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Comment by PakG1 | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure why they would ban Winnie the Pooh. If I were Xi, I think it would be a fantastic image-softening strategy. Look at him, he's like Winnie the Pooh, so cute and cuddly and trustworthy! I would have totally taken the Winnie the Pooh thing and made it my own subliminally, and I think it would have worked well, because it's not contrived; it came from the people first.

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Because the Winnie the Pooh meme is about Xi's relationship with Obama and the USA. It comes from photos of them walking together a few years ago. It's not a flattering depiction. More because it was seen as Xi being a little too friendly and kowtowing to Obama. Since then Winnie the Pooh images have been repeatedly banned at politically sensitive times.

[*] https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/18/asia/china-pooh-censor-trnd/i...

It's because dictators tend to become petty and take everything personally because they think they can afford to do that.

This is the #1 reason why countries should not fall under dictatorship. Humans are flawed, and flawed rulers with a lot of power are extremely dangerous. They tend to retaliate aggressively either against individuals or other countries because there are no "checks and balances" to keep them from abusing their power when they get emotional about something.

This is how you can easily end-up with insane decisions at the highest-level of a government such as "banning the letter N" because the ruler's feeling were hurt. And this is just an example. We'll see many more like this once he's officially declared a dictator (or Permanent President, or "The Senate" - whatever they decide to call him).

> become petty and take everything personally because they think they can afford to do that.

Not just dictators but also, as we've seen recently, US presidents too.

You'd have to ask a Chinese native whether their connotations are the same. It's possible the connotations of Winnie the Pooh took a twist on their way East. For instance, it would not be hard to see Pooh primarily as a childish wimp or something.

Anyone got any direct knowledge of the Chinese connotations of "Winnie the Pooh"?

Do you fear Winnie the Pooh?

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