The Oscars aren't the only contest that has piqued our attention at Hollywood East. The race to be the next Hong Kong chief executive is as unavoidable a news item these days as Britney Spears' shaved head and Anna Nicole Smith's mess. Admittedly, we're not smart enough to dissect the campaign the way the news pages can, but there are aspects of it that are interesting from a media-is-the-message perspective.
In the age of blogs, broadband and 24-hour news channels, the confluence of media and politics is such that all elections are now as much about style as substance. Local pundits have put our candidates' spin machine under the microscope, and there's lots to pick over.
One of the more interesting controversies surrounding Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's re-election bid is the wording of his slogan: 'I'll get the job done!' The phrase has been repeated in almost every speech, soundbite and ad. No doubt it's supposed to be forceful, decisive and succinct, but the almost blue-collar proclamation has also opened a can of worms.
For starters, the English version is slightly different from its Cantonese equivalent. In literal translation, the Chinese catchphrase suggests: 'I'll do it [the job] well.' It might sound like a petty difference, but critics and bloggers have had a field day with the distinction. The fact that the idea of doing the job 'well' is missing from the English version is one of the main bones of contention. Some critics have suggested it reflects a bias in Tsang's attitude to Hong Kong's English-speaking minority. He aims just to 'get the job done', but he won't necessarily do it well for this minority.
Some feel it also comes across as a rote, clock-punching attitude, in that Tsang will just go through the motions in office, but won't act like a true leader. Is this an attitude that becomes Hong Kong's chief executive, or is it perhaps better suited to some kind of office manager?
Other detractors say the variation in the slogans shows the continuing decline of English standards in the territory. Cynics say that, if even the chief executive's office can't get a translation right, what hope is there for other departments? Couldn't his staff all join hands to find a better tag line?
