Posted on 03/15/2008 11:21:09 AM PDT by charles m
SHANGHAI, March 15 (Reuters) - China's carefully controlled media may have remained largely silent on the unrest in Tibet, but a look at Chinese blogs reveals a vitriolic outpouring of anger and nationalism directed against Tibetans and the West.
On Saturday, a rash of angry blog posts appeared after China confirmed deaths in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, and U.S. actor Richard Gere called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics should the authorities mishandle the protests.
Many blamed the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, for inciting the riots.
The view was echoed by some residents in Beijing, due to host the Olympics in less than six months' time. "I think that the Chinese government has to cut this cancer out. We can start with the Dalai Lama, and even though we don't have relations with the Dalai Lama, we should arrest those who are behind the riots," said one man surnamed Song.
In striking contrast to the media blackout during the Tiananmen protests in 1989, China's flourishing online chatrooms, bulletin boards and Web logs means citizens have more opportunity to air their opinions publicly, even as censors rush to remove the offending comments mere hours later.
Some Web surfers expressed indignation at the muzzled mainland Chinese press, having only stumbled on reports of the riots while browsing international sites. "The local papers haven't covered this. Luckily for us there is still online media," said one.
"I'm not some big Stalinist, and I don't share the view that Tibet is part of China. Every minority has the right to choose its own path of development," said one blogger who claimed to have lived in Tibet for four years.
(Excerpt) Read more at sport.guardian.co.uk ...
Great! Hopefully, Richard Gere will boycott the gerbil stuffing event...irrelevant scumbag that he is.
maybe it’s time to boycott
I’ve bought my last HDTV.
The Chinese web is dominated by miltary thugs, so this is no surprise.
Free Tibet! For that matter, FREE CHINA!
Sadly, Tibet is doomed to become “Tidbit” in the ravenous maw of Chinese Communism.
Don’t agree with Richard Gere on much, but in this matter he is 100 percent correct.
Yep, Gere is correct.
Imho, the Chinese should not be hosting the Olympics. The world should not reward thuggery, murder and corruption.
China should not have been allowed to host the Olympics. It should not have most favored nation trade status. We should not be supporting these thugs.
Yeah, that too.
Yep. This is one thing the left and right seem to agree on. What to do about it is another matter.
Why aren’t we training these poor people and funneling guns and explosives to them? Time for a little payback for Korea and Viet Nam.
It would get in the way of us
I think the CIA tried that back in the 50’s, but it didn’t work out and made things worse.
I am so damned sick of the Chinese. I was in a Chinese restaurant just yesterday and the guy behind the counter said to a customer “China is the only superpower” with his fists outstretched. I told him I would never buy from hem again. I wish we could arm the Tibetans with tactical nukes.
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