America, China, and Tibet

Chinese propagandists are posting on the web, saying we should go to the Olympics because we sent Jesse Owens to the Nazi-hosted Olympics. Bringing up Jesse Owens is a red herring, because, of course, sending an African American to compete in the Berlin Olympics was a rebuke to Nazi racism. There is no such point to be made by simply sending athletes to the Chinese Olympics.

We could make our point by doing as Ms. Pelosi suggested, and boycotting the opening ceremonies. Better yet, if we could find athletes with the courage, would be for them to wear black armbands to the Olympics, and have them explain to reporters that they were in mourning for the Tibetan people. That would be a gesture worthy of Mr. Owens!

The Olympic torch was lit recently in China, but it isn't the torch the Chinese people wanted. Their torch was held aloft by their statue of the Goddess of Liberty, the one that they built. That torch was torn down, and the people were attacked and killed or jailed by the "People's" army in Tiananmen square in 1989.

Young adults in China today know nothing of this, because the Chinese government propaganda machine has vilified the more than one hundred thousand patriots who demonstrated for freedom that day, and dismissed them as a few anti-social hooligans.

This vilification process is, of course, taking place today in China, only it is currently directed against the Tibetan demonstrators and the Dalai Lama. If the Tiananmen Square demonstrators had been successful in reforming the Chinese government, I doubt if there would have been the demonstrations in Tibet, because the people of Tibet would probably have had far fewer grievances. You can see a photo of the "Goddess of Liberty" and read about the Tiananmen Square massacre on Wikipedia- just Google: Wikipedia Tiananmen Square Massacre

Now the Chinese government asks us to believe that the pacifistic Buddhist monks of Tibet are preparing to become suicide bombers. I see that China's leader, Hu Jintao has been swotting up on Mein Kampf by Adolph Hitler, with particular attention to "The Big Lie." Read all about it by Googling: Wikipedia the big lie . For that matter, the claim that Tibet was always a part of China is another 'Big Lie,' and it is exactly what the Nazis said when they invaded Czechoslovakia. Google: Wikipedia Joseph Goebbels

Great discussion. Keep up the good work.

I am a Chinese living in China right now and frankly I don't feel oppressed. I myself travel in and out of China very often but I do not feel any thing weird or being monitored by Chinese government or secret agents.

I am one of the last person that anyone would consider a CCP supporter or Ultra-Nationalist. But I just can't help myself to defend China every time I see a 'genocide olympics' group or read about one of Nancy Pelosi's speeches about how China is 'evil'.

As a chinese myself, when I see people attack China, I can't help but feel attacked myself. Many people that are screaming 'boycott Beijing Olympics' doesn't even care about Chinese people nor have any knowledge about Chinese history.

Many of the boycotters just wise to have the benefits of self satisfaction and think that they saved lives.

To Mr. Dunn above me:

Please do not think that this section is meant in any way to be disrespectfull to you. It is not. But if boycotters like yourself really care about the people of China then why are you claiming to advocate for freedom of speech yet dismiss our views as communist propaganda? I find that this act of attempt to discredit Chinese internet users by dismissing us as communism propagandists is really sad and pathetic.

Reading Mr. Dunn's comment followed by Mr. Chan's comments raises the question: which of the comments reads most like the propaganda Mr. Dunn says he abhors? Wikipedia, Mr. Dunn's vehicle and recommended source is a useful and remarkable child of the cyber age. But lest we forget Wikipedia is also an encyclopedia to which any reader can contribute. This includes readers, like Mr. Dunn, who makes claims that are open to question. "The Olympic torch is not the torch the Chinese people wanted?" That will be news to most of the Chinese people who have an understandable pride in coming of age and hosting this year's summer Olympic games. "Young adults in China know nothing of this...." is Mr. Dunn's statement referring to what he assumes to be ignorance of world events by people inside China. Not so. China has just surpassed the United States in the number of Internet users, and the number continues to grow at the rate of 5 million per month. Yes, there are selective sites blocked on the Internet in China but news of the world is readily available. Including most of the world's newspapers (large and small), news websites, to say nothing of the more than one billion sms messages that flow through China's mobile system every day, hundreds of millions of email messages connecting Chinese citizens and people around the world. Discussion of Tibet has been lively among Chinese bloggers (more bloggers than any other country). A respected group of Chinese intellectuals went public with an open letter to their government critical of a lack of a negotiated approach to the Tibet issue. And yesterday the Chinese government reported opening talks between representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Central government.
There have been faults on both sides after the eruption of violence in Lhasa, but the ultimate fault to assume that one side wears white hats and the other side black hats. Mr. Chan reflects a China that is increasingly home to rational debate. Perhaps Mr. Dunn might test his assumptions about China by visiting a country whose reality is far removed from the image his impassioned remarks reflect.