If the Dalai Lama is Jefferson Davis, Who is the Tibetan Robert E. Lee? » First Thoughts | A First Things Blog

Graham Combs 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Actually, according to a Weekend Wall Street Journal article from 2008 or 2009, the Tibetan Robert E. Lee may very well have been American — CIA operatives during the 1950s. The effort to push out the Chinese failed in part because of tribalism within the Tibetan resistance. Now there’s a back story we can all appreciate today. We do know what the 1949 Revolution wrought — even if the WSJ editorial page a few weeks ago refused to acknowledge it. Refuting years of their own reporting, including the treatment of Chinese Catholics. ... See all content Hide content

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ChineseComicsOnline 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Friendfeed

NY Times and FIRST THINGS: Give the Chinese credit for chutzpah http://bit.ly/2rXSZd ...then who is the Tibetan Robert E. Lee?

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Josh 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Bill- you speak of that which you clearly know nothing about. And I mean nothing. Go grow a point.

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Gabriel 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

William, Tibetans find it hard to find jobs in the Chinese dominated marketplace because they are frozen out of that marketplace by the same government which ferries hundreds of thousands of Chinese migrants into Tibet and sets them up in business.

There are very little educational opportunities for Tibetan children after the age of 13, where their only chance to compete for uni places, qualifications and jobs is to switch to Chinese. Even then, they are competing against native Chinese speakers- it doesn’t take a genius to work out how difficult that competition is.

Of course, they could opt to abandon their language alltogether from birth and be taught in Chinese schools, where they will be taught the Chinese version of history- the version where China ‘liberated’ Tibet as opposed to the one where China invaded Tibet and killed hundreds of thousands of people.

There’s a middle way, you know- an end to such oppression. That’s what ‘whining’ freedom movements are calling for.

To proclaim that Tibetans are economically backward sounds a little racist, don’t you think? They can’t compete because they’re being discriminated against in their own country.

Do you also feel that black people in America in the 50s and 60s found in hard to compete because they were backward, or because segregation was taking place against them? ... See all content Hide content

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William 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Khechog,

Why not ask Tibetans to learn how to speak Chinese? Their economic backwardness and lack of competitive skills no doubt stems from their lack of integration into the mainstream Chinese society. There’s not a lot of good jobs for them because of their cultural and language barriers. That’s why you complained that Chinese people took all the good jobs in Tibet. But isn’t that all too obvious?

To be honest, keep whining about repression and tagging on the “freetibetism” slogan is not going to get the job done to improve the livelihood of Tibetans. Only cultural assimilation will. And it’s going to happen sooner or later anyways, whether some people like it or not (the exiled Tibetans, that is). ... See all content Hide content

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Khechog 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

Bill,

One more, the last time I checked from my survey of using Taxis in Lhasa recently, it was 90% driven by Chinese migrant workers and there are now more Chinese than Tibetans making living in Tibet and they take most of the good jobs and haven’t met one Chinese in Tibet who can speak Tibetan.

So two assumptions you speak Chinese and may be Chinese ethnically so you think Tibetans are stupid enough to trust you especially with your attitude. Or perhaps you met a Chinese Taxi driver. ... See all content Hide content

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Gabriel 2 months, 3 weeks ago on Wordpress

There seems to be a strange tendancy for people to look at the Tibet issue in black and white terms, when of course nothing is black and white.

Pre-occupation Tibet was not a perfect society by a long shot, and nobody (not even the Dalai Lama) wishes to see it return to that state. But the fact that there was servitude in Tibet long ago in the past doesn’t mean Tibetans should accept horrendous human rights violations and inequality now. To use the Chinese government’s analogy, there used to be slavery in America. But this does not mean black people should have accepted being second class citizens after it ended.

The Tibetan government in exile has moved on from the past and is now democratic. When is China going to move on and embrace human rights and freedoms itself? That’s what ‘freetibetism’ is about. ... See all content Hide content

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