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celticlord2112 -> RE: FREE TIBET NOW!!!!! (3/18/2008 6:56:24 AM)
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First I explicitly stated that China is an authoritian regime but is slowly changing, especially on the economic front.
Changing oppressive form. There is little evidence to suggest China is becoming less authoritarian.
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What I tried to express but because I used too few words the meaning was obscure is this
The US, in particular, loses much credibility when it is highly selective in deciding which authoritarian regime it will oppose.
That's mere realism. The wise man chooses his battles with great care. If you wish to argue that the US government has chosen the wrong battles, I am likely to agree with you in at least some instances, but that does not undermine to propriety of making the choice.
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Thus China bad...which it is. Kick up stink. I think the real worry is China's economic rise plus latent racism.
Iran under the Shah, say nothing and even actively support though they may be just as bad as China. The reason being the supply of Oil, which I admit has to be maintained.
important addition: the extreme military shenanigans of Israel. The US is completely isolated on this one. I accept that Israel has a right to exist and take proportionate measures to ensure their survival.
Support of various Middle Eastern regimes (the Shah as well as Saddam Hussein) was fundamentally a Cold War calculus--keep those countries out of the Soviet sphere of influence. Again, were the individual choices wrong? That can be argued, and quite persuasively in more than a few instances. That does not render the act of choosing itself suspect.
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I say again that if China has swept away those who constructed and probably wish to re introduce a slave society then what they, the Chinese, have done is not totally wrong.
In effect, you are saying it is permissible for one people to impose their will on another, so long as the will that is imposed conforms to Western ideology.
In my readings of the history of Tibet, I have not seen where there was an incipient pro-democracy movement in Tibet that prompted the Chinese invasion. I have not seen where the Tibetan people wanted to depose HH the Dalai Lama. Whether Tibetan society was just or unjust prior to the Chinese invasion does not alter the fact that it was Tibetan. China has taken many steps to dilute and in effect eradicate Tibetan society. They have even gone so far as to attempt the selection of Tibetan Lamas from Beijing, rather than in accordance with Tibetan traditions.
Such imperfections and injustices as most certainly do exist within Tibetan society do not mitigate nor absolve China for blatant territorial aggression and, yes, cultural genocide.
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Your apparent "spiritual" commitment to the teachings of the Dhalai Lama (sp) is also irrelevent .
I must admit I thought that Buddhism was a somewhat tolerant non authoritarian religion. It seems that with regard to its application in Tibet I really was wrong.
My appreciation and respect for the teachings of HH The Dalai Lama is indeed most irrelevant. This is not a religious question but a question of a people's collective right to their own society, their own culture, their own destiny. China is an invading nation. It is as wrong in Tibet as it is in Iraq.
As for Buddhism being non-authoritarian, religions are always inherently authoritarian. When you draw the line and say "This is right, that is wrong", you are at the beginning of an authoritarian stance. No religion is ever purely democratic.
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