"Hello, China... I have something you may want, but it's gonna cost you. That's right. All the tea."

Having had the privilege of attending university I have, as a consequence, also had the not-exactly-a-privilege of being subjected to indoctrination into every thoughtful person and crank's pet issue. Some of these issues have been far more deserving of my time and attention than have others. For instance, the Spartacist League's insistence on "Defending the Revolution In China Against Backsliding Towards Occidental Capitalist Pig-Dog Anal Love-fests Without Lube Manufactured By Glorious Peasant Youth Organizations!" The truly shocking thing is that with a cause this just, urgent and necessary, I'm still not a fan. But I digress. There are, of course, many more reasonable causes to support. Tibetan freedom is one of them.

Now, I know that I'm going to be far from the first to comment on this. Apparently I'm not very on the ball these days. I had no idea that there was anything new happening in Tibet until I drove past the Chinese consulate on Granville earlier on Sunday to see protesters filled with inarticulate rage, banners-a-flailing in the cold March air. Actually, they weren't inarticulate so much as boisterous and incoherent. This is unsurprising as far as the university/white "Free Tibet!" crowd is concerned. Like a Bob Marley poster on the dorm wall, a "Free Tibet!" bumper sticker on the car is a pretty good indicator that there's some *ahem* higher learning going on. For some humourous evidence in support of this hypothesis, check this video starting at 1:23 and especially the blond dude at 1:29. They're even singing that old Marley tune: "Get Up, Stand Up".

'Nuff said.

Enough hippy-baiting for today, though. Their hearts are in the right place, after all, and they're standing up *hur hur* for what they take to be a just cause. What could be more just than trying to free a humble mountain folk from the evil empire? (All apologies, Russia, we know you're still trying.) Nothing, right? I mean, we know for a fact that Chinese claims to Tibet are fabricated because there were no Chinese there when Brad Pitt got there. Because he was there before they were. We all saw Seven Years in Tibet. Brad Pitt arrived, hung out with some bespectacled kid in drafty pajamas, then the Chinese started shooting people. Brangelina would never lie to us. Brangelina would never lie to us?! Right? Right! So we're right too! Free Tibet! Free Tibet!

Before the reader gets the wrong idea, I am actually a supporter of the Tibetan claim to independence. There are a number of excellent reasons (which I will get to in a later post) to support the struggle of this nation against the oppression heaped upon it by Beijing. But I'm also an even bigger supporter of deliberate and well-reasoned policy. Before we jump into bed with a cause, we first have to be sure that we clearly understand why it is that we support the cause. Even more importantly, we need to clearly understand what it is that we are putting our weight behind, and I’m not so certain that our well-intentioned friends pictured in the video linked above have a clear vision of what they’re advocating. Not that I blame them. It’s hard to see clearly through bloodshot eyes. (But that’s why God invented Vizene. Ha!)

Thus, I turn first to the why of the issue. Are we certain that we understand the circumstances of the case we are defending? There's no excuse for an irresponsible acceptance of Hollywood History. Of course, this is not to say that I advocate anything like this unreconstructed, revisionist, and vaguely amusing nationalist bile. The fact is that history is more complicated than either side is really willing to admit. That's right. It's time for a history lesson.

(Part 1/3)