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[Previous entry: "Say no to "narco-terrorism and treating drug offenders like terrorists."] [Main Index] [Next entry: "The devil's dictionary on copyright."] 09/17/2003 Entry: "The secret history of Tibet and the Dalai Lama"
The secret history of Tibet and the Dalai Lama Lately, I've seen a lot of press on the Dalai Lama's recent world tour promoting Buddhism and am taken aback by the fawning and lack of criticism. Hell, if Christopher Hitchens can criticize Mother Theresa then I can put some food for tought on the table for the Dalai Lama. Tibet prior to the Maoist People's invasion was a full-blown no-holds-barred theocracy with this Lama as its literal God-King. [more] Rival monstaries fought over economic matters and controlled commerce. Some fights were deadly and this was the Lama who imported British arms to create Tibet's first modern army. Tibet's society was a feudal theocracy with all non-monks living a life of serfdom approaching slavery. There was no mention of democracy (something this Lama will not stop talking about to gain international support) or reform. These were the fruits of the "compassionate" religion of Buddhism. Of course the above sounds a little harsh, but mixing ANY religion (or any very strong ideology) with government/politics has always turned out badly with the little guy recieving the worst of the damage. This is why modern governments try very hard to seperate church and state. This is also where Mao and the Dalai Lama clash and how they have more in common than one might suppose. Both were strong ideologues, one a powerful wielder of "the People's" rhetoric and another and unquestionable and powerful God-King. The Maoists saw Tibet as a feudal/slave state in need of liberation, the central powers didn't like its autonomy, and they needed a corridor to the West-friendly India. The Lama on the other hand wanted to keep his theocracy, gold, power, and his newly formed but highly untrained army. The two forces collided and this Lama ordered his men to fight the vastly superior People's army and the rest, as they say, is history. Fifty odd years later this twenty-something Lama is old and battered and wanders the world somehow connecting democracy and Western Enlightenment values with his old religion and people and journalists are just eating it up. Kudos to the Free Tibet PR machine, but the facts remain: Buddhism led to a harmful theocracy, democracy is a Western ideal, and the Lama is a man with a very sad and scary past. Meanwhile, China is pushing money and immigrants into Tibet to make it more of a Chinese province than an old state with old wounds. Soon enough there will be no Tibet to free, it would be like freeing Chicago for the Indians. The arable land, culture, etc are simply all gone.
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