And pretend it didn’t happen.

Just look at the timestamp of this post to see what period of time we’re in. Propaganda briefings have dispensed with what happened decades ago and just made reference to the fact that “the sensitive time and period is nigh”. Of course, Twitter and Facebook continue to be invisible to the nation of 1.3 billion and counting unless you “reroute”, but even local equivalents like, say, Douban, are feeling the heat.

“Be sure to handle the situation correctly,” goes the superior directive. Instead of letting folks “remember”, they’ve decided to basically make sure tomorrow’s as silent as it goes. Every year around this time, folks are on edge. The “counter-revolutionary riots” 21 years ago, as the officialspeak describe it, is both invisible and visible. Visibility is extremely high on Twitter and sites outside China, where people won’t just let the day go by without muttering something about it. And yet, if you’re local, chances are your fellow locals are either too scared or too misinformed to know or talk anything about it.

When you can’t talk, dodge. Lest any kind of “e-uprising” or “e-remembrance” take place, sites in China are already in the business of silently limiting what you can do with your signature, avatar, or anything like it. Interestingly enough, they’re already shooting themselves in the foot. The misinformed (to whom what happened tomorrow years ago is supposedly unknown to them) will find out that using certain numbers, or even wearing certain colors, might land them in hot soup. And then they might know for once and for all what happened. The attempt at silencing things actually gives the game away: by being more silent, you’re making what you don’t want known all that more known.

Most likely than not, tomorrow will go by silently. Interactive sites will choose to do their yearly maintenance this time of year, which in itself is an euphemism of sorts.

Thing is, folks likely won’t forget. (At least those in the know.)