Comments on: Two more Tibetan teens die in self-immolations, protesting Chinese rule

By: benher

benher — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:22:00 +0000

Wow, if this is the image that the average person has of the situation in Tibet, there really is no hope.

By: Jake Hamilton

Jake Hamilton — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:32:00 +0000

Don’t underestimate the power of martyr tactics. Young imperial occupier, exile/diaspora population…conceptually rich but somewhat static religion in a syncretism-heavy environment…high-volume martyr production…

This seems like a rather familiar historical narrative.

By: SoItBegins

SoItBegins — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 04:57:00 +0000

It’s a statement. It’s saying that things are so intolerable that the ONLY way to deal with it on a personal level is this. It is also a quite final way of attracting attention.

Which is pretty big.

By: BombBlastLightingWaltz

BombBlastLightingWaltz — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 20:54:00 +0000

Why always young monks doing this? Are the elder ones directing them?

By: Karan Grover

Karan Grover — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 19:40:00 +0000

at some point hopefully the rest of the world will give this more than a passing glance or a quick news flash.

This is perhaps the ultimate form of non-violence and most effective way of protest.
If they protest / rise against the machine in the traditional sense, they will be wiped out and I bet will be spun in the media as it was comming to them.

Its amazing that these deaths and incidents get reported at all.

China will eventually homogenise Tibet completely and the ethnic Tibetians will be forgotten and displaced permanently in a generation or two.

By: tofagerl

tofagerl — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 17:47:00 +0000

I’m just not seeing the endgame here. Are they trying to get out of china by dying, or do they have some magic number they’re trying to reach? “At 500 deaths China will automatically leave.”

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 17:21:00 +0000

It still blows my mind the amount of willpower it would take to SET YOURSELF ON FIRE.