of the cost of China’s economic development.
Money doesnt’ grow on trees people! Think of smog as a free lesson on appreciating what you have. Obviously we couldn’t see the outstanding economic success in China without pollutants! Join us! When you see smog, or can’t see ten feet in front of you, think about how lucky you are to be working in a factory making someone else rich so that he can spend more than you make in a year on a single roulette spin.
4. It makes people funnier.
Who doesn’t enjoy a good smog joke?! What do you get when you cross a coal factory in Harbin with a human?
An early death !!
5. It teaches us a new English word, haze.
Now, they had me until this one. This could quite possibly be the smallest upside ever. Sure, we are dealing with crippling pollution that was thick enough to shut down an airport, but how cool is that word?! Haze!
We could have learnt this word from Jimi Hendrix, but how unfunny is that song?!
Health officials predict that there will be 4 million new cases of lung cancer each year by 2020. Now that may seem like a big number to you, but let’s remember that China has more than a billion people! 4 million is just a small drop in the bucket!
Let’s come together! The glass is always half full and I’m sure you have some great smog jokes. Let’s hear them! Leave me your best pollution joke in the comments below.
And stay alive people!
Mr. J
The Guest Room 
My Shanghainese friend told me that he was used to the pollution … It’s when he travels to Switzerland that he struggles: the air being to ‘pure’ for his lungs :-O
Lol! Yea that makes sense!!;)
Just because you get a stronger tolerance for something doesn’t mean it isn’t deadly…. Like alcohol lol
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