Comments on: Teaching Τibet and “The Truth”

By: Magnus

Magnus — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:54:00 +0000

A: You must! There are so many lies told about Τibet’s history.

GS: I’m with you, brother.

You could have a whole conversation about this topic… and agree with everything they say… but still be in completely different camps. Hilarious.

About the SOX… always next year. Oh well.

By: chriswaugh_bj

chriswaugh_bj — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:56:46 +0000

Hehe… My boss in Changsha was known to say that Korea lost China…

By: NateT

NateT — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:41:41 +0000

I have often thought, using Chinese Nationalist standards, China had a stronger claim on Korea than Tibet ( a response I often give with a condused look when this line of reasoning comes up).

By: Lindel

Lindel — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:42:27 +0000

Ttry imitating Jack Nicholson from a A Few Good Men instead.

“You can’t handle the truth!”

Then start an argument with them over the American Civil War between the slave states and the non-slave states had nothing to do with slavery.

By: DavidofSanGabriel

DavidofSanGabriel — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:52:29 +0000

Yes, Tibet has always been part of China. “Always” is defined here as a time period beginning at some point after the year 763 CE, when evil, revisionist historians claim that the supposed “army” of Tibet allegedly sacked the Tang capital of Chang’an.

By: Jeremiah

Jeremiah — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:48:33 +0000

Stuart:

Thanks for the link and while I would agree that the “Free Tibet” crowd falls more into the “ill-informed” category rather than “hard wired,” it doesn’t make the conversation any easier.

Wu Ming:

My point exactly. Odd how poorly it’s received though when brought up in certain social settings.

By: wu ming

wu ming — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:12:25 +0000

if chinggis was chinese, that was one hell of a civil war.

By: Chris Amico

Chris Amico — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:21:05 +0000

Reading: Teaching Τibet and “The Truth”: The China Beat has had a month-long series on overlooke.. http://tinyurl.com/4rbbs8

By: stuart

stuart — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:17:30 +0000

“A: You must teach The Truth about Τibet.”

If I had a Euro for every time a (Chinese) university colleague/student/on-campus Party rep had thrown that demand into the ring…

Despite the appalling lack of meaningful discourse on the issue, a state-controlled media, and a laughable (but nonetheless effective)government propaganda campaign, I still find myself baffled at just how deeply entrenched today’s student body are in their government’s mindset.

Unless, that is, as your qualification implies, one happens to be talking to a non-Han citizen.

I agree that the debate between the ‘free Tibet’ crowd and the Han nationalist tribe can become very boring, but I also feel that the folly of the former is more likely to come under self-analysis than the blinkered attitude of the latter.

For this reason, when China issues silly white papers like last week’s, I feel there is a need to set aside our Tibetan ennui and respond. Here’s the link to the CD article:

http://tiny.cc/nonsense

I don’t advise anyone waste a day reading the whole thing – the first page sets the tone.

By: Jeremiah

Jeremiah — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:09:55 +0000

Dan,

Thanks for chiming in. Complexity, nuance, and multiple perspectives on complicated questions all seem in short supply these days. Sad, really.