The Dalai Lama: What Richard Gere Won’t Tell You

OPINION: Tibet before the Maoists was not Shangri-la.  It was not a free, democratic and happy country and the Dalai Lama was not a wondrous, gentle, egalitarian leader of happy, smiling well-fed people.  In fact, if one is willing to look past the hype and PR surrounding this man, it doesn't take long to find proof that Tibet was hell on earth where the lamas, the Dalai Lama being the most powerful, presided over a Feudalist state and ruled by systematic oppression, torture, slavery, starvation, sexism and imposed serfdom.  This article is just one of many which shatters the modern mythos so well-crafted by the USA, the Free Tibet movement with the assistance of the CIA, and Dalai Lama Inc's public relations wing as they continue to oppose an emerging Chinese super power. 

For many who have wanted the Dalai Lama to be what is so publicly claimed this may be a very difficult exposé to read regardless of the depth of research or the veracity.  Sacred cows die hard!  It is important, however, on the eve of the Olympics, with this Tibetan crisis exploding and dominating the news with such miraculous timing, that we look a little deeper than the facile pictures painted by those who stand to benefit from global anger against China. Here, on the eve of this the greatest opportunity the west has ever had to scrutinize everything behind the Bamboo Curtain, where reporters will have free and open access for the first time, we must not let our ignorance of the history of the Dalai Lama and Tibet, nor the demonization of everything Chinese by those in the West who oppose China to bring about boycotts and the cessation of our curiosity about Earth's most populous country.

An interesting observation that speaks to what I see as an automatic and hopefully unconscious reflection here on Now Public of endemic anti-China bias in the mainstream media:  In looking within Now Public for photos or videos I entered several different search tags. 'Dalai' or 'Dalai Lama' brought copious numbers of photos and videos negative to China or positive about the man.  'China Olympics' brought up absolutely nothing; no pictures and no videos.  Even when I used 'Beijing Olympics' just more negative pictures and videos with no reference to the competitions themselves.  Bias in the western press, and in the information we get on this subject?  You bet there is!