Free Tibet?
I know this is going to ruffle some feathers, I do. Just like that whole taser incident, I am sure my little rant on Tibet is going to piss off some of my liberal-minded friends. I just can’t help it, though, with the recent issues regarding the Olympics in China and riots in Lhasa (Capital of Tibet) I feel compelled to explain why I couldn’t care less if Tibet is ever “free”.
I mean, could someone please explain to me why I should support a theocracy? Does anyone else notice that Tibet was a poor, theocratic dictatorship before the Chinese came in? Not only was the political system just as constricted (if not more) than the Chinese system, the complaints of torture under the Chinese (which I am sure occurs, and the Chinese are horrible for doing so) are a little strange (coming from the monks, not the people) when we found out that they did the exact same thing to their serfs and slaves (that’s right people, Tibet was a serfdom/slave holding society up until the Chinese came in….in 1951):
“In feudal Tibet, torture and mutilation–including eye gouging, the pulling out of tongues, hamstringing, and amputation–were favored punishments inflicted upon thieves, and runaway or resistant serfs.”
“Since it was against Buddhist teachings to take human life, some offenders were severely lashed and then “left to God” in the freezing night to die. “The parallels between Tibet and medieval Europe are striking,” concludes Tom Grunfeld in his book on Tibet.”
There’s more, much more. Unfortunately it is difficult to find alot of information on the reality of the Buddhist era of Tibet due to the obsession over Tibetan “freedom”. A good overview, however, can be found here.
I don’t like the Chinese government, and I don’t like theocracies; the position I take in these matters is the same as in the Palestinian-Isreali conflict, both sides are wrong and I refuse to actively support either. I don’t want Italy to be run by the pope, and I don’t want it to be run by a violent, but secular dictator either. So if the fight is between the two I find that my position must be neutral, for neither seems much better. At least under the Chinese Tibet entered into the 21st century instead of lagging back in the middle-ages.
I don’t believe in countries, I don’t believe in national rights or regional rights, I believe in human rights, liberty, and prosperity. If a nation’s liberation will enslave (or enslave further) a group of people and dramatically reduce their standards of living I can’t support it; though I do support nationalist struggles that would, in fact, liberate the people. As far as I can tell; the people of Tibet are no less oppressed than the average Chinese and wouldn’t be any better off than under his charismatic-ness, the Dalai “Pope” Lama.
Now, I know the people of Tibet have the right to choose who they want to live under; but it isn’t my job to help them install theocratic dictators (if that is what they want, which I am not entirely sure is the case).
Before I end this little blog rant I want to remind everyone that I think the Chinese treatment of Tibetan resistors is terrible, violent, and wrong. But they treat the Tibetans like they treat their own citizens, violently and tyrannically (which is exactly how the Tibetan’s were treated by their Buddhist overlords and slaveowners). I would certainly support Tibet if the struggle was by political entities that I think would actually make things better for those people (political entities with ideologies I agree with, quite frankly). There are a number of separatist movements I do care about and would like to see succeed, such as various Native American separatist tendencies and movements (should they ever gain traction within their respective communities) and the newly created Kosovo nation (though I fear the country will be short-lived for reasons I may elaborate on in a later blog).
However you feel about the Tibetan situation, I am willing to bet you are not willing to hand your home, town, city, county, or state over to Native American tribes, are you? It’s silly to protest and boycott the Olympics over just the Tibetan issue (though there are plenty of other reasons to do so). Until I see Richard Gere hand over his mansion to the Sioux (or whatever Native American people lived, and were forcibly evicted from, the land his house now sits on) I won’t be jumping on this bandwagon any time soon.
As Americans I don’t feel we have much room to talk. Whatever the Chinese are doing now to the Tibetans we did a hundred fold on more than one Native American nation. Remember, Tibet is still full of Tibetans; in the Americas it is hard to spot a true Native. While China stole a sizeable territory to add to its domain the United States literally stole ALL of its territory, we all live on stolen land; possessed by a people who the U.S. largely murdered, raped, pillaged, and reeducated. We need to clean up our own house and make amends with those we wronged in the past (and currently wrong) before we start harping on other countries for their wrongs.
Oh lord, I didn’t even need to mention Iraq, did I? How many Iraqi’s have been killed so far? Is it near the 100,000 mark? Maybe we should clean up that mess first, at least? Seeing we, as Americans, are directly responsible for what’s going on?
I encourage everyone to really take a look at the facts, do abit of research, and argue with me until we’re all blue in the face. It’s been awhile since I had a good shout-fest.