Monday, August 11, 2008

Olympics: Day Three

Olympics: Day Three



UPDATE: Here's the original source.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree that Tibetans should be allowed to realize their national aspirations, but your graphic is pretty disgusting.

John said...

Perhaps -- but then, China hosting the Olympics is disgusting, too. And the graphic perfectly illustrates the Beijing 2008 = Berlin 1936 analogy.

JamesEJ said...

So, perhaps you can point out how this analogy works. What is the parallel to the Nuremberg Race Laws? Who is the Chinese Adolph Hitler? Where is the Chinese Dachau?

This does not excuse Chinese human rights abuses. But, the simple fact is that the Nazis forcibly sterilized minorities and China's minority ethnicities have population growth that far outstrip that of the Han Chinese majority. China viciously suppresses secession, but lacks the racist/genocidal policies of the Nazis.

John said...

Oh, that's right, I forgot. "The" Holocaust is the Only One That Matters.

JamesEJ said...

Nice dodge. Why don't you address the issue? China does many bad things, but there are big differences between it and Nazi Germany.

Instead, you just make snarky comments and dig a deeper hole.

Actually there is only one Holocaust. There are other genocides, (Darfur, Srebrenica, Armenia, ...), but only one Holocaust.

One does not need to be an apologist for Chinese Communist oppression to see that China has never sought to exterminate the Tibetan people. Chinese activities in Tibet were particularly heinous in 1950-51 and 1959, but even at those times, "ethnic cleansing" would be a debatable description. Genocide is a step beyond ethnic cleansing.

The Tibetan people are victims of Chinese oppression. But, the case for the Tibetan people does not require that we denigrate the victims of Nazi Germany. That you denigrate all of them, and now specifically, the victims of The Holocaust makes your case weaker and makes you look like an insensitive bigot.

John said...

If one life is infinitely valuable, it becomes impossible to measure genocides, which is where I have a problem with Holocaust exceptionalism. You clearly feel that the 1933-45 genocide had some unique quality; I see it as one (particulary horrific) case. We'll never come to agreement on that.

I don't believe that to equate the cruelties and murders of the 1949-present Beijing regime to those of the 1933-45 Berlin regime discredits the victims of either. It may violate Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies, however.

I guess the intent of the graphic is simply to note the world's willingness to ignore the atrocities of both regimes, lend them legitimacy, and let them throw a big global sports party. Disgusting in both eras.

Donald Baxter said...

I think the real issue is that the only Holocausts that count are the ones that involve white people. I'm good with the graphic, John.