This is scary:
For a little background, Brendan Kavanagh is a pianist and a Youtuber with over 2 million subscribers. His biggest “thing” is playing at public pianos and playing, but also getting people interested in talking with or performing with him. Being public pianos, the instruments are not in the greatest shape, Kavanagh has a knack not just at getting the most out of the instruments, but getting the best in the people that he interacts with, inviting them to chat, play the piano, sing, or dance. It’s uplifting, and this world certainly needs more of that!
Here, though, he’s being bullied by Chinese Communists. Who they are and what or who they represent is almost beside the point; they come up to him and demand that none of them show up on the internet. Never mind the man is doing a livestream with hundreds of viewers, so that train has already left the station. When he points out that they’re in a public place in Britain, and he’s got the right to film, there’s a lot of agitation, and almost a threatening vibe from the man who is speaking to Kavanagh. This man does not take “no” easily.
The group gets the police involved, and it’s obvious that the police just want to “smooth over everything”. The Chinese man accused Kavanagh of being a racist, which, if I understand correctly, could get Kavanagh in legal trouble under the guise of “non-criminal hate incident” – don’t laugh, it’s a real thing – and Kavanagh points out that he’s got the whole thing on camera, that he called them “communists” because they’re literally walking around the train station with their red scarves and Chinese communist flags.
Because Kavanagh refused to buckle, both under the pressure of the Chinese group and the police, he was able to walk away from the incident. However, the video has blown up, and the internet rumor is that this may actually have risen to an “international incident” behind the scenes.
One would hope that Kavanagh’s life isn’t ruined by this, that he won’t have to worry about some CCP goon getting revenge on him sometime down the line. On the flip side, I feel a little sorry for the Chinese group – they’re doing exactly what they’ve been programmed to do, and I think it’s ended up embarrassing China. Chinese people who embarrass China have a lot to worry about as well…
Here’s an interview with Kavanagh that came out about a month ago after he had an issue with security services before Christmas. It’s quite interesting; the man has a PhD in English and Latin and quit teaching because he got frustrated with the system, and he became a Youtuber rockstar…
Fascinating. His persona out in public is a little dumb when it comes to authority, like “I’m just a dumb guy chasing Youtube stardom at a piano, you’ve got better people to pick on.” Hearing him interviewed here, though, he’s quite sharp, and makes a lot of important observations.
After hearing the interview, it’s much less surprising to hear that he dug in his heels with the Chinese group, and God bless him for it. I think most people would have just concluded that it wasn’t worth the effort to keep arguing with them, that in the grand scheme of things, these little acts of defiance don’t matter. However, they do. No one expected this to become an “international incident”, and I’m not saying that Kavanagh won’t suffer for it, but he demonstrates that when it comes to matters of conscience, the choice to say “no” still exists. That is more important than words can express.
I leave you with a few of Kavanagh’s “hits” – hopefully, it’ll be a joyful experience to listen to.
A random aspiring opera singer:
Add a violin:
Mr. Boogie Woogie and Mr. Jazz
How to fascinate three Dutch girls:
Breathtakingly beautiful. Parts of this remind me a little bit of Yann Tiersen:
Oh, and please, whatever you do, don’t go sharing this tweet around
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Breath of Hallelujah 
I don’t get it – The Chinese who are subject to facial recognition technology and government control in China are wanting to go around privately in public in other countries? They should wear masks, I guess.
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That “right to image”, apparently, is a thing in China, for some people, at least, and apparently, the girl who did most of the talking is being sued for that exact thing in China. Their group was filming, too, and I can’t help but think they are Chinese with CCP privileges far above what most Chinese people have. A dear friend of mine married a Chinese woman; she’s a Christian and hates the communist government, but she says nothing online because her parents and her brother and his family are still in China (her parents dared have a second child near the beginning of the “one child” policy, before the brutal enforcement kicked in.) China assumes that all Chinese “belong” to them, and apparently are setting up “police stations” in cities around the world to make sure “their people” stay in line. It’s absolutely chilling. (https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/04/at-least-6-more-secret-chinese-police-stations-in-us-says-report/ and yes, my friend and his wife are in proximity of one of the locations listed.)
It boggles the mind how the CCP demands that the rest of the world bow down to it and how much of the rest of the world seems to do it without a fuss. Seeing somebody stand up to something like this – even if it’s a small incident – is inspirational to me.
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That hardhat guy is amazing! Thanks for posting these fun videos ❤
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You’re welcome – and yes, the hardhat guy is fantastic! I wish he had his own channel or something! 🙂
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