April 28, 2008
Chinese to World - Stop Questioning things!
Well, it's been a bad couple of weeks for the PRC. The upcoming Olympics was supposed to be a glorious coming of age, a stage managed event of awesome propaganda to rival Berlin 1936 or Moscow 1980.
Unfortunately, it fell apart rather spectacularly. Why? Well, because authoritarian regimes are great in situations they can micromanage and control down to the last bit, but absolutely hopeless.
What a complete cluster-fuck the doings in Tibet and the subsequent torch relay have been and the PRC's reaction. Not content to rely on the security of other nations, the Chinese government decided to sent tracksuited goons to make sure that any eventuality was taken care of. Not really going to endear the world to the Chinese, is it?
Ah, but what's more interesting is the PRC's attempt to provide a fake "groundswell of support" for its actions, not content with bussing hundreds and hundreds of Chinese students to Canberra to abuse pro-Tibetan protestors, I'm also absolutely certain the Chinese government has been making sure that the comments posts on blogs and news articles are well stocked with pro-Chinese comments.
And of course, they are all labelled "Joe of Sydney", or "Bob of Melbourne". Oh, those cunning bastards...I surely wouldn't expect a PRC lackey to post under a fake identity!
Anyway, the comments themselves are rather predictable and repetitive (the same arguments pop up again and again). Most of it is boring shite about CIA conspiring to make China hated. (Seriously, the CIA couldn't tie its own shoelaces, guys). Two points of rebuttal, however, need to be made:
Argument 1 Tibet has always been an integral part of China, it was greedy European powers that separated it!
Well, maybe. Tibet was mostly under Chinese rule post Middle-Ages...but it was Genghis Khan's heirs (particularly Kublai) who conquered it. And they were Mongols, not Han Chinese. So unless Chinese want to argue for the entire mainland Chinese nation to be ruled by Mongol chiefs in Ulanbaatar then this argument is retarded.
Well, doubly so really. I mean...who gives a fuck how long it was part of China? If Tibetans wanted to piss off and go it alone, they should be entitled to, seriously. Self-determination and all that. Jesus, the Chinese argument here is so lame it barely deserves a response.
Argument 2 Tibet was a theocracy ruled by greedy Buddhist monks who kept their subjects in semi-slavery. The Chinese brought modernity and freed them from their bondage. The Dalai Lama just wants his slaves back
What? This is irrelevant. Has any one, Tibetan or otherwise, called for a reinstitution of a theocracy? No? Besides, at the time of the invasion, China was a communist basketcase ruled by Mao Tse-Tung, a man who would go on to slaughter roughly 70 million Chinese. If it was him or feudal monks who had to rule me, I'd take monks.
Here's a novel idea. Bring in democracy, liberty and self-determination for all inhabitants of East Asia, whether they be Tibetan, Han Chinese or whoever, no one should have to live under the rule of the thugs of the Chinese Communist Party.
Griffith University - it's Australian for "Useful Idiots"
Let it not be said that Australian universities aren't fine institutions of learning, inclusive of people from all stations and walks of life.
Even if you happen to be a Jew-hatin', terror-supporting bigot!
My alma mater, Griffith University, seems to be either run by idiotic muppets or people who just don't give a shit. That's the only reasons I can think why they would accept a grant from the Saudi Arabian government to promote "moderate Islam".
Yes...you read that correctly. The Vice-Chancellor of Griffith University believes that the Saudis, Salafists to a man, have an interest in propagating "moderate Islam".
But the story gets wackier....the university chief decided to deny the claims that the money would be used to promote Salafism, Wahhabism and other forms of Islamist nutbaggery. In a rather disjointed piece O'Conner had discovered that what the Saudi government was interested in promoting was basically Unitarianism!
Well, Hallelujah!
'course, Unitarianism, a wishy-washy nearly-Deism espoused by the founding fathers of the United States has almost nothing in common with the religious situation in Saudi Arabia, and most Unitarians would be disgusted at the Saudi regime's treatment of women, non-Muslims and apostates, but damn the sandals of Allah if it doesn't sound great!
Unfortunately for all, it appears the VC was a little mistaken. Mainly because his defence of Saudi theology was pulled from Wikipedia. I guess plagiarism doesn't matter if you're not a student?
Stephen Crittenden goes into further detail on the stupidity of naiveté involved here. But basically, the only place Saudi Arabian money should go in Australia is down the toilet. Letting such a reactionary regime have any influence on religion in Australia is downright dangerous, particularly in the arena of Islamic studies. The Saudi government has been a pernicious, stifling and backward player in both the practice and study of Islam worldwide.
As Crittenden says, the Saudis aren't interested in moderating Islam. They are interested in international respectibility that comes with associating with Western academic institutions, and stifling of any real school of Koranic criticism that may otherwise have existed at Griffith.
Shame on O'Connor and shame on the university for ever considering this deal.