Chinese Americans that I have spoken to likewise express the same sentiment; they love their homeland but hate its practices.

Chinese nationals are never allowed access to incriminating information about their government, and so of course they would approach any conversations about Tibet with an equivalent of “No, you’re wrong, no you’re wrong”.

There is no reasoning a person out of a position they did not reason themselves into. I don’t see much point in trying to talk to you.

Dalai Lama

The Associated Press

April 8, 2008 at 4:21 PM EDT

Beijing — They wear bright blue tracksuits and Beijing Olympic organizers call them “flame attendants.” But a military bearing hints at their true pedigree: paramilitary police sent by Beijing to guard the Olympic flame during its journey around the world.

Torchbearers have criticized the security detail for aggressive behaviour, and a top London Olympics official simply called them “thugs.”

“They were barking orders at me, like ‘Run! Stop! This! That!’ and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, who are these people?”’ former television host Konnie Huq told British Broadcasting Corp. radio about her encounter with the men in blue during London’s leg of the relay Sunday.

So far, the “29th Olympic Games Torch Relay Flame Protection Unit” — as the squad is officially known — has kept the flame from being seized during chaotic, protest-filled runs through Paris and London.

“Personally, I have made up my mind that I will not play any role in the future government of Tibet, let alone seek the Dalai Lama’s traditional political position in the government. There are important reasons why I have made this decision. There is no doubt that Tibetans, both in and outside Tibet, have great hope in, and reverence for, me. From my side too, I am determined to do whatever I can for the well-being of my people. The fact that I am in a position to do this is due to my karma and prayers over past lives. However, in future I will not hold any official position in the government. I will most likely remain a public figure who may be called on to offer advice or resolve some particularly significant and difficult problems which could not be overcome by the existing government or political mechanisms. I think I will be in a better position to serve the people as an individual outside the government.”

If you want to refute my point, do it!

Why aren’t you rising up against Castro’s regime to give Cuba back to the Cuban exiles in Florida? It’s the same thing!

I agree with Bill Hicks – stop bringing up Jesus.

This is all happening because the Dalai Lama has been on a world tour of bullshit for 50 years, trying to sell somebody on “Help us! We’re holy!” and finally ran into the gullible Richard Gere.

Paul M Tibet is mostly uninhabitable, though. They have less population than the greater Dallas area. 2.5 million or so.

“Renunciation of Violence and Military Force:
Tibet will be a zone of peace, based on the principles of nonviolence, compassion and protection of the natural environment. Tibet will remain nonaligned in the international communities and will not resort to war for any reason.

Fundamental Rights:
All Tibetan citizens will be equal before the law. They are entitled to equal rights without discrimination on grounds of sex, race, language, religion, social origin, etc.

Other Fundamental Rights:
All Tibetan citizens will have the right to life, liberty and property; and freedom of speech and expression, freedom to form associations, to publish and disseminate news and views. They will have the right to be gainfully employed, whether in the government or in any institution or department under its authority.

Right to Vote and Hold Public Office:
All citizens of Tibet, men or women, will have the right to hold public ofce and vote in accordance with the law.

Ownership of Land:
For the benet of the people and their habitat, the lands within the territory of Tibet shall be distributed appropriately according to the nature of the land. The distribution of lands will be for the purpose of residence, farming, buildings, factories, business and other livelihood purposes. Lands not privately owned will remain with the state.”

You seem to be displaying an irrational belief in the mystical powers of academic case studies.

Look up from the bar charts and the science journals, please, and remember that humans, the natural world, and the universe are not tidily enclosable in your or anyone else’s quantification schemes.

Leaving aside the fact that Piaget’s theories of childhood development have been modified by later research, I’d say that it’s silly to catagorize people in that all-or-nothing way. As if the brain and the personality are that simple!

Conclusions like some of yours remind me of over-simplifications of research like, “The left brain handles language, the right brain is visual” and others along those lines.

Any neuroscientist will tell you that both hemispheres handle both, and that the relationship is not that black-and-white. There’s a complex system of interactions and distributions of tasks that we are only beginning to map.

Drawing conclusions about society and people in general from specific research is not science, it’s opinion. Your opinion. You can’t support them empirically. Stop pretending you can, and that it’s not just your own extrapolation from current data.

Leave room in your calculations for the many variables and unknowns in the world, and the gaps in our knowledge of it.

Knowledge is not wisdom.

The issue is far more complex than that and your dismissal of facts you wish not to have entered does not make them disappear.

I’m not shilling for anybody. I’m just call bullshit on the whole “Lamas are great and holy and peaceful and we should return Tibet to their rule, because it would be Shangri-La all over again” and I’m getting attacked for it, instead of defending your position.

His goal is to re-establish religious rule in Tibet: Under Tibet’s Kings and the Dalai Lamas, we had a political system that was firmly rooted in our spiritual values. As a result, peace and happiness prevailed in Tibet.

He wants to return to the time of Kings and Dalai Lamas and spiritual values.

That’s his own words, from your link, Takuan.

Laurel, Hannah and Duane are still in jail, as of 10am this morning. I am really concerned about those “felony conspiracy” charges they’re facing.

I fail to see that. It seems like I’ve been putting a lot of arguments why the rule of the Lamas might not be all that the religion lovers think it will be and I’ve been called a shill for the Chinese multiple times.

The Dalai Lama has tried to use EVERYTHING he can to get back in power in Tibet, including using the CIA. He’s decided now that it’s in his best interest to appear mystical and appeal to Hollywood. He’d probably say that Tibet would be the first Scientology based theocracy if he thought it would help him.

if you cannot grasp this, there is nothing more to be said.

It’s a statement of historical nationalism which you have pulled out of context, not a call to monarchy and religious rule. You are a malicious liar.

@Tuktuk: Thank you and your friend for everything you do. I think it’s wonderful.

‘People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.’

And also the point about Cuba: most Liberals swooning over the supposed wonderland of “Communist” Cuba, Socialist liberation for the people, and Che Guevara? Read history– we are allowed to do that here (U.S.) unlike in Cuba.

By the way, my wife is a Cuban-born American who still has family in that TOTALITARIAN nation and it is no Socialist nirvana.

Tibet? Personally, I am tired of hearing about this. Seems to me like another bleeding-heart bandwagon to jump upon along with the free-thinking Hollywood types and pseudo-intellectuals, hipsters. Please.

The primary point about Tibet should be the focus on China: blockade all goods and services from China from entering our nation until they collapse from the inside. Stop all trade with any country that does trade with China. This action includes severing all diplomatic ties with China via the U.N. and any votes in World trade councils that we are involved in. We are the most powerful country in the world but the world would never know it, now.

And yes, Takuan, I’m taking the WHOLE thing in context. You notice he didn’t mention his use of the CIA in that propaganda. You are willing to accept anything this guy says, aren’t you?