With all due respect, I think you are.
You have admitted that the mainstream US media leaves alot to be desired. I think you are taking these statement as an attack on you personally. They aren't, I promise
But seriously, the stuff I see on the mainstream media here has much more oversight and indepth coverage, whether it is an extra 30 second of a sound byte or an hour or 2 of an independent reporter traveling through and interviewing civilians and soldiers on all sides of <insert conflict/county here>.
This stuff would NEVER be shown on NBC, Fox, CBS, ABS or whatever. People and situations are taken to task.
I am by no means saying that the UK or European media is the be all and end all, I am merely saying that there is alot more to it.

Also the print media here, the guardian, observer, times, FT etc, hell the NYT, the bastion of American high brow journalism has admitted that they have had CIA/FBI agents on the payrolls and that said agents vetted articles. (don't ask me to back that up, it will take me ages to find the info)

this website is interesting:

http://www.anti-cnn.com/

hacked

tl;dr
One pic, 1000 words etc.



Free Tibet

Good question - however, there are many in power in our own country that want to govern a woman's right to bodily choices.
My point isn't that I want the Dalai Lama to rule all - but that, for all of my disdain of religion, I would welcome an open-minded religious rule that lived up to its tenets, versus the fundamentalist rule our country is slowly swinging towards. The fact that these folk call themselves Christian is a slap to JC's face.
Based on my beliefs regarding religion I don't think any religion stays true to its tenets once two or more people practice it. So I'm talking in theories, not in practice, when I say that I'd prefer blah blah blah...

But do they give you a recap on last night's episode of American Idol? Live coverage of Britney's latest meltdown? Updates on Lindsay Lohan's sobreity?

If you were to start filling up the news with depressing war reports nobody will watch.

Git 'er done!!!

p.s. Just kidding. No ignorant Americans were injured in the making of this joke.

lol. sounds like the flame will travel by water

.. wait. not sure. confusing

This is a really good question, and as luck has it, my flat mate (previously mentioned, who incidently is a fucking klutz and has many a detolf knock and shelf dive to her name) spent some time in the main temple in Tibet. So I asked her.
After some discussion, it boils down to this: a buddhist theocracy is not comparable to any other theocracy we are familiar with, i.e. christian, jewish or muslim. It is based on a system of beliefs that is much older. So its not really a level playing field.
But with regards to birth control and abortion, we think that odds are personally the Dali Lama would be opposed to it as an idea, due to Karma. Every living thing has Karma (normally [within the confines of a christian debate faith based debate] I don;t see a fetus as a living thing, so I am all about the abortion, but here it is different) and if you disrupt that life cycle, you recieve bad Karma which will follow you into your follow incarnations.
But following that train of thought, in all likelihood the Dali Lama would be opposed to forcing someone not to have an abortion due to the bad Karma that he may receive. There fore allowing the person to take full responsibility for their actions, and in turn their own Karma.

Incidentally, it should be mentioned that the Dali is the spiritual leader of an incredibly spiritual country. China has exiled him from that country and refuse to even engage in conversation with him. Which is why everyone is holding sings that are asking china to at least speak to him.
That goes a long way to understanding how dug in China is with their views.
He is the head of state, he is the most peaceful man on earth, he denounces any and all violent or direct action, prefering to talk. They will have none of it.

Really there is no sensible way that you can't think China is wrong on this one.

edit: for what ever reason Buddists aren't allowed to have tattoos... fuck 'em! kill 'em all!!!

Oh, I absolutely believe that China is wrong on this one, but I'm unsure that the other way that's been suggested would be "right."

This is exactly where my comments came from. A true Buddhist theocracy would certainly have beliefs that not everyone would share, but because of the tenets of Buddhism those that disagree would be allowed to disagree and follow their own beliefs.
I mean, that's how it's SUPPOSE to work in the US, but clearly the separation of Church and State is a bunch of hooey.

I still consider this wishful thinking. Every ideology, political or religious, always undergoes some sort of change when it's implemented on a scale like that.

The US doesn't have true democracy, China doesn't have true communism, and I'm very skeptical that Tibet would implement true Buddhism (whatever that may be, because it will vary between believers) to guide their politics.

But I guess we'll see one day.

I'm not saying it's possible, just saying it'd be nice.
I'd also really like to go to the moon for an extended period of time but I realize that's wishful thinking as well...still, it's fun to think about.

Hey, I may say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one... ;p

I'm a lover not a fighter

So I'm not very bright with whats going on in the news of this world, but I asked everyone I know about this topic and was confused.

Why is it being a big thing now? Why haven't I seen couple thousand of people protesting before the Olympics? I just don't get it. I know it's a big deal, listening and hearing from what everyone has to say. But I don't understand how come this problem was never brought up as much it is now.

Sorry for the lack of not knowing much. I just wantted to know. I hope this doesn't upset any of you guys. I just want to learn more about this.

Well, before the Olympics, who gave a fuck what China was doing?

Now they've basically opened their doors and called for the media circus.

It heard 'em and we're back here at its asshole.

Capiche?

I'm sure there were people who felt very strong in what China is doing for a long time. But I just don't understand that, if there are that many people in the streets protesting, climbing the Golden Gate Bridge and stuff, couldn't they have raised their voices a long time ago? I think it's unfair for people who just wantted to see the torch go by.

Hiro,

Due to the China hosting the Olympics, they are center stage of the world's media. Every Anti-China group out there will use this specific opportunity to raise awareness of their cause.

Like cae mentioned, a year ago, no one was looking at China so no one was gonna listen.

IC... I just had a long talk with my gf right now. She's very smart and helps me understnd stuff. So I kinda get it now.

I'm sorry if I troubled anyone. I just didn't get it.

I'm more worried about this country to care about Tibet.

True. The people who have always wanted a free tibet have always been around voicing opinions but because China is hosting the olympics a lot more people have come out of the woodworks. Another thing to realize is that whenever a country hosts the Olympics there are is always some sort of protest...it really doesn't matter which country but because it's such a global event..people will always come out to have their voices heard.

I just hope when the games are being hosted that they won't resort to acts of terrorism or some other methods of sabotaging in order to get noticed. Depriving the citizens themselves of proudly enjoying what would be a historic event due to detestations towards the Chinese government just isn't fair. Make the world aware of the Tibet crisis all you want but let the games be when it starts. Olympics aren't just about China but a gathering of world without the everyday discriminating boundaries.

to me, the issue is still more grey than black and white. although there is still alot of work that needs to be done in China with their violation of human rights, I think it is important to read up on the history of Tibet and try to figure out both sides of the story.

here is the wikipedia article on the invasion of Tibet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950-1951_ ... n_of_Tibet

then of course, you can read the longer discussion about how the neutrality of the article is being disputed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Peopl ... %931951%29

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4473896a10.html

whether this is complete BS or not, who knows, but interesting since you just mentioned something about 'terrorists' mikeee.

rhino: a long way is a bit of an understatement. do you know about falun gong as well? one of the most far fetched religions (along with christianity and scientology) but still. they are heavily persecuted within china, even outside of it. all they do is practice tai chi (heh)

also backtrack is right, although of course it's not black and white (nothing is) there is no way that china are doing the right thing

yes, I am also aware of Falun Gong... and it is even more confusing shit! Are they really just people practicing Tai Chi (China labels them as a cult... why would they do that?)? Would Billy Blank's kick boxing instructional video also be outlawed in China because they don't want everyone to do kick boxing? Whatever it is (I don't know what "it" is), both use similar tactics to piss of China... maybe China just gets annoyed with people who lay right in front of their tanks so they can't move anywhere... that must be it.