Screw TibetA good call... Why stop with just Tibet. Let's see Democracy come to Communist China. Posted by DaveH at April 8, 2008 9:24 PM
I was halfway through a piece mocking those who are protesting the travels of the Olympic torch on its way around the world to Beijing, but I had to trash it. I was going to lambaste them for raising their concerns now, and not back when it was still possible to deny the Games to China in the first place. I even was comparing it to the "concerns" people have about the Democratic presidential primary, when they've suddenly discovered the role of the superdelegates (so secretly that the system has been in place for decades) now that it finally matters.
Then it struck me: this isn't about the Olympics, and keeping them safe from China. This is about sticking it to China. The Olympics are merely the excuse to do so now, and so publicly.
And it is so well deserved.
But to expand on my title, let's not make this about "Free Tibet!" That's too small, too penny-ante.
Why not "Free China?"
The most populous nation on earth is a brutally oppressive dictatorship. Roughly one out of every six human beings alive today lives at the whim of the tyrants of Beijing.
And their callous disregard for the lives of their own slaves is matched by their contempt for the lives of those who they don't own. How many Chinese-made products have been recalled in the last couple of years when it turned out that they were dangerous -- if not lethal -- to us? To our pets? To our children?
I find it ironic how American people talk about how oppressed Chinese citizens are. Having been to China multiple times, I can say they seem to live freer lives than we do now.
The government in China is letting many free market (see Capitalist) opportunities flourish in China. They also are not the Nanny state that so many here in this country seem to strive for. They haven't created laws banning the freedom to make bad decisions. No seatbelt laws, no smoking bans, etc and so on. While people in this country are busy handing over their free will in the name of security and safety, People there get to live their day to day lives relatively unmolested.
Contrary to popular belief, there are not soldiers on every street corner checking papers, police raiding houses left and right.
Yes there is a lack of respect of human life in China, when you have so very many people, they become less important as individuals than as a collective. There is always another to take the last one's place.
Another observation. The people in China who are demonstrating for democracy are the same groups in America that think Michael Moore's newest film is gospel truth.
Posted by: Fred at April 10, 2008 8:24 AM