I have already said something like this, but I do not find the subject boring

[fpb]

This is not to put down the oppressed Tibetans. But all the people who now notice that there is oppression, ethnic swamping, cultural suppression and destruction in Tibet - did they only notice it now? And why is Tibet special, when the rest of China is ruled with the same methods? Does tyranny only become unacceptable when it touches an ancient (and frankly backward - Tibet before 1959 was no haven of freedom or enlightenment) culture that has a faddish hold on certain areas of Hollywood? Did the regime that gave you the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Tien-an-men Square massacre, and infinite other acts of inhumanity and cold-blooded criminality, only begin to be despicable a month or two ago? I find the West's attitude to China quite incomprehensible.

Comments

[theswordmaiden.livejournal.com]

did they only notice it now?

Not from my point of view. I've been hearing "Free Tibet" type things for as long as I can remember. I've always heard people complaining about it. Though not much discussion otherwise, that is, I don't know if Tibet before 1959 as you mentioned is really common knowledge (as well as the Cultural Revolution et al. Besides, there are so many people in the West that I can hardly say what the West's attitude is as a whole -- where do I look?).

[fpb.livejournal.com]

What really annoys me is the way that the media are treating the insurrection of Tibet as though it were something new and unexpected, rather than one of the longest and bloodiest running sores in the international body politic. I already remarked on the absurdity of someone like Stephen Spielberg taking a commission from the PRC to design the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, when everyone knew what the Chinese government was like, only to resign noisily when Tibet began to be an issue. As I already said, the perfect word for this kind of attitude is in the Gospel: "You blind guides, who strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel!"