the following entry was written and published on April 8, 2007 and came out in the "letters" section of HK Magazine on April 13.
In terms of Carnival Culture, our generation can well be defined by one of our favorite rides --- the bumper cars.
I’ve just recently been to the AIA World Carnival and, true enough, the bumper cars were one of the favorites because the attraction catered to almost everybody. It was neither too daring for the frail-hearted who couldn’t do the near-death-experience rides nor too boring for the thrill-seekers.
After a little over an hour of waiting, I found myself immersed in the chaos, that was one of the bumper cars’ most inviting features. Everyone was just having a blast slamming his car into other people’s and it seemed that the bumping arena was the only place in the carnival where solidarity was present. Strangers just kept screaming and laughing at each other to add fun to what may seem to be a bit of danger. It was amazing how much of a ball people could get from free-for-all chaos.
Having witnessed and experienced all this, I just couldn’t help but ask myself: “Are we a generation of closet anarchists?”
Hong Kong
