h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi!
Glad to hear that you won't hold it against me
Sorry for the late reply....I've been in Singapore for a week (mtgs).
I read the info you linked to.
Would be interested in hearing your response to a response that I've heard on numerous occasions in China...from the "man on the street" if you will. Rough translation follows:

The West has no moral ground to stand on. You look at Tibet? What about the atrocities that you have committed? America has consistantly over the years had an almost genocidal attitude towards other nationalities, from the near-genocide of the American Indian peoples to the enslavement of Africans to the unlawful imprisonment of American Japanese during WW2. England and America have both engaged in Imperialism, dominating weaker countries with their newly-discovered strength....

...and it goes on. How would you respond? They believe that the West has not changed, and is still doing these things, pointing to recent events as evidence

That is a completely valid criticism of the West; but it does not justify what is taking place in Tibet. You surely can't excuse genocide on the basis that other people have done it too.

There are serious flaws in the way people with power treat people without power. But I believe we have to start a new century with the idea that we have learned some lessons from the last one. Most people would agree that the way Tibetan people are being treated falls below a minimum moral standard as recognized by the international community. Your Chinese colleagues are probably right to accuse the West of hypocrisy, which may go some way in explaining western reticence regarding Tibet.

Kosovo, Chechnaya, and industries that pollute with impunity and exploit the underprivileged of the third world all weaken our moral vantage point. Massacres in Africa and rich men growing fat on the suffering they help to perpetuate are symptoms of the same disease that afflicts China. The world is so full of hate and despair that it often makes one want to step right off. But the world is changing. People recognize evil when they see it; and sometimes, though rarely, justice is done.