The Mysterious Corinthian Table

[rain_gryphon]

W seems to be one of Obama's cousins too. That makes W, Cheney and the President of Nigeria. I wonder if I'm related to Obama?

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I dreamt that I bought a 'Corinthian table'. This was a sort of small, oblong end table that could move about the living room on its own. It would only move when it thought I wasn't watching it, though. Flaster was uncertain if he liked it or not. I recall thinking that it wasn't a very good purchase, since it was never where I wanted a table, and often in the way.

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I'm going to be so disgusted if the Tibetans ruin the Olympics. Hopefully Chicago having a bid in for 2016 will prevent us from joining any boycott.

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Someone may have found DB Cooper's parachute.

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I have been in *such* a pissy, unfocussed mood these past few days. I'm not sure why.

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be so disgusted if the Tibetans ruin the Olympics.

You mean, if the Red Chinese do? It's not as if the Tibetans asked to be invaded and oppressed ...

[xolo.livejournal.com]

No, but they're the ones engaging in rioting and wanton murder. They're the ones threatening to disrupt the Olympics if they don't get their way. At the moment, their behaviour reminds me of notning quite so much as that of the Palestinians.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

At the moment, their behaviour reminds me of notning quite so much as that of the Palestinians.

Among the differences:

1) Tibet actually was a functioning nation-state, before the Chinese invasion,

2) It is improbable that the Tibetans would continue making war against the Chinese if they withdrew from Tibetan territory, and

3) Israel is a liberal democracy, while Red China is a totalitarian Communist dictatorship.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Tibet was (before the Chinese took it over) a totalitarian theocracy. Communism is actually a step up in the world for them. The face the Dalai Lama shows to the west is rather different than how he acts at home. He's basically a charlatan like King, Ghandi or Falwell, who exploits his people's religious feelings to keep himself in power.

At any rate, democracy, etc, has nothing to do with the murderous rioting of the Dalai Lama's followers. Did you happen to see any of that? The news media are largely downplaying it, but the pictures and accounts are there, if you search. The two that stick with me are the pictures of the Chinese man pulled off his motorcycle and beaten to death, and the little Chinese boy trying to get away while the Tibetans stoned him. Plenty of photos of burned Chinese shops, etc, as well. The Chinese are responding with remarkable restraint against these barbarians, much as the Israelis always do. They're far nicer about it than I would be.

And I'm sure that if the Israelis left the middle east and went back to Europe, the Palestinains would quit making war against them as well.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Tibet was (before the Chinese took it over) a totalitarian theocracy. Communism is actually a step up in the world for them. The face the Dalai Lama shows to the west is rather different than how he acts at home. He's basically a charlatan like King, Ghandi or Falwell, who exploits his people's religious feelings to keep himself in power.

I'm well aware that Tibet was a nasty place before the Chinese came. And it's a nasty place now that the Chinese are there. For one thing, the Chinese dictatorship that conquered the place was that of Mao Tse-Tung, the worst mass murderer in absolute numerical terms in all history.

And I'm sure that if the Israelis left the middle east and went back to Europe, the Palestinains would quit making war against them as well.

How about if they simply went back to Israel? After all, most of Israel was originally purchased by the Zionists.

Also, not all Israelis came from Europe -- many were living in the "Middle East" -- even in the territory that became Israel -- from before even the coming of the Zionists about a century ago.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Mao is long since dead. He can no more oppress the modern Tibetans than he can the modern Chinese.

Presumably most of the Chinese now in Tibet call the place home. There's been a Chinese presence there for nearly 60 years, after all. I'd have to assume that most of the victims of the rioting grew up there, and consider it their home. One of the excuses given by the rioters was that the Chinese were dominating the economic life of the country, buying stores, etc. Their precise objection is that the Chinese are peacefully purchasing property, and profitably conducting business.

Ultimately I don't accept the right of the Tibetans, or the Palestinians, or anyone else to dictate who can live where based on nothing more than ethnicity. That's wrong, and that the position that the Dalai Lama's faction are promoting.