Originally Posted by Fuchs
Tuesday's alleged incident was the deadliest since riots in July 2009 killed nearly 200 people. Tibet is worse. The independent watchdog organization Freedom House annually ranks countries and territories on their level of political rights and civil liberties. The group's most recent report, released Jan 2013, included Tibet in its "Worst of the Worst" category, joining North Korea and Somalia.This is just the media, but suspect our diplomats and intelligence even have less access and understanding of what is actually happening on the ground. Official statements from China are rejected immediately it seems, while statements from activist groups are quickly embraced as true.In March 2012, Peter Ford, a veteran foreign correspondent for Christian Science Monitor, published an article entitled "In China, reporting on Tibetan and Uighur unrest is nearly impossible."
I think the reality is we have little idea of what is actually happening in most parts of the world outside the very limited awareness zone of our Embassies. Most media representatives focus on whatever the cool story of the year is and report to influence instead of reporting to inform the public.
Just being aware of this should encourage us to stop and question our understanding before we even start considering our potential positions or responses to these incidents.
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