Why Tibet?

Why does Tibet get so much airtime?


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Fifty

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Why does Tibet get so much airtime in comparison to other bad stuff thats going on? I don't just mean now with the Olympics thing, but in general it seems like Tibet gets tons of airtime. Why? POLL COMING!
 
Why not Tibet?
 
Honestly, I haven't noticed an abundance of Tibet related news. Maybe I just don't pay attention to it.
 
Why not Tibet?

I aint sayin we shouldnt talk about it or whatevs but it seems like theres a lot more crappy crap going on elsewhere in teh world that gets much less airtime, and I wonder why!

I mean, theres probably some place in africa where like AIDS-infested monkeys are being trained to kill children for diamonds, yet we're so concerned with some country that had one form of authoritarian regime replaced by another, and that is losing some of its culture cuz people from another race are moving in. I don't see how Tibet is such a big deal, comparatively speaking.
 
I think it's the contrast between Tibet and China- China is percieved as a huge, totalitarian empire lead by a corrupt oligarchy, while Tibet is percieved as a small, innocent backwater lead by a small, smiling man in saffron robes (the fact that Tibet is about the size of Iran and has a long history of theocracy seems to be forgotten...). It stands out in public perception of world events.
And, as much as anything else, Tibet has become a symbolic struggle against neo-imperialism. It's not so much that Tibet is a big deal in itself as that Tibet is a good example of a nation oppressed by a more powerful neighbour. Somehow the Morrocan occupation of Western Sahara doesn't have quite the drama to it, y'know? :p
 
I aint sayin we shouldnt talk about it or whatevs but it seems like theres a lot more crappy crap going on elsewhere in teh world that gets much less airtime, and I wonder why!

I mean, theres probably some place in africa where like AIDS-infested monkeys are being trained to kill children for diamonds, yet we're so concerned with some country that had one form of authoritarian regime replaced by another, and that is losing some of its culture cuz people from another race are moving in. I don't see how Tibet is such a big deal, comparatively speaking.

It's basically cos China's huge and its politics matter more. Chechnya or Kashmir get more attention than Abkhazia or Western Sahara or Biafra for a similar reason.

A more revealing question would be why Tibet and not Xinjiang or Inner Mongolia.
 
all of the above except second to last. a lot of romanticism (also regarding that lama guy) is in there... it's some kind of noble buddhist monk savage against the faceless buerocratic and technocratic dictatorship.
 
I aint sayin we shouldnt talk about it or whatevs but it seems like theres a lot more crappy crap going on elsewhere in teh world that gets much less airtime, and I wonder why!

I mean, theres probably some place in africa where like AIDS-infested monkeys are being trained to kill children for diamonds, yet we're so concerned with some country that had one form of authoritarian regime replaced by another, and that is losing some of its culture cuz people from another race are moving in. I don't see how Tibet is such a big deal, comparatively speaking.

You really care about people in Africa more than people in Tibet Fifty? Wheres your loyalty! Isn't your mom from Tibet?
 
It's pretty sad how much Africa is out of the limelight when it's the place that needs help mroe than anywhere else.

What Africa has to do is become a threat to the west, then we'll have someone in power in Africa to hate and give us an excuse to start a war, which then will be justified by saying that we're doing it to help the people of Africa. Then it will become in vogue.
 
We are easily swayed by the media.
 
You really care about people in Africa more than people in Tibet Fifty? Wheres your loyalty! Isn't your mom from Tibet?

No, she's from Madagascar!
 
A mix between a fashionable culture (buddhism, orientalism) that makes it cool and easy to adopt by Western celebrities, and the Dalai-Lama.

War-torn, AIDS-torn African countries have nothing cool about them, and no great spokemen.
 
One important reason is the Tibetan protesters interrupting the olympic torch ceremony and that makes news. Overal the protesters have a serious impact on Tibet airtime.
 
You answered your own question, but didn't think that was a good enough reason. Anyway in general, its becasue there have been lots of protesting going on right now. Its the same reason last year when Myanmar got a lot of airtime.
 
One important reason is the Tibetan protesters interrupting the olympic torch ceremony and that makes news. Overal the protesters have a serious impact on Tibet airtime.

And that's made possible partly because of the Chinese love for grandeur. Mugabe or Chavez, say, don't really have the mood (or power) to hold a global torch relay.
 
I think maybe the nature of the US media is the reason fifty feels this way, given that in the UK it getting what I would call a normal amount of coverage!
 
I was thinking about the exact same thing. My theory is that pinkos love budhism, and the dalai llama so they make a lot of noise and then news corporations view it as exceptionally news worthy.
 
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