One, his Holiness, the Dalai Lama, whose "Shangri-La" persona of the oriental holy man has almost completely overwhelmed the Western "stream of consciousness" to the point of a cult.
THE MYTH OF MYSTICAL and MAGICAL SHANGRILA - LA LAND
Many westerners' passion and fanaticism for the political holy monk is colored by a Hollywood-fueled narrative and often narrow prism. In their eyes, the Dalai Lama is the personification of all the goodness which humanity cherishes and aspires to.
In the banality, incivility and "treadmill" of the Western world gripped by hypermaterialism, hyperconsumerism and greed, many westerners truly dream and hope for an idyllic life in the mystical and magical "Shangri-La" where love and compassion ooze out in daily life. Where there is fresh and clean, unspoiled nature,; no traffic gridlock; no Hollywood schlock; and yes, human beings who are not "workaholics."
In that mania and obssession for spiritual Nirvana away from the vapidness of Western culture and its eroding civility without compassion, the mantra that the Dalai Lama verbalizes about peace, harmony and understanding resonate. Those monasteries are "safe havens" away from the crassness of Hollywood and the 24-7 lifetyles of many yuppies, technies, and Western work-slaves. I know. I have been through that. Seen it. Done it too.
Tibet. Tibet. Tibet. Shangri-la. Shangri-la. Shangri-la. That dreamlike narrative beckons.
"TIKKUN OLAM" fires up the "True Believers" and Dalai Lama's faithful Western throng and created a new market for magical "TIBET" yearning to be validated because of a spiritual vapid West, emptied out of kindness and civility
I have seen and observed Hollywood celebrities, smart Jews well-intentioned and motivated with noble "Tikkun Olam," and many other naive Westerners in the highest levels of government, academia, and the press, unhappy and reeling in their own lives in their Western treadmill chase this vision of "Shangri-la". I have seen them crawl on their knees before His Holliness. Touche.
No doubt - many are going "gah-gah" over our Tibetan demi-God with the hearty wonderful laugh and charisma who is an icon of goodness against evil and inhumanity we see in the Western as well as Eastern worlds today in it's dazzling quest to modernize.
Who won't be disarmed by His Holliness' ability to appeal to the seeming goodness of buddhism ? Hollywood actor Richard Gere was and continues to be spellbound.
No doubt about it - this cultist following of "Western wanabes" is a major force that is 100% if not 200% behind the Dalai Lama. And his seeming message of "peace, harmony, and compassion," in words, has rallied millions of Westerners impassioned by "Shangri-la" to pour out their passion for the cause in Europe, North America, and Australia.
Consequently, today, we are experiencing the hectoring, the strident "full court press" in the Western world to pressure China's officials to engage the Dolly in a meaningful dialogue of reconciliation and peaceful reintegration of the Dolly into Tibetan life inside China. And this pressure is now strident and close to being fanatical.
And it is being further fomented by the Western news media sold on the "Team Tibet Shangri-la" snake-oil pitch.
I respect that passion and cultist obsession etched in the hearts of many zealots in the Western world. They may harbor good intentions, chutzpah, and noble motives. But this is not the complete picture. It distorts some of the most sordid episodes of religion and politics, combined, which has wracked the world, e.g. the Crusades, Jihad, Kashmir, Taiping Rebellion, and now today Tibet. I have seen it happen in Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, India and almost everywhere sectarianims and ethnic rivalries flare up.
Talking the Talk, Walking the Walk , and Doing to Do
That said, I beg to differ and must underscore the clear irreconciliability of words coming out of the Dolly's mouth and the actions by those the Dolly associates with or supported by, and often panders to. Is he doing the do what he says in his say ?
I am particularly offended by those reckless youths, Tibetan in their own Diasporic exile communi'ties' and their white yuppies and techies "hangers-on." Their posture, tactics, and protests were not one of non-violence but offensive "smash-mouth" vitriol and hate.
In the streets of San Francisco, these "mau mau" protest groups attempted to pick a fight with those of us who were sincerely and in good faith attempting to welcome the Beijing Olympics games torch relay to America's most historic and unique Chinese enclave, our supposedly much vaunted liberal San Francisco.
Our voices were drowned out, and almost completely embargoed by the Western news media, with few exceptions.
I know.
I was at Ground Zero with the Western news media "rat pack"which troupers were ready to stage the "ambush attack" visually to amplify the Anti-China protest on April 9 in San Francisco.
I know another Dolly. A yuppie, techie American Dolly impassioned but strident.
One of the most ardent and passionate advocate for the cause of "Team Tibet Shangri-La Dalai Lama" in San Francisco. I just can't reconcile this Dolly with the Holy Dolly in the din of these latest China-bashing and demonization campaign in the West, and San Francisco dissapointed me tremendously.
"SMASH-MOUTH DOLLY", aka CHRIS DALY, aka CHRIS DOLLY - San Francisco official who was behind the "alarm and protest" San Francisco protest to waylay and ambush the torch relay in its six-mile jaunt.
The other Dolly's name is Chris Daly, aka as Chris "Dalai;" the San Francisco supervisor who is the notorious "bully boy" known for his scraping, confrontational, "mau mau" style to assault and project fear in the hearts of those who dare get on his way on any subject matter or legislation or cause he is promoting, much less cross him. He was the man behind the "alarm and protest" San Francisco official resolution to "diss" and insult China and the Chinese people on China's human rights record and support the Dalai Lama 500%. He is viewed by many as the next reincarnate of the Dalai Lama, if reconciliation cannot be achieved with Chinese authorities.
This other Dolly, in my honest to goodness opinion, is completely committed not to "non-violent" behavior, nor "love and compassion," but to "steamrolling," "smash-mouthing" "screaming and hectoring" mau-mau tactics which have caused fear and animosity among public officials in our City Hall and fouled out the waters in our City Hall.
It was Chris "Dalai" who was the major San Francisco elected official; and his yelling, screaming, rude, boorish, vulgar "Team Tibet Shangri-La Dalai Lama albeit "Chris" style" who was part of that protest army which waylaid and tried to stop San Francisco from holding its torch relay in a civil and respectful manner welcoming the Olympics torch.
According to this other Dolly, it was "San Francisco values," not "compassion" committed to stop the torch from completing the 6-mile run, by any and all means necessary.
And to be truthful, at Ground Zero on April 9, 2009, at the only relay stop of the torch in North America, i.e. America's most historic and most unique Chinatown, i.e. in San Francisco, what I saw and experienced was not "love and compassion;" but assaultive behavior, hate and boorishness, incivility and vandalism, hooliganism and pejoratives.
Worse, these protesters insulted and disrespected the Chinese communit'ies of San Francisco. The torch could not even appear in Chinatown for reasons of fear of violence and security, thanks to our Dalai Lama supporters and protesters.
As a member of the over 160 Chinese community organizations who mobilized in support of the Olympics torch's arrival to our city, thousands of us, by a 3-1 margin of welcoming flags over "Team Tibet-Shangri-La, " among us, consisting of our old folks and children, saw and experienced a complete fascist "drowning out" of our rights as dignified members of our so-called San Francisco community.
"TEAM TIBET SHANGRILA" Storm-Troopers used under-handed tactics to try to ambush the torch and derail the Olympics hosted by Beijing to dramatise their Cause by any and all means
At ground zero, our children and elderly among the welcoming "Team Welcome Beijing Olympics" were subjected to vulgarity, the "F" words, and much hate spewing out from many apparently Chris "Dalai" types, "smash mouth" protesters bent on ambushing the torch relay through 6 miles of San Francisco.
"Team Tibet-Shangri-La" succeeded in blocking the original torch relay route, and our Mayor and police chief had to do a "fake pass" and did an end run in the opposite direction for the San Francisco torch runners just so to avoid the violence which would have ensued had the original route been chosen.
Listen to the following interview of the Dalai Lama directly by NSNBC by clicking below:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24072525#24072525
Great Talk but Where's "Doing the Do" in Curbing his Troops overseas in the West ? And Reining in the leashes on the "Smash Mouth" Dollies bent on provoking violence and assaulting Olympics torch runners ? Non-Violence ? Compassion ? Peaceful Assembly ?
Love and compassion ? Respect and civility ? I did not see nor experience that at ground zero at San Francisco on April 9. Instead, what I saw and experience was not only a staged narrative stoked by "protest lenses" of a clearly biased Western news media clearly hell-bent on stoking and fanning an "anti-China" and China demonization campaign.
And to tell you the truth, I am sick and tired of relentlessly being dogged by the Western news media "shills" who are clearly focused and obsessed of pushing their "Shangri-La' narrative to demonize and bash China.
Along that route, I am saddened and outraged that the moral authority that the Dolly, the supposed holy man, appear to be used only as a pretext by vicious forces from behind the his religious monk robe.
What's the real deal ? Is the real Dolly for" compassion and non-violence" out there in San Francisco that day or his "soon to be" reincarnate, Chris Daly, aka Chris Dalai, the new Hollywood Holliness ?
I submit I am perplexed. Either the real Dolly is a "wolf in monk's robe" or is our fierce smash-mouth San Francisco supervisor, Chris Dalai. You can't have it both ways. And many Westerners are used to talking from both sides of their mouth. "On the one hand........ On the other hand." Comprende ?
The "A" Word, not the "I" Word, and Worse, not the "F" Word, Please.
It was not the "A" word ("autonomy) I heard out there at ground zero; or at the candlelight vigil
at our city's United Nations plaza. Rather, I heard more "F" words, and the "I" words. Autonomy ? It was not the theme I heard, unless English being my second language, I confused Independence for Autonomy.
Senator Diane Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, should know. And he spoke right after the other Dolly. And I am sure he can attest to the fact that the two Dollys are truthfully "irreconciliable" between their rhetoric and their actions. Regretably, some young Tibetan "hotheads" even deliberately lowered Mr. Blum's microphone volume, took away one of his mikes, to ensure that Mr. Blum's plea for "non-violence" is honored.
But when the other Dolly came on, with showtime, the volume went up, and the rah-rah chorus rose to a crescendo.
The Chinese has an age-old saying, "Hear what I say; but most important, watch what I do."
I did watch. And I did hear. And the two in my personal experience was completely incongruous and contradictory to me.
I have not seen much love and compassion coming out lately from "Team Tibet Shangri-La" this year. The foul air of incivilty and aggressive behavior has polluted the West, as foul air has polluted many of China's cities.
Instead, I see the West arm-twisting and applying pressures to push China and its people over the edge towards a much much more polarized position. To boot, they are orchestrating a opening ceremonies boycott to make the Chinese people "lose face."
"Team Tibet Shangrila" Running Ahead of the games
Aren't we in the West running ahead of the games ? Shouldn't we just allow the race to begin without interjecting ourselves into what is essentially an internal problem within China, among its peoples ?
Did we ever in the West see the Chinese interfere or interlope into our domestic problems.? In Guantanamo ? Or over the issue of "waterboarding"? Did China or its officials ever lecture us about Katrina and the treatment of our African-Americans wallowing in fithly flood waters ?
Did I hear "cultural genocide"? What about the Australian aboriginals ? What about Quebec and the clamor for preserving the "Frenchness" of North America in Quebec, and Louisiana along the routes that French fur hunters used to hunt in America ?
Did we ever hear China or the Chinese people lecture us about our human rights violations within our boundaries, or the treatment of our indiginous people ?
THE WEST has NO MORAL STANDING to arm-twist China about Human Rights when it does not do Human rights in its own society.
Truthfully, the West has no "moral standing" at this time, at this juncture, to lecture China and its peoples about China's internal problems. It's their problem for them to resolve among the disputants. The West should stay out and not make the problem worse.
Butt Out, "Team West." You are doing it all wrong. Butt out, the "Shangri-la" wannabes from Hollywood. Butt Out, Richard Gere.
Butt Out, Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Butt out ! Angela Merkel, Nicholas Sarkozy.
Take care of your own house first and the mess in your European and American cities, your economies in disarray.
Take care of the eroding fundamental civility that is evaporating in Western society and its vapid values. Europeans have no moral standing to hector the Chinese peoples nor its public officials. And their hooligans in London and Paris blemished their standing as respectable people.
This week. Incivility and Hooliganism won in Europe and in North America. Rationality and Calm Lost Out. When I saw that Chinese paraolympian in a wheelchair attacked by a protester, I could not reconcile the Dalai Lama's mantra of compassion and non-violence to the boorishness and utterly unacceptable hooliganistic behavior in London, Paris, and San Francisco.
It backfired in China and in the overseas Chinese Diasporic communi'ties around the globe.
MOST WESTERNERS ARE IGNORANT ABOUT CHINA AND ITS HISTORY ; MANY PROTESTERS DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TIBET IS LOCATED IN THE WORLD MAP, MUCH LESS ABOUT CHINA'S COMPLEX HISTORY AND CULTURES
Many Westerners, who are ignorant about Asia and its complex history, are demogoguing it and making it worse for those of us who truly believes in a rational China-West dialogue, based on mutual respect, reciprocity, and understanding.
Go read up on your history before you make it worse. My friends in the West.
