To be a good Murikan, you need to hate Communism and the Chinese Government, but you also must love WalMart. The folly of this hypocrisy is self-apparent, but deadly serious in its own way. I wonder how the SuperPatriot resolves these things in their mind when lefties are the ones out protesting against the Commies while they are buying up their Toby Keith CDs and Equate Hemorrhoid Cream for a weekend watching the Enzyte Car go around in circles at the Swampnuts 300.
Another big favorite for the Bush-supporter is to make fun of lefties for the ol' FREE TIBET bumper sticker on their VW. That Tibet's freedom has been reduced to a Pavlovian smirk-inducer for the right is sickening on its own, but again, the hypocrisy of the smirk being on the face of the rabid Commie-haters makes it all the more so.
I am unapologetic for believing WalMart is evil and that Tibet should be free. I do like to think the fact that I have actually been to Tibet and had a bit of a looksee at what it is like there adds some credibility to my desire to see that country free, but whether it does or doesn't isn't something I have much control of.
All I can say is that Tibet is an amazing place, the people are wonderful, the Chinese government is run by perverted old men with no conscience, and those who support those old perverts are not too many degrees less responsible for the depravity going on in Tibet than those on the ground. The odds of the Supercenter Mouthbreather being able to actually understand what misery their lifestyle causes elsewhere are low. The main barrier is their utter indifference to it (if not a more nauseating mockery of it, usually rooted in some quasi-social Darwinism in which they imagine they represent the perfection of all of the efforts of humanity which came before, and that those without The WalMart GoodLife just aren't trying hard enough!)
It pleases me to no end that I might have the chance to witness protests against the Chinese government and their treatment of Tibet as the Olympic Torch passes my office tomorrow. I am not sure if the route will be changed at the last minute, or if the whole thing might be cancelled outright. Both of those rumors are in the wind. I get to see the torch twice (coming and going around the loop at Fisherman's Wharf), but since that is more than half way along, I may not be able to even see it at all. I think it was in London or Paris that they ended up putting the torch on a bus to avoid the protests. That could well happen way before it makes it to my end of the line. That too would be a bummer.
Since I will be at work, the best option (yelling out the window from above) is out. I will likely need to get down at street level if I am to join the festivities. I am sorry something noble like the Olympics has to be dragged down in these things, but the freedom of Tibet is infinitely more important than anything the Olympics are capable of - even at their best. Being able to humiliate the ChiComs at their big coming out party is a very worthy undertaking. Even if I only get to yell FREE TIBET as it passes, I will have done my little part.
Again, I would rather bring my big prayer rug I bought in Lhasa and hang it in my window for the whole day, but this is verboten. No problem. It is their building and they can say no. It is my lunch hour however, and I can walk downstairs if I am so inclined. And I am.
The whole thing is being set up for high drama already. Tonight on the way home from work I saw the satellite trucks already setting up shop downtown in front of the Ferry Building. Good for them. I hope they catch it all. They already went bonkers over the Free Tibet banner on the Golden Gate Bridge, so any little kerfuffle tomorrow is likely to be a big whoop. Any publicity helps. Anything that gets people to think about what China has done and will do to Tibet is a good thing. At least in my opinion, but then, I don't consider getting cheap shit from WalMart to be a virtue.
(This is the welding of a large Olympic torch in Tienanmen Square, which they started doing in October 2004)
The sad part is that people don't realize that it isn't just the people of Tibet that suffer, it is also the billion Chinese who live under the remnants of the Communist regime. They have it better off than the Tibetans, but they too are not free to live as they please. This is sickening too. The people I met there were universally wonderful to me, and I couldn't help but feel sad at seeing them treated like they were misbehaving children by their government. To live under the thumb of patronizing perverts, especially for such a hard-working and well-educated people, has to be maddening. It is sad all the way around. Don't be mistaken - if I yell out, it wouldn't just be for Tibet...it would be for all the people there who can't live with the basic freedoms we can't imagine life without. Sad all the way around.
Unless, of course, you think of the savings!