This Summer’s Vogue: Free Tibet
These babies are gonna sell like hot cakes this summer:
Tibetans certainly deserve their freedom and to that end I wish them luck. The Bay Area’s recent Free Tibet activism, however, is curious if not a tad disingenuous.
Why all of a sudden now? Where was the moral indignation prior to last week? Where are the “Free Burma” or “Free Kurdistan” or “Free Cyprus” movements, inasmuch as there’s so much awareness and empathy now for such causes? And hey, remember those folks over in Iraq? Or is there just a certain aura of Hollywood cool with Buddhism that makes Tibet an A-Lister for San Franciscans?
Whatever it may be, it’s nevertheless disturbing that many of these wannabe freedom activists can’t even find Tibet on a map. For hipsters, “Free Tibet” is but a summer’s chic slogan. They’ll flash their FT gear like badges of honor for a few hours at some sit-down kumbaya in Gold Gate Park, talk about how much they love their Prius’s and the new Death Cab For Cutie album, and then later make it out to a fondue party in the Castro. At work the next day they’ll shop for clothes online and be more than happy to oblige you with stories of how they fought the good fight.
And Darfur? That’s sooo last year.
Tibet is just the excuse. The real cause is China. China is coming up in the world, largely because of the retreat of the US (the major accomplishment of the Bush administration), and the “citoyens” of the superpower are worried. What I would like to know is what freedom do the Tibetans enjoy under the Dalai Lama? Does he maintain a democratic regime in Tibet, do people elect him by free vote or is it a theocracy which can do no wrong? L’etat c’est moi!
You are just angry they don’t have “Free Cyprus” T-shirts….