It's April 1st in China: No fooling

King Lear and the Fool in the Storm   (by William Dyce)

Along with such "foolish" concepts as human rights, foolishness itself is now being targeted by the Chinese government.

Fools will allegedly go where angels fear to tread, and that is not good news for a regime that thrives on tight boundaries.

The Communist Party’s key “propaganda organ,” Xinhua News Agency, has therefore deemed that April Fool’s  Day does not reflect the “socialist core values” of today’s China.  Citizens have been warned to “not believe in, start or spread rumors.”

Now a rumor can be tantamount to a lie.  And it says quite plainly in the Ten Commandments:  Thou shalt not lie.

So is the Chinese government right on target?  Should (can?) foolishness be forbidden?  Or does the fool on the hill know something the rest of us don’t?

Resources

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chinese-news-agency-tells-readers-to-ignore-april-fools-day/ar-BBrdC5G?li=BBnbfcL

Copyright April 1, 2016 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved