I guess ShaMao should finally make his opinion known regarding the recent events in Tibet.  I've been meaning to for several days now.

So here are a few of my thoughts on the issue:

1)  I have never been very interested in Tibet or Tibetans.  Unlike some Westerners I have met, there is nothing I have learned about Tibet that draws me there.  Sure, it has stunning scenery no doubt, but so do so many places in the world.  Everything I have ever read about the traditional Tibetan culture and religion Westerners (and even some Chinese  I have met) like to gush about, suggests it to be even more anachronistic than most religions.  I have little respect for willful primitivism.   I do not believe the Tibetans have found the secret to life or anything else (except how to make musical instruments of human bones maybe...). 

2) The Tibetans don't have much of a leg to stand on in terms of wanting independence.  Of all the stateless peoples in the world I would say they are certainly well in the bottom half of likely to succeed.  Just about the only thing I can think of that would be guaranteed to spark popular revolution in China would be for the Chinese government to allow the secession of Tibet or any other substantial piece of Chinese territory.   I'm not sure what the current demographics look like, but I suspect the Tibetans are probably close to outnumbered these days anyways.  It is just not going to happen for them.  But they might win some kind of concessions since its the Olympics year.  Of course there would probably be a quiet crackdown as soon as the Closing Ceremonies are over. 

3)  I could not fucking believe that the first article about this I saw on CNN (other than the ticker at the bottom of the screen) featured Richard Gere in a 5 minute interview as the "expert".  How many real experts are there on Tibet and even Tibetan/Chinese relations in our universities and they choose that idiot.