Tibet in Its "Proper Context"
Joshua Foust reminds us of the unromantic Tibet. And then, he offers this sage, post-Kosovo advice:
However simply looking down upon China with Holy Western Outrage is not a solution. Ignoring the priggish and quite frankly offensive Han chauvinism (dwarfing even the gaudiest excesses of American chauvinism, which rarely goes beyond empty sloganeering and angry TV pundits), the current Chinese government—which kindly props up our entire financial system through its generous purchasing of our securities and bonds and cheap exports—literally stakes its existence on the government's infallibility. Allowing Tibet independence would require allowing Xinjiang independence… which would also require Taiwan's independence. Many Americans would cheer at the prospect, but hopefully not with the understanding that Chinese society is actually much less homogeneous and far less stable than the CCP likes us to realize. And, like it or not, a stable China means a stable America. We disrupt that at our own peril.
So yes, let us join hands with the spiritual, romantic Tibetan people—I cannot deny their appeal. But let us also do so in a proper context, taking a sober look at the true history and true issues surrounding it. Nothing in anyone's past can justify the horrors visited upon any of the CCP's hundreds of millions of victims. But that is why we should agitate for their redress in a constructive manner—which precludes angrily stomping our feet and shouting slogans. Brave people are literally dying for their freedom in China: let us do them the courtesy of seriously advancing their concerns.
The rest of the post is more informative than all of those western deconstructions on CNN.
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5 comments
1 month and 3 days ago
I say NO Olympic Games in a nation without human rights!
1 month and 10 days ago
It's only because we live so close to the source, you know, right?
I hear that snide retort. Expats, and natives, in Asia, just don't understand the world! Or, so I'm told!
1 month and 10 days ago
Finally another sane voice in the wilderness.
Human rights. Jesus H. Christ!
Tibet is one of the most gender-segregated (i.e. patriarchal), most feudal of contemporary societies. You've got monks at the top of the social pyramid, doing nothing but «pray» all day while squeezing the labour surplus of those who prostate themselves in the name of the dalai lama. Forgive me while I puke.
1 month and 12 days ago
There's no personal liberty without general stability.
1 month and 13 days ago
«And, like it or not, a stable China means a stable America. We disrupt that at our own peril.»
So self preservation and US stability is the ultimate principle ? Not freedom, human rights ?
Wake up time for the world ?
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