psycho indeed. i’ll just glad when this is all said and done. i’m really, really getting tired of it all.

While I’ve also questioned the insane hopefulness of the Beijing choice for the Olympics, I think the comparison between the Bush administration and China is just as insane … if not more.

There might be some questionable things going on in the US — I know, my liberal pacifist friends see no difference between what we’re doing in Iraq and what China is doing in Tibet … but believe me, its way different — but to overlook the human rights successes that America has had over the last few years, too, in Iraq and other places, is dishonest and giving “false witness”. China doesn’t really have that at all.

I could go on, but I’ll stop there.

Peace.

i don’t really see degrees of difference in torture britt. i mean if the US tortures people and the Chinese torture Tibetans . . . both are human rights violations and should be named as such. if the US oppresses opposition violently and the Chinese do the same in Tibet . . . then both are of the same cut and fabric. i’m not advocating a blind black and white consistency because i realize that there is way more nuance involved than sometime i even give credit to. but that’s why i get so frustrated with conservatives, is there is just this huge lack of consistency in their politics. and i’m not a democrat or a republican. and i think hillary is just as insane as is the flip-tard we’ve got steering the ship now.

it’s just so incredibly hypocritical for people to call for a boycott when our country uses many of the same practices and justify under the disguise of “freedom”.

freedom by force is the same thing as totalitarianism by force. in both cases, those inflicting the force are the judge and jury. and both are counter-intuitive. and both are dead ends to lasting change.

umm, yeah. what josh said.

i’m not saying china and the US are analogous. obviously they are not. but there is a comparison to be made. if you’re going to condemn human rights you need to be consistent about it. i don’t see any boycotting to that end. maybe there should be.

perhaps we should ask the iraqi civilians, those that have been affected by the “collateral damage,” and those that have been detained at tortured at gitmo and other places if they see a real difference in the violations. i doubt it. humans rights are….human rights.

we’re all in a great place of privilege and we can afford to split hairs about it and like josh said i’m not saying it’s black and white i’m just saying we need to be consistent and do some collective self-reflection before we go making elaborate and convenient protests because it’s the thing to do at the time. i’m not condemning the protests, i’d probably be in on it too if i were closer, i just think need to be mindful of our selectivity.

Britt - I am with you on this one.
Josh - I think you are making some really broad generalizations here. Saying that that US and our human rights record is comparable to China is like me saying you are just like George Bush. He likes baseball, you like baseball; he has short hair, you do now. Etc. But, deep down, I suspect that you’d agree that you are different enough that getting lumped together would give you the heeby jeebies.

I’d also like to engage in how “freedom and totalitarianism” by force are the same, but that is better served over a pint.

PS: For you old-timers our there. I am the guy that gets all-kinds-of-fired-up (that is a legit Southern saying, btw) when I read Josh’s blog, but when I write it comes off really angry; so, I just share with Josh in person where I am more agreeable. If I can shake the angry writing…you may just see more of me.

@tad. i think that josh i agrees with me, but just to be clear: i’m the one that made the comment about the comparison. and for the record, i’m still holding to it. i just don’t see the parsing of human rights at all. a violation of rights is a violation of rights. i don’t care if it happens in the US, china, or wherever. human beings are human beings period.

also, i’m not making a comparison in leaders here. i’m not saying george bush is hu jintao. what i am saying is neither of them have the best track record when it comes to human rights. and in comparing the US as a country and china as a country over the last century….well, we all know the history and all i have to say is two words: hiroshima and nagasaki. and i know there something to be said about then and now, of course, but i seriously wonder if we collectively learned a lesson from that. we need to own our own history. no one else as forgotten about it. it’s part of our record.

so, to me it just seems superficial and a little hypocritical for the US and its leaders to call foul here when we’re participating in violations ourselves. especially when that stance comes only after political pressure. then its just insincere.

[...] connected to my post yesterday on President Bush and the Olympics and the subsequent discussion at Josh’s blog.  But maybe not. [...]