CITIZEN ALERT v1.218
PLAN B
Human Rights Watch as just come out with a report documenting the forced removal of Tibetan herders to more urban areas. Those that complain are dealt with in a harsh manner.
"Enlightened...modernization". That's interesting. They are moving people who make a living at cattle and dumping them into cities where there's not much call for work as a herdsman. They are being forced to take "menial" labor jobs instead. HRW has accused the Chinese government, rightly I think, of suppressing Tibetan lives and trying to forcibly assimilate them into modern Chinese society.
I had a split awhile back at where I stood morally on the question of what role Western civilization OR Eastern for that matter had in making sure everyone on the planet had equal footing. What bothered me most was defining what was equal footing? Food, health, natural rights. Easy enough. Done. But where beyond that?
I thought it was wrong that a civilization that had sent people into space, developed new medicines, invented the internet, was teetering on the brink of Nano technolgy could exist on the same planet as people that still lived in mud huts in the dark wilderness and still thought fire was a pretty neat invention. I thought it unfair and our duty to raise our fellow humans up to "our" fullest potential.
Then it struck me one day while watching a documentary on some tribe somewhere that was perfectly content at the lives they led and had no real ambition to gain any knowledge that the "outside world" had to share with it that these people, these supposed "backwards" people are our Plan B.
Civilization is certainly not running as smoothly as it could. Countries are at war and we are teetering on the brink of sliding into bigger, longer and more devastating conflicts and who would survive all this - just the cockroaches? No, the people furtherest removed from it all. They are humanity's Plan B. If we were to blow ourselves up tomorrow, would they not save humanity from starting back at the amoeba stage? We would start up fresh from the nomadic and agricultural stages. That's a big head start.
So, China's forced modernization of the Tibetan herdsman I can not agree with, even with them saying it's for their own good, i.e. bringing them closer to medicines and urban economies. If the herdsman wanted to modernize then so be it and we should quickly reach out to help them achieve, but forcing the evolution of a group of humanity is, well, manipulating evolution and could prove more dangerous than you think.
What do you think?
“Some Chinese authorities claim that their forced urbanization of Tibetan herders is an enlightened form of modernization,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But those same authorities didn’t bother to find out what Tibetans want, and have been heavy handed with those who have complained.”
"Enlightened...modernization". That's interesting. They are moving people who make a living at cattle and dumping them into cities where there's not much call for work as a herdsman. They are being forced to take "menial" labor jobs instead. HRW has accused the Chinese government, rightly I think, of suppressing Tibetan lives and trying to forcibly assimilate them into modern Chinese society.
I had a split awhile back at where I stood morally on the question of what role Western civilization OR Eastern for that matter had in making sure everyone on the planet had equal footing. What bothered me most was defining what was equal footing? Food, health, natural rights. Easy enough. Done. But where beyond that?
I thought it was wrong that a civilization that had sent people into space, developed new medicines, invented the internet, was teetering on the brink of Nano technolgy could exist on the same planet as people that still lived in mud huts in the dark wilderness and still thought fire was a pretty neat invention. I thought it unfair and our duty to raise our fellow humans up to "our" fullest potential.
Then it struck me one day while watching a documentary on some tribe somewhere that was perfectly content at the lives they led and had no real ambition to gain any knowledge that the "outside world" had to share with it that these people, these supposed "backwards" people are our Plan B.
Civilization is certainly not running as smoothly as it could. Countries are at war and we are teetering on the brink of sliding into bigger, longer and more devastating conflicts and who would survive all this - just the cockroaches? No, the people furtherest removed from it all. They are humanity's Plan B. If we were to blow ourselves up tomorrow, would they not save humanity from starting back at the amoeba stage? We would start up fresh from the nomadic and agricultural stages. That's a big head start.
So, China's forced modernization of the Tibetan herdsman I can not agree with, even with them saying it's for their own good, i.e. bringing them closer to medicines and urban economies. If the herdsman wanted to modernize then so be it and we should quickly reach out to help them achieve, but forcing the evolution of a group of humanity is, well, manipulating evolution and could prove more dangerous than you think.
What do you think?
Labels: China, herders, human rights watch, Tibet
posted by Bobot Adrenaline at 1:06 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home