This is off-topic, I know, but I feel I have to respond...
(1) "China" doesn't violate anyone's human rights. The Chinese government ( who are not chosen or elected by their citizens ) do. If linux can benefit ordinary Chinese people, this is a good thing.
This is entirely true. The Chinese government is rarely representative of the Chinese people, and Chinese people's love of their country rarely translates into love of their current government.
(2) Tibet is a bad example.
(a) That Tibet is a seperate country is questionable from a historical point of view. It is also not clear that the monarchy in Tibet that preceded the Mao regime were substantially better than Mao ( and successors)
Now this I disagree with. I think Tibet is a really good example of the terrible acts of the Chinese government. Re: your points:
Tibet's separate status before the Chinese invasion is hardly questionable. They had a separate language, culture, government, monetary system, and religion. Tibet was viewed as soverign enough by England and Russia for those countries to attempt to sign treaties with Tibet. What more indication could one want?
While no one argues that the government before the Chinese invasion was anything but feudal, they hardly made a practice of slaughtering their own citizens and shelling monasteries with artillery (for anyone who may think I'm making this up, I'm not. I've seen the monasteries and talked with Tibetans about what happened).
(b) It is not Tibet that is being oppressed, it is Tibetan seperatists and their sympathisers.
Now this is just silly. By this reasoning anyone who doesn't love the Chinese occupation of Tibet is not Tibet, but is rather a Tibetan seperatist or sympathiser.
Enough of this. I've had enough conversations with people about Tibet to know that the only thing that makes most people understand what happened and is still happening there is to go there.
Slashdot Mirror
This is off-topic, I know, but I feel I have to respond...
This is entirely true. The Chinese government is rarely representative of the Chinese people, and Chinese people's love of their country rarely translates into love of their current government.
Now this I disagree with. I think Tibet is a really good example of the terrible acts of the Chinese government. Re: your points:
Now this is just silly. By this reasoning anyone who doesn't love the Chinese occupation of Tibet is not Tibet, but is rather a Tibetan seperatist or sympathiser.
Enough of this. I've had enough conversations with people about Tibet to know that the only thing that makes most people understand what happened and is still happening there is to go there.
Tin Soldiers and Nixon's Coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Yeah, but four dead is a lot different from hundreds in Tienanmen and over a million in Tibet...