The Big Picture

Here’s a great comment left under the article quoted below.  The name used was Jack Chen, so I assume he’s of Chinese descent.

The problem with China is not about ethnic rivalries… The problem is that all races have been oppressed equally. But those in the West who assign their own racial frameworks only serve to alienate and subvert the 1.2 billion Han Chinese needed to bring more rights to everyone in “China”.

For every Tibetan temple destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, another 100 Confucius/Daoist/Buddhist temple were destroyed. For every TIbetan jailed for “subversion”, there have been 1000 Han Chinese for the same activities. For every Tibetan persecuted for religion, another 10,000 Han Chinese suffer the same fate.

But when you shout Free Tibet and “Down with China”, you are conveying an Anti-China sentiment that Chinese people recoil and react negatively, so deep is the sensitivities to the idea that “Foreigners Know Best”. This is not just Communist propaganda. It is the same overwhelming sentiment that led the the rise of the KMT to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, that led Chinese students to take to the streets on May 4, 1919.

Too many kind-hearted folks in the West believe that things are black and white. I’d caution everyone to make such simplistic solutions, much the same way we believed Iraq was a cakewalk, and that the people would naturally unite once Saddam fell.

What the Free-Tibet crowd don’t realize is that their actions have given the communist party popular legitimacy in China to reduce all the hard-won political/civil gains that activists have given their lives too.

What I find ironic is that the same liberal activists who wailed incessantly about the nuance and “shades of gray” necessary to deal with Iraq are taking such a blinkered, black and white approach to this issue.  I guess “Deal logically with China over Tibet” doesn’t make a good bumper sticker.

“Deal logically with China” doesn’t seem to be in anyone’s playbook, let alone on specific issues.

I agree with the comment, that now the party has popular legitimacy to crack down. Bright move, guys.

You know, for a guy who just waiting couple weeks ago was ranting about not wanting this blog to turn into a discussion about Tibet, you’ve done a pretty good job of turning it into a discussion about Tibet. I don’t have a problem with that, but just sayin’.

As long as the gloves are apparently off, here’s my 2¢: I really don’t want to hear “oh, it’s OK for China to oppress Tibetans, because they’re ten times more oppressive to their own people.” Tibetans are not Chinese, never were Chinese, and China has no more right to invade their sovereign country than the US had to invade Iraq. Just because you CAN do something doesn’t make it right, and it’s the moral obligation of thinking people everywhere to oppose these crimes. And they are crimes.

That’s a hell of a stretch, for you to read what I wrote and think I’m some kind of apologist for China.  Christ almighty, it never ceases to amaze me the degree to which people will interpret what I write to fit whatever predetermined conclusion they wish to reach.

I’m not against protesting, I’m saying that if you’re going to oppose something you should do it intelligently, so that you don’t end up making the problem worse. 

Before I came here I probably would have felt much as you do.  All I’m saying is that there are significant cultural forces at play here, and the vast majority of well-meaning protesters don’t understand them.

You know, for a guy who just waiting couple weeks ago was ranting about not wanting this blog to turn into a discussion about Tibet, you’ve done a pretty good job of turning it into a discussion about Tibet. I don’t have a problem with that, but just sayin’.

Actually, this isn’t a place for people to come here and complain about Tibet.  if you want to protest, do it somewhere else.  The point of these posts, if you read them accurately without reading in your own agenda, is to explain that as much as people think they’re helping, they’re actually hurting their own cause by legitimizing what the CCP has been telling the Chinese people about foreigners.  We’re playing right to the stereotype.

If you want to set back these causes by 100 years, keep disrupting the Olympics.  That’s all I’m saying.

We all know the only positive end result for protesting in the US is for said protesters to feel good about themselves, belong to a cause and to not do anything really helpful, inconvenient of require much effort.

If they want to protest for real then they need to go to Tibet or China, otherwise STFU!

The torch run in S.F. turned out to be the most pathetic public display I’ve ever seen.  Those protesters must be sucking each other double. So noble. Douchebags.