Tibet as a whole may be better off now than they would have been without the Chinese takeover, but it should have been their choice.
Exactly right, as is your parallel with Iraq.
One of the remarkable (in a bad way) comments in Parenti's article is towards the conclusion: "Whether Chinese rule has brought betterment or disaster is is not the central issue here. The question is what kind of country was old Tibet".
What utter nonsense! This pathological obsession with what a backward theocracy was like some sixty years ago has no relevance whatsoever to the fact that there is a brutal occupation now which murders people because of the conscience, which is systematically destroying a culture and denies even the most trivial human rights.
When I'm not so furious about this I may even compose a more subtle letter to Dr. Parenti and hopefully point out this terrible misjudgement.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-03 11:47 am (UTC)Exactly right, as is your parallel with Iraq.
One of the remarkable (in a bad way) comments in Parenti's article is towards the conclusion: "Whether Chinese rule has brought betterment or disaster is is not the central issue here. The question is what kind of country was old Tibet".
What utter nonsense! This pathological obsession with what a backward theocracy was like some sixty years ago has no relevance whatsoever to the fact that there is a brutal occupation now which murders people because of the conscience, which is systematically destroying a culture and denies even the most trivial human rights.
When I'm not so furious about this I may even compose a more subtle letter to Dr. Parenti and hopefully point out this terrible misjudgement.