* Do you mean to say that scores of Tibetan protesters were not beaten and/or shot dead in the months leading up to the Olympics? Because that's news to me.
Shall I post for you the numerous articles of people in places like Minneapolis or Denver or New York that were arrested or beaten for protesting around campaign conventions?
St. Paul, really, not Minneapolis. I live in the state where both cities are. I see a lot of news video of what the "protesters" were doing, and the police response was appropriate, in my opinion. I am very able in this state to vote out a current administration (not something someone can do in China) and to speak up about my opinion on any issue.
St. Paul, yes, sorry to not give the Minni's twin is due credit ;)
Off topic, but St. Paul and surrounding suburbs are actually much more conservative than Minneapolis and the suburbs on its side. It's like the difference between Boston and Cambridge.
That's the real difference: You can get pissed about these injustices in America without disappearing. Government accountability is tremendously important in American culture.
That's the problem you're facing. You're trying to understand China from an American perspective. And it may not be your fault, maybe that's all the perspective you have at the moment.
To understand the complexity of China's problems, and to try to propose a solution, you're going to have to try to understand China at a much deeper level.
The best line I've heard wrt giving Westerners a perspective to understanding China is this (paraphrasing):
Americans demand change when they feel something isn't right. They want to see change happen and want it immediately - or, at the least, every four years. It's a young country, barely 250 years old, and has reinvented itself many times over, in short durations, and has grown and evolved so much so quickly. Because Americans can change and remake itself so quickly, they also demand that of others. America is like the hare. China, on the other hand, is like the turtle. It's a 5,000 year old civilization, moving slowly and gradually, at its own pace, regardless of what others are doing. To the Chinese, the last 20 years has been probably the most progressive 20 years in China's history. To China, it is moving at lightening pace. Compared to China 10, 15, 20 years ago, it has come a long long way. And it will continue to progress, but at its own turtle's pace.
The students who protested in Tian An Men Square in 1989 (some of whom I know quite well) don't expect China to be so slow. They have been disappointed to see that its change has been slower than they hoped back then, but Americans were disappointed back at the time of the Boston Massacre too.
Because I totally applied my criticism to a people rather than a national government, right? Maybe you're the old-world type that equates nations with races.
I don't want to play this game. All I'm trying to say is it doesn't seem like you understand China well, and should reserve criticism until you have some basic understanding of her problems.
* Is that any less perverse?
* The right to organize with other dissenters is critical in the fight for freedom.
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03...
Those are from the past month in the Post alone.
* Do you mean to say that scores of Tibetan protesters were not beaten and/or shot dead in the months leading up to the Olympics? Because that's news to me.