| Hello BO, I am not trying to piss you off. Honest! Perhaps something is lost in our interpretation of what each other wrote. You wrote: "Maybe you should ask yourself what was it that has made this guy reacted the way he did! For all you know, all his family could have been killed by the PLA in 1950. Of course that's only my guess... behind every action, there is a reason and only strong reason can create just a strong response. I do not know this guy, I have never even met him in real life but you can see how desperate he was when he tried to extinguished the torch. Do you see his pain? Have you ever wonder about the kind of oppression and grievances that he wants the world to hear?" my reply: "I found it interesting that for a person with so many questions yourself regarding the motivations of the protester, you seemed to have already made up your mind on his legitimate "desperation" due to his "pained expression" This lead to my last posting: "My response was from reading exactly what you wrote about your basis of supporting the protester ie. his pained expression. Nowhere did you offer me any other support for your decision." Your post "You are not looking at the situation but rather the players involved. Isn't the underlying cause and agenda more important?" You also proceeded to downplay the attack by saying that she had bodyguards. my reply "If you need to protest, go ahead, but at least do it in a civil way befitting your dignity. Choosing to attack a girl on a wheelchair leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Even those who supported you before." While the objective of the protester may be to extinguish the flame,(which I am not too concerned about, he did do more than that. the girl was hit, which I am concerned about) Perhaps you may see it differently. If a stranger rushes up to me sticking a knife at my throat, I really don't care if his original intent was simply to ask for my address. My reaction will be to beat the crap out of him. By acting in a provocative manner, he has already invalidated himself to whatever noble cause he stood for. This is why I wrote that I would not be as concerned if Yao Ming was carrying the torch vs Jin Jing. You wrote: "Its is not for you or me to decide on the fate of the millions of Tibetans. Self rule or not...they can decide for themsleves. Like you and me, they have brains too. Do you deny them of this basic right to think independently?" You have to admit that the Tibetans are not happy and that's the main reason for these series of events that have been splashed across frontpages of various newspaper North, South, East and West for the past few weeks...." I have never claimed that they are happy. I do agree that their unhappiness is something we must look into. Yes, the first protests started within Tibet, IN CHINA. What happened ? did the PLA wontonly killed tibetians ? do get you facts right. The Dalai Lama is not asking for independance. With regards to the issue of STAKE, as citizens of China, the tibetians have a stake, I have a stake, as do all citizens of my county. And no one else. You last statement was really bizarre: "but by NOT snuffing out that flame, I would be encouraging human rights abuse in China indirectly" Good grief ! encouraging human rights abuse ??!! did you ACTUALLY thought the population of my country encourages human rights abuse ?? I am nevertheless in total agreement with you on this : "Its clear that we have very different opinion and stand regarding this issue but am glad that we can voice our differences calmly in a civilised way." I am sincerely appreciative of your efforts in offering your point of view. I do accept that my points may not be correct and may change in time. My wish is that as my country progress, our conflicts with reduce. Like I said before, I am really quite tired of this debate because I feel like very few people are listening and everyone is shouting. The latest news of protests outside Carrefour is a big disappointment to me. I just need to get away from this for now. |
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