Free Tibet

FREE TIBETWhat should we think?

What does Free Tibet stand for?

Free Tibet is a movement created by people outside of China and Tibet calling for the China to grant back Tibet it’s autonomy.

There are many organizations that support the Free Tibet movement such as Students for a Free Tibet.

Tibet has been in Chinese possession for a long time why has this recently

become such a hot issue?

It has become a hot issue because the media has jumped on the bandwagon and given this issue a lot of coverage recently because of a series of recent self-immolations and other acts of defiance that happened in 2008. Also the religious undertones in both of these events.

Media Coverage

Media can shape the way we think about an issue and can really drive a nation into action. As consumers of media we have to be very careful to find the whole story and see the biases in writing and video. This presentation analyses some articles about this issue and tries to get the overall feeling of the media about this topic.

Self- Immolation

This is what the majority of the articles I researched mentioned. The author’s of these articles all seemed to be aghast that people were so desperate to free there nation that they would burn themselves alive. From reading all of these articles a reader can sense an anger at china for creating the circumstances that someone would actually kill themselves to get a message across. This is probably why this was such a catalyzing news story because death brings up many negative emotions, these negative emotions were then associated with the Chinese government.

Tibet’s InnocenceShangri-La

Another issue that appears in these media sources over and over again is the so called innocence of the Tibetan people and the country as a whole. Western culture as a whole views Tibet as a wonderland filled with magical places and mysterious people. In class we referred to several different movies that represented this very fact such as Ace Ventura. Of course writers from the west would be as affected from this view point as our class was, so this would be another reason why Free Tibet has blown up. This article sums up this stance in a nut shell.

China’s Reactions

In the articles the overarching theme was anger at the Chinese government for there reactions to events that have come up. Such as the protests in 2008 in which many people were killed by Chinese officers. Other protests have usually ended in the same result. It seems that the authors feel that the Chinese government has been very unjust in there dealings with Tibetans and Tibetan Buddhism.

Tibetans in Exile

Many Tibetan religious leaders were forced out of Tibet when China took over rule so many years ago. These exiled monks have been great spokesman and advocates for the freedom of Tibet. One of these exiled monks is the Dalia Lama. He has one of the most famous and recognized names in the world. His name comes with a mystic to westerners that he is a very wise man and should be respected. Some of the articles mentioned his exile in terms of it being a bad thing and that the Chinese government is wrong to be enemies with the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama can almost be viewed as the figurehead for the Free Tibet movement in the media.

Fear

If the Free Tibet movement has so many supporters. Why has nothing been done? One article hit it on the head, but other articles implied it, fear. Fear of reprisal from China for interfering. The U.S. is 1 trillion dollars in debt to China and many other countries are in the same boat. Authors have implied the whole time that China is a bully nation that is just picking on the little kid Tibet for his lunch money.

Tibet’s Economic Growth

I found only one article maybe not in favor of Tibet’s occupation by the Chinese, but which gave pros that have happened since the occupation. One of these is that Tibet’s economy has boomed since China took over. The author of this article is obviously impressed by the numbers surrounding Tibet’s economy, but he also alludes to China’s blunders in dealing with Tibet. He is impressed by China’s plans to modernize Tibet and is also encouraged by the amount of money China has pumped into Tibet’s economy.

Chicken Shape might be one of the reasons for China to keep occupying Tibet says hoax article.

Conclusions

After weighing the view points of all the authors of these articles I came to the conclusion that they are all in favor of the Free Tibet movement. Almost all of the authors thinks that China’s rule has yielded nothing, but pain for Tibet. One author thought that the economic boost in Tibet’s economy was one thing China did to help Tibet. The other authors with this same information may have the same opinion. All in all it seems the media is totally in favor of the Free Tibet movement.

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