21/03/2008

China and Tibet?

I've been aware of the situation for some time, but today I decided to try and get another view on the conflict. I didn't find anything that wasn't bullshit though, so the only thing that happened was that I got pissed of that there wasn't anyone giving me any real information about the Chinese view on the conflict. I know, hardly comes as a surprise, and I was in favor of Tibetan independence before this thing escalated, but at least I tried. The only thing I've found so far is a barrage of YouTube comments about Tibetan terrorist, western medias lies about the Chinese, and a few people advocating genocide of the Tibetan people. Seriously though, I think most people who have any concept of the ideas of freedom and democracy in general has some beef with the Chinese government. The fact that they obviously really like to censor things that are the least bit critical against the ruling party, anything western media reports on what's going on in China, and so on. So, this either means that the media from the rest of the world lies, or that Chinese media does, and the government doesn't want the people to see it. And this is a democracy how? Sure, some resctriction on freedom of speech is acceptable, just spewing hate and lies for instance, but people expressing their honest opinions in a factual and friendly way? And these are the things we know. Then there's a list of things we've heard, but are yet to be confirmed: Torture of political prisoners. Murder and organ harvesting of prisoners. Secret workers contracts, limiting the actions for people working abroad. This essentially turns factories in, for example, the United States into a part of China. Women given the choice between abortion, or losing their job. These things are not what worries me though. What really makes me worry, and should make anyone with half a brain worry, is the fact that a majority of the Chinese people doesn't seem to care about the obvious corruption and lies by their own government. If I was so inclined, I could compare the current China with Germany before the Nazis got into power. The only problem is, the dictators are already in power in China. The thought amongst the people is: "A strong China is a good China." But this does not take into account what this strength is based on. As long as most people are living comfortable lives with a decent income, they turn a blind eye towards their regime. Thought the fact that Steven Spielberg decided to quit his post as an artistic consultant for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing drew some attention to the situation, most the Chinese media called him "naive", and said that his time in Hollywood has affected his mind. Though I'm sure living in Hollywood will affect you, I'm also quite sure that Spielberg still has some sort of basic humanity in him. I mean, most people are for human rights, as long as they don't personally lose something because of them. I, for one, will boycott this years Olympics. Hopefully a few countries will do the same thing, but that's probably not very likely. Thought they might feel different if China invades Taiwan.

Blog Archive