@SDGundamX

(just so you know, I do not agree with everything Harris says, but he makes quite a few good points).

Interesting extract from this article (bold=added): http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/holy-terror


Of course, the Bible is not the only ancient text that casts a shadow over the present. The social policy that can be derived from the Koran currently poses even greater dangers. According to this text, it is the duty of every Muslim man to make war on unbelievers (Koran 9:73 and 9:123), and such men are promised eternal happiness after death. It is true that many Muslims seem inclined to ignore the Koran’s solicitations to martyrdom and jihad, but we cannot overlook the fact that many are not so inclined, and they now regularly murder innocent noncombatants for religious reasons. The phrase “the war on terrorism” is a dangerous euphemism that obscures the true cause of our troubles in the world, because we are currently at war with precisely the vision of life prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran. Anyone who reads this text will find non-Muslims vilified on nearly every page. How can we possibly expect devout Muslims to happily share power with “the friends of Satan”? How can we expect the faithful to feel about people who God himself is in the process of “mocking,” “cursing,” “shaming,” “punishing,” “scourging,” “judging,” “burning,” “annihilating,” “not forgiving,” and “not reprieving”? While there are many charges that can be fairly leveled at men like Osama bin Laden, perverting the teachings of the Koran is not among them. Why did nineteen well-educated, middle-class men trade their lives in this world for the privilege of killing thousands of our neighbors? Because they believed that they would go straight to Paradise for doing so. It is rare to find the behavior of human beings so fully and satisfactorily explained. And yet, many of us are reluctant to accept this explanation.

Religious faith is always, and everywhere, exonerated. It is now taboo in every corner of our culture to criticize a person’s religious beliefs. Consequently, we are unable to even name, much less oppose, one of the most pervasive causes of human conflict. And the fact that there are very real and consequential differences between our religious traditions is simply never discussed. Anyone who thinks that terrestrial concerns are the principal source of Muslim violence must explain why there are no Palestinian Christian suicide bombers. They, too, suffer the daily indignity of the Israeli occupation. Where, for that matter, are the Tibetan Buddhist suicide bombers? The Tibetans have suffered an occupation far more brutal. Where are the throngs of Tibetans ready to perpetrate suicidal atrocities against the Chinese? They do not exist. What is the difference that makes the difference? The difference lies in the specific tenets of Islam.

So the leader of Gelug Tibetan Buddhism doesn't understand a joke where the punchline relies on a western misconception about the Zen school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. How could the reporter have foreseen that?

They don't care about beliefs, it's just a political move to retain long-term control over Tibet. No new Dali Lama can be named without the risk of life in a Chinese prison, so now the Chinese will name someone (the only one they permitted to reincarnate, or however they make it up) who will be pro-China to reign in Tibetan monks who want independence.

I used to tell this one joke that was super long, and the whole point was for it to be super long and tedious, and then the punchline didn't make any sense.

It was about a girl with a golden screw in her bellybutton, and the whole joke is the father trying to get it out, so he tries himself, then he goes to a doctor, and the doctor sends him to a specialist, and so on... At the very end of the story the girl is atop mountain in a Tibetan temple where a special medicine man was able to remove the screw using ancient magic. And then you lean in and with your spooky voice you say, "the girl then sat up and said... COOL. Thanks!" End of joke.

It can be a twenty minute joke. All the while your friends are bored, and they will try to stop you, but you have to tell them, "wait, I'm getting to the good part." And there is no good part. And I wonder why I have no friends. There's an alternate version of this joke: when the screw is removed, the girl or boy's butt falls off. Not nearly as good. Not nearly as satisfying as my version.

As opposed to what country never being racist, exactly?

First, China is not acquainted with our western get-rich-quick-by-enslaving-black-people scheme, so they view her being black with the same kind of curiosity you would have toward someone with, say, blue hair. I'm oversimplifying here, but you get the idea: although their constantly pointing it out is not very subtle and out of place, it simply does not carry the same weight prejudice-wise.

Second, whatever the country, whenever someone different gets noticed in the media, you always get a number of negative reactions. When the newly crowned Miss USA happens to be both Arab and Muslim, for example. The fact that the racist remarks here triggered an uproar is actually quite positive. I'm not so sure that kind of 'rubes responses' would suffer a public backlash in many countries in Europe and Russia...

All in all, considering that China is a dictature where the government is constantly using censorship and propaganda to denigrate their actual minorities (Tibetans, Uyghur) and foster chauvinism, I'd say the Chinese are surprisingly open as a whole.

nah he's not the living embodiment of anything like Tibetan Buddhism's Dalai Lama supposedly is, he's just the current elected leader of Catholicism, most of the "holy" mumbo jumbo associated with the job has faded away over the last several decades.

No one asked Bush (or any other president for that matter) to get involved. This is a humanitarian issue and an internal issue. This is a call for solidarity with people of Iran which have their human rights violated at unprecedented scale.

The sad part is that US can’t even tell Iran not to torture, because they lost the high ground with Bush/Chaney torturing detainees against Geneva Conventions.

We can’t do anything when China suppresses Tibetans or Uighurs. We can’t do anything when US violates human rights in Iraq with an illegal war. We can only appeal to the human condition and spread our disgust with this type of government actions. Otherwise everybody’s rights starts to evaporate globally.

Take anything and everything you see in the media with a grain of salt. While it may hold truth, it is truth through a filtered lens.

During the Bush era there were mass protests from thousands to tens of thousands across the country regarding everything from election fraud for the first election run, to anti-torture and anti-war rallies later in the administration.

Few were covered in the new media to any substantive degree. A short image here or there, but never anything in depth regarding a pro/con discussion over their protester grievances. Nothing. In the 1960's these protests were reported on. They were broadcast. The anti-war/Vietnam movement was highly vocal and highly publicized in comparison.

The media, through the puppet-strings of the powers-that-be show you what they want you to see. Unbiased reporting does not exist in 'for profit' media driven by 'image' over 'substance'.

Remember the events surrounding the so-called Russian invasion of Georgia? In the immediate aftermath, Russia was made into the aggressive power. The media ate up the story and broadcast it far and wide. Later it was proven that Russia was not in this alone. The US (Bush Administration) through oil deals was making an agressive resource/power grab through a major supply route. Russia did not like this. Georgia shot first. Russia then trampled Georgia with overbearing and far too much force. The US supplied Georgia with knowledge, logistics, and military hardware. Did you happen to notice the Georgian soldiers in the media broadcasts were wearing US variant fatigues and wielding M16's? Well. there you have it. The truth later came out and was exposed to a degree, and the 'power chess-game' effectively hit a stalemate. Stories of an embedded dead US soldier and another captured were quickly buried. The media quickly focused on other subjects and it disappeared from the lime light.

Regarding Iran.. these protest are real and are not sponsored by the CIA (though they certainly may have their fingers in the pie). However, the coverage of the events to direct public opinion in the west, is most assuredly tainted and smells bad.

We so quickly forget all the dead Burmese, Tibetans, and all those 'we' willfully ignored in Darfur. The US is a nation that takes action when it's financial/economic/resource interests are at stake and will spare no expense to exert it's force in such circumstances. However if it involves a backwater nation with negligible resources, or lacking of strategic value. Then they get but a word or two, a mention at the UN, and a piddly budget allotment that wouldn't be enough to keep a single small town public US school functioning for a year.

Well, with all due respect to the authors of this video and the submitter, Iran has a history of popular uprisings causing the downfall of unpopular governments. And while I suppose China has that history as well, the tibetan riots, while larger were much smaller relatively than the Iran protests, and they weren't calling for a toppling of the government.

In Iran, not only are the protesters claiming the entire country is being ruled illegitmately, they are clamoring for reform in the total government. And while I sympathize with the tibetan protesters, the Iranian protests have a much higher chance for effecting true change in their country than the tibetans chances to change the Chinese government.

The news cycle is called for, and while I do wear as much tin foil as the next guy (usually) I don't see the media coverage of the rebellion in Iran by the US media really having that much destabilizing effect in Iran. Especially since the President of the US is doing SO MUCH to stay out of the conflict.

A very smart move I might add.

Here's a Question: How come all Dalai Lamas are Tibetan? Why can't one or two be reborn in Southern Argentina?

When you die, your soul leaves your body. It then goes to one of 6 realms, depending on karma and stuff. See the Tibetan Book of the Grateful Dead.

I can only speculate but atheists' souls are as indestructible as any other living beings'. They go on to do other things.

Seeing the Dalai Lama as a moral authority and the his world view is close to perfect in its openness seems well pretty uninformed. The Buddhist faith is terribly fatalistic and the Tibetan social structure is very conservative and quite fascist.

And to celebrate moral relativism seems rather naive. That is best left for drum circles and the dead.

Protesting for Tibetan freedom make you look like a hero in United State but doing it in China is just asking to be water boarded.

Here's an idea for his next project. Why don't he put on a robe and turban, then burn a few American flags and yell death to America in the middle of New York Time Square?

I love how the article linked to in the original Talk piece above says that they're essentially proud of the achievement - and of course the spin factory went into overdrive.

I say their helicopter pilots must suck if they can't pull off following the trail.

Or they lack helicopters.

I guess they didn't want to mount news cameras on the scores of gunships they surely have in the military... or were they busy oppressing Tibetans? (Oh, snap!)

It's sickening what crazed "freedom fighters" would do in the most pointless of goals. Tibet does not deserve nearly as much publicity as it is receiving. The people are not being oppressed anywhere as near the way media portrays. Those who support Tibetan independence are also indirectly supporting known international terrorists. Tibet has never been an independent state, and there is little practical reason for it to become one. Their dilution of religion giving them happiness is about as practical as communism. The people there are impoverished, it would be a human rights disaster to cut off Tibet from Chinese government aid. As far as getting arrested for protesting, try a stunt like that here in the US and you'll get arrested in the same fashion. People need a reminder of how biased international media is. News agencies like to sully the reputations of rival nations, only because their own governments support such actions.