During the Olympics there was an awful violent incident where Americans were stabbed by a random man as they were sightseeing. The attacker just went berserk and stabbed and killed one guy and critically injured three others. It was tragic. I remember thinking why? Of course the Party line was he was a maniac mentally disabled guy who lost control.
Then I watched the Documentary on China called "Tank man". He was the lone man who stood for what seemed like an eternity in front of a row of tanks. Finally after climbing on board and what looked like taunting the driver he is whisked away.
The Authorities are mum...they just say he wasn't executed. Yeah? Hmmm, I think maybe he was immediately shot and killed.
The main body of the documentary deals with conditions of labor and what is still a huge travesty of abuses how so many millions live way below the poverty line and are exposed to labor conditions that are sub human. Unions? Not in China. People are treated worse now in China then before the revolution. I mean horrid conditions, for no pay to make goods for the rest of the world especially for us in USA. Then of course there is the construction slavery. It is slavery really no other name.
So it made me think back to that incident how it wasn't so random and with a bit of investigation I bet the man was suffering from extreme conditions and he was looking for attention. He was looking to show the WORLD that things are not quite what they seem in China. I think he was protesting and we because China (owns our asses) were diverted and told the party line he was insane. Funny how that wipes any and all credibility out the window.
Like Tank Man I want to know his story. He wasn't just a number a wacko and yet he was he chose to do a radical horrible act that took and damaged our lives. People like Paul Farmer keep warning us that unless we help others who are suffering sooner versus later we will get it back in a more harsh way it will impact us. Poverty and Disease will reach our shores our lives unless.
Please rent and view "Tank man" it is important we see and know more about China then what they want us to see. Then maybe it will also make us hesitate before we rush to save a buck at Walmart on any and all goods made there that in fact cost someone toiling for pennies 13 hours, 7 days a week all their young lives. Like blood diamonds China trades in blood products.
I for one am touched to support change.
11 comments:
i seen it last yr...i remember thinking what courage and character this boy had...for a brief moment he held a whole army at bay...i learnt a lot about china when i travelled thru tibet in 98....i came accross the strangest thing there...a cple of 100'ks out from lhasa i went to use the public rest room in a remote village as i approached i saw 8 to 12 chinese soldiers stationed around this toilet smoking cigaretes chatting amongst each other and armed..
Is the world in a mess,
or is it the people?
;-)
It's both and it is sourced from greed and fear and fear of fear and fear of lack.
People treat people like dirt and expect no ramification and it's not possible to escape it the karma.
It comes back.
Rich now and evil ...poor later and powerless. Who knows?
I often wonder is it is so simplistic? Maybe NOT.
While I agree fervently with your sentiments for collaborative pressure toward inducing change, I think such pressure works better upon individuals than upon governments.
Countless revolutions, dynastic changes, etc. over millenia have produced a region that today is still perhaps not much different than it was in the "Warring States" period --- except that now, all the warlords take lunch together.
I just had a vision of the earth as a wild meadow on a gentle hilltop. Sometimes the flowers and fruits are the most abundant with all the critters thriving, sometimes the stickers and thistles hog the land...sometimes it's an interesting mix.
A simple farmer can make it a paradise to suit himself. Too many farmers can make it a parking lot...
Funny...I didn't see Tony's comment when I wrote this...
I guess Joni said something like that! hmmm... I startle myself.
I think bad karma is like trying to eat oneself...good karma is sharing all the varieties of food.
I didn't see Tony's comment when I wrote this...funny connection...:)
This blog's a little difficult to edit and publish...but it might be me.
My last comment came up out of order after 3 tries...hmmmm. I think?
No biggie...jus' sayin'...
Yeah GLT, all the cookie passing on this site takes some gettin' used to ------- uggggh, the things we do for family.
.... and yeah, by the way, the Tank Guy probably did catch a hot one to the head, after the cameras were shunted.
Rae, the timestamping on this blog assumes that we're all on Palo Alto time; thus, losing a measure of the veracity of your comment stream. Speak to your handlers about this :-).
Otherwise, it's pretty cool. Good move; I might follow your lead...
How do I change that?
Rae,
I dunno. Perhaps the problem is that the site might not be aware of the timezone from which a particular post derives.
I guess the only reason I found such an obscure issue to be of interest is that I've found that one tends to response differently at various times throughout one's day. Mebbe is has something to do with the influence of the sun.
But, even if the server can account for the sun-time of a given post, the discrepancy would emerge in the stream in other ways; such as a 9:00 PM post directly following a 1:00 AM post, and followed by a 1:02 AM post.
I guess Palo Alto time works. Sorry for my moment of strangeness :o).
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