Wang's poem has the overtone that, because of all the attention, a victim will "feel happy as a ghost". While this is disrespectful to the victims, he is not alone in this line of reasoning.
Shortly after the quake, I heard someone saying earthquake victims got "great postmortem honor". I was aghast. Yes, a victim would not have got a national memorial with three days of mourning if he or she died a natural death or was killed in a traffic accident. But to invoke the concept of "postmortem honor" is to put all of us back into the feudal era when subjects kowtowed to the monarch in gratitude even if the latter "condemned him to death".
The same logic applies to Wang's poem, in which he also "prays for a screen to be installed at the grave" so that "I", the victim, can watch the Olympic celebrations.
Not only is Wang not deferential to the victims, he is besmirching our leaders. By relentless fawning, he has inadvertently painted the leaders, whose presence and leadership were part of their "humanity-oriented policy", into emperor-like figures dispensing benevolence like a parent doling out candy.
The third party that Wang tarnishes in his poem is the image of the quake-zone people. We all remember the scene of young survivors standing at a roadside holding up banners that read "We thank you for your help!" That feeling of gratefulness was so spontaneous and beautiful. Even if victims could speak from beyond this world and want to express appreciation, it would not be what Wang spouted. It would be something simple and heartfelt, not chokingly schmaltzy.
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