Annihilation of conscience?
A Chinese blogger, Qiu Ziming, has been jailed for slandering heroes and martyrs
after criticising Chinese soldiers who died during clashes at the border with India.
Mr Qiu was also ordered to publicly apologise. He appeared on state broadcaster CCTV where he said he was "extremely ashamed" of himself. "My behaviour was an annihilation of conscience," he said, according to the Global Times.
I understand that sometimes things can get lost in translation, and I'm sure that Mr Qiu is contrite, especially since he's only going to spend eight months in jail, but annihilation of conscience
is curious. It sounds more like the work of a grovelingly enthusiastic Communist party lackey.
You don't suppose the apology was written for him, do you? (thinking)