Posted on 03/25/2008 4:48:31 AM PDT by SJackson
The long-suffering Tibetans have been in the news. This happens perhaps once or twice a decade. In a more moral world, however, public opinion would be far more preoccupied with Tibetans than with Palestinians, would be as harsh on China as it is on Israel, and would be as fawning on Israel as it now is on China. But, alas, the world is, as it has always been, a largely mean-spirited and morally insensitive place, where might is far more highly regarded than right.
Consider the facts: Tibet, at least 1,400 years old, is one of the world's oldest nations, has its own language, its own religion and even its own ethnicity. Over 1 million of its people have been killed by the Chinese, its culture has been systematically obliterated, 6,000 of its 6,200 monasteries have been looted and destroyed, and most of its monks have been tortured, murdered or exiled.
Palestinians have none of these characteristics. There has never been a Palestinian country, never been a Palestinian language, never been a Palestinian ethnicity, never been a Palestinian religion in any way distinct from Islam elsewhere. Indeed, "Palestinian" had always meant any individual living in the geographic area called Palestine. For most of the first half of the 20th century, "Palestinian" and "Palestine" almost always referred to the Jews of Palestine. The United Jewish Appeal, the worldwide Jewish charity that provided the nascent Jewish state with much of its money, was actually known as the United Palestine Appeal. Compared to Tibetans, few Palestinians have been killed, its culture has not been destroyed nor its mosques looted or plundered, and Palestinians have received billions of dollars from the international community. Unlike the dying Tibetan nation, there are far more Palestinians today than when Israel was created.
None of this means that a distinct Palestinian national identity does not now exist. Since Israel's creation such an identity has arisen and does indeed exist. Nor does any of this deny that many Palestinians suffered as a result of the creation of the third Jewish state in the area, known -- since the Romans renamed Judea -- as "Palestine."
But it does mean that of all the causes the world could have adopted, the Palestinians' deserved to be near the bottom and the Tibetans' near the top. This is especially so since the Palestinians could have had a state of their own from 1947 on, and they have caused great suffering in the world, while the far more persecuted Tibetans have been characterized by a morally rigorous doctrine of nonviolence.
So, the question is, why? Why have the Palestinians received such undeserved attention and support, and the far more aggrieved and persecuted and moral Tibetans given virtually no support or attention?
The first reason is terror. Some time ago, the Palestinian leadership decided, with the overwhelming support of the Palestinian people, that murdering as many innocent people -- first Jews, and then anyone else -- was the fastest way to garner world attention. They were right. On the other hand, as The Economist notes in its March 28, 2008 issue, "Tibetan nationalists have hardly ever resorted to terrorist tactics…" It is interesting to speculate how the world would have reacted had Tibetans hijacked international flights, slaughtered Chinese citizens in Chinese restaurants and temples, on Chinese buses and trains, and massacred Chinese schoolchildren.
The second reason is oil and support from powerful fellow Arabs. The Palestinians have rich friends who control the world's most needed commodity, oil. The Palestinians have the unqualified support of all Middle Eastern oil-producing nations and the support of the Muslim world beyond the Middle East. The Tibetans are poor and have the support of no nations, let alone oil-producing ones.
The third reason is Israel. To deny that pro-Palestinian activism in the world is sometimes related to hostility toward Jews is to deny the obvious. It is not possible that the unearned preoccupation with the Palestinians is unrelated to the fact that their enemy is the one Jewish state in the world. Israel's Jewishness is a major part of the Muslim world's hatred of Israel. It is also part of Europe's hostility toward Israel: Portraying Israel as oppressors assuages some of Europe's guilt about the Holocaust -- "see, the Jews act no better than we did." Hence the ubiquitous comparisons of Israel to Nazis.
A fourth reason is China. If Tibet had been crushed by a white European nation, the Tibetans would have elicited far more sympathy. But, alas, their near-genocidal oppressor is not white. And the world does not take mass murder committed by non-whites nearly as seriously as it takes anything done by Westerners against non-Westerners. Furthermore, China is far more powerful and frightening than Israel. Israel has a great army and nuclear weapons, but it is pro-West, it is a free and democratic society, and it has seven million people in a piece of land as small as Belize. China has nuclear weapons, has a trillion U.S. dollars, an increasingly mighty army and navy, is neither free nor democratic, is anti-Western, and has 1.2 billion people in a country that dominates the Asian continent.
A fifth reason is the world's Left. As a general rule, the Left demonizes Israel and has loved China since it became Communist in 1948. And given the power of the Left in the world's media, in the political life of so many nations, and in the universities and the arts, it is no wonder vicious China has been idolized and humane Israel demonized.
The sixth reason is the United Nations, where Israel has been condemned in more General Assembly and Security Council resolutions than any other country in the world. At the same time, the UN has voted China onto its Security Council and has never condemned it. China's sponsoring of Sudan and its genocidal acts against its non-Arab black population, as in Darfur, goes largely unremarked on at the UN, let alone condemned, just as is the case with its cultural genocide, ethnic cleansing and military occupation of Tibet.
The seventh reason is television news, the primary source of news for much of mankind. Aside from its leftist tilt, television news reports only what it can video. And almost no country is televised as much as Israel, while video reports in Tibet are forbidden, as they are almost anywhere in China except where strictly monitored by the Chinese authorities. No video, no TV news. And no TV, no concern. So while grieving Palestinians and the accidental killings of Palestinians during morally necessary Israeli retaliations against terrorists are routinely televised, the slaughter of over a million Tibetans and the extinguishing of Tibetan Buddhism and culture are non-events as far as television news is concerned.
The world is unfair, unjust and morally twisted. And rarely more so than in its support for the Palestinians -- no matter how many innocents they target for murder and no matter how much Nazi-like anti-Semitism permeates their media -- and its neglect of the cruelly treated, humane Tibetans.
Do Tibetans hate America as much as the Pali’s do? If not it’s a strategy they should consider. It would get them more MSM attention.
“Limited edition” ping
Tibetans don’t hate Jews.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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Not a lot of oil money backing Tibetans?
Tibetans don’t go around blowing themselves up trying to kill innocent people?
World afraid of pissing off the damn Chi-coms?
Tibetans are the victims of a violent, socialist dictatorship; they have to be portrayed as ungrateful crackpots who need to appreciate the benefits the People's Republic of China generously confers on the them.
Amen to that.
While following the tune of one drum, many may listen to the beat of the other for one tune or another.
eg, the tune of Abortion.
The sixth reason is the United Nations, where Israel has been condemned in more General Assembly and Security Council resolutions than any other country in the world. At the same time, the UN has voted China onto its Security Council and has never condemned it. China's sponsoring of Sudan and its genocidal acts against its non-Arab black population, as in Darfur, goes largely unremarked on at the UN, let alone condemned, just as is the case with its cultural genocide, ethnic cleansing and military occupation of Tibet.
Truth indeed, for those who love truth over deception. If Tibet were terrorist, they would get a seat at the U.N. and the world might pay closer attention. But the slaughter of innocents by homicidal communist, autocrat, and Islamic governments of the world is of no concern to the majority of people as long as their ox is not being gored.
Global intellegentsia is anti-God. This factor alone places them within the sphere of influence of demonic regimes. Elitist self proclaimed intellectuals fervently believe in the demonic.
Note the extreme vitriol with which they condemn Bush II, referring to him as satanic. What they dislike about him is not his policies, politics or style of governing. It is his personal relationship with God.
Tibetans will never receive the concern of the intelligentsia. They are far too sincere in their religious beliefs. They do not accept the authority of strong men. They are aligned with the powers of goodness and light, with the God of the universe. Liberals are incapable of respect for such Godly people.
ML/NJ
My understanding is that the Dalai Lama has them studying Jewish history to gain some understanding of how a nation can survive a diaspora experience.
ML/NJ
Wonderful commentary! This goes to the homeschool today (where only the best are delivered). Thanks for posting it, SJ!
Easy,
1.The Tibetans have no desire or intention of destroying America so the left has little interest in them.
2. The Tibetans do not slaughter innocent women and children, often thier own, as a means of political action and there for do not interest the left.
Because they’re squeaky wheels and because the Tibetans have ‘offended’ a country beloved by the msm.
Tibetans also aren’t anti-Western.
That’s the biggest thing for leftists. In college they got indoctrinated into the idea that Western (white) Civilization is the root of all evil in the world.
Abortion, I have come to realize, is the quintessential good vs evil proxy battle here on earth.
It is also the quintessential “LIBERAL” issue.
“Liberalism” (which is NOT about liberty) is, at its core, defined as
“using force to make those who make good decisions (the innocent) pay for the alleviation of the consequences of those who make bad decisions (the irresponsible)”. And, more specifically, the only “freedom” that the left supports are those related to sexual matters.
With the abortion issue, we have the MOST INNOCENT human life, the unborn baby, paying WITH ITS LIFE, for frivolous sexual behavioral decisions of the irresponsible.
Good observations.
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