Tibet: The Shangri-La that exists only in the West’s imagination

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Tibet: The Shangri-La that exists only in the West’s imagination
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By Kevin Deluca

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_10359098

With the Olympics over, I hope the Western sport of bashing China over Tibet might
stop.

Working in Beijing during the Tibet riots and the preparations for the Olympics gave me
a unique perspective. Growing up with Western media and Hollywood, I am used to our
embrace of the Dalai Lama. Being in China, I saw the Chinese point of view.

Seeing both sides suggests the need to abandon simplistic political stances in favor of
some self-reflection and historical context.

Although we should criticize China’s censored media, the Tibet riots revealed some
troubling blindness among our own media. While the causes of Tibetan unrest are
complex, it is clear that the March riots were started by Tibetan protesters and that
they were quite violent. Indeed, they were violent enough to lead the Dalai Lama to
threaten resignation if his followers did not stop the violence.

Since “violent Tibetan” does not fit our stereotype, our media fixed the news. While
Chinese media showed extensive footage of violence and interviews with Chinese and
Tibetan victims, Western media manipulated images and even showed footage from other
countries (Nepal and India) in order to paint a picture of ruthless oppression by
China’s government.

Chinese media exposed the Western media manipulations, forcing the BBC, N-TV and RTL-TV
to apologize. Not surprisingly, the American media has yet to acknowledge
its bending of the truth. The point is that while the Chinese know their media is
censored and do not trust it, we believe our news is objective and end up being
righteous while misinformed.

If we had seen the violence of the Tibet riots, our condemnations may be more nuanced.
Quite simply, no government, democratic or not, allows such violence within its own
borders. Providing peace and stability, even by force if necessary, is what governments
do.

Large and powerful countries tend to have regions that were not always part of the
country. In America, we proudly call it Manifest Destiny and never trouble ourselves
with how we got much of California and Texas from Mexico, never mind the rest of the
country and our sordid history with Native Americans.

On the Chinese flag there are five stars commonly interpreted as representing the five
major ethnic groups in China. One of those stars represents Tibetans. China’s claim to
Tibet spans centuries and it is a claim that the United States and the rest of the
world recognizes.

To Chinese people, removing one of those stars is akin to removing one of our states,
such as Hawaii. Our history with the native people of Hawaii has been relatively brief
and quite brutal and there exists a tenacious independence movement. Still, there is no
talk in the mainstream media and among the Hollywood celebrity activist circuit of
Hawaiian independence, not to mention Puerto Rican independence or the American Indian
movement.

Government repression of these movements also escapes media scrutiny. Before we lecture
China, we may want to tend to our own backyard.

Amid cries of “free Tibet” and calls for religious freedom, the question is what does
freedom have to do with Tibet? Under the Dalai Lama, was there religious freedom? Was
there any freedom? Actually, no.

We would recognize the Dalai Lama’s Tibet as a medieval religious theocracy with a
small elite class served by a large and oppressed serf population. The Dalai Lama ruled
a region with no religious freedom, no political freedom, indeed, no human rights of
any kind. The rulers were ruthless. Torture and mutilation were widespread. Poverty and
starvation were rampant. It was Shangri-La only in the West’s imagination.

Richard Gere, Sharon Stone and other Hollywood devotees may be surprised at their
idol’s current positions. The Dalai Lama condemns abortion and homosexuality while
accepting prostitution. For decades the Dalai Lama secured millions of dollars from the
CIA and runs his government in exile like a monarch.

Despite its shortcomings, Chinese rule has provided the Tibetan region with
infrastructure and public schooling and provides Tibetans with widespread opportunities
and a degree of personal freedom unheard of under the feudal theocracy of the dalai
lamas.

China is far from perfect and deserves honest scrutiny and criticism. To expect China
not to act like a large and powerful country, however, and to throw stones from our
glass house, proves nothing but our own ignorance.

KEVIN DELUCA is an associate professor of communications at the University of Utah and
author of “Image Politics.”