I’m not a big X Games guy, but I have to admit that watching Shaun White win on the halfpipe last night was pretty exhilarating. You could view it as an exhibition of American individualism at its finest.
It’s a mistake to think that the Chinese are automatons, because they’re anything but. However, the emphasis on the collective over the individual that is baked into Chinese culture makes it impossible for me to imagine a Chinese version of White.
There is a lesson in geopolitics there: play to your strengths, and ours is the joy of individual freedom.