Seattle, to be specific... the "Seeds of Compasion" Conference

Quote :

"Tibetans and their supporters bowed and sang as the Dalai Lama arrived at Seattle's Grand Hyatt hotel on Thursday (April 10). He is in the city for a five-day Seeds of Compassion conference. Organizers say they expect his appearance will draw more than 15,000 people. ... His visit comes the same day a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said it was outraged by a U.S. House of Representatives resolution passed earlier this week calling on China to open talks with the Dalai Lama. In a statement posted on the ministry's website, Jiang Yu said the U.S. resolution "twisted Tibet's history and modern reality … seriously hurting the feelings of the Chinese people." -- http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/04/11/dalailama-us.html"

Chinese students here at the University of Washington are "seriously concerned" by the Dalai Lama's visit.

Quote :

"The Dalai Lama will spend five days in Seattle starting Friday. On Monday, he will receive an honorary degree from the UW, then talk about the importance of compassion and answer questions from students. Those questions have already been selected by university officials, and conflict regarding Tibetan autonomy will not be discussed, UW spokesman Norm Arkans told the P-I on Wednesday. The questions largely center on the topic of the Dalai Lama's speech, he said. The Chinese students were invited to meet with UW President Mark Emmert and Vice Provost Ed Taylor after they mailed the UW president a letter Tuesday "expressing our serious concern over Dalai Lama's visit." "As Chinese citizens, we want to reaffirm that Tibet was, is and will always be part of the People's Republic of China," the letter read. "We are against any kind of violence. We believe that every country in the world should show respect to the others' own domestic issues. Therefore, we hope the University of Washington will make sure that Dalai Lama's upcoming visit has no political agenda, and that his speech will be focused on non-political issues only." In the next paragraph, the students to Emmert that they think the university is a place to "express and exchange ideas and thoughts freely." They wrote that in light of that, they want their voices to be heard on this issue. In a second letter posted on the student group's Web site this afternoon, the students wrote about their meeting with Emmert and Taylor and "the university will make sure that no sensitive and political questions would be raised during his speech." -- http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/schoolzone/archives/136186.asp"

jesuschristalready. what is wrong with these people? they talk about how the University is a place "free expression and exchange of ideas" but then demand that the Dalai Lama's be restricted to speak only of non-political subjects, and that questions from students be edited of any controversial matter?

do these people even hear themselves? are they culturally incapable of understanding irony?



[Edited on April 11, 2008 at 2:44 PM. Reason : ]

4/11/2008 2:41:35 PM

Kinda like that study of people disagreeing with their own perceptions of physical quantities (measurements) simply because others report different results. This was PSY 200.

[Edited on April 11, 2008 at 2:45 PM. Reason : ]

4/11/2008 2:43:47 PM

God bless him, may the Lord protect him from the ill will of the Communists

4/11/2008 2:44:40 PM

In related news... I'm going to see the Dalai Lama speak on saturday at the Seahawks stadium.

its gonna be nuts.

i need to find my camera.

4/11/2008 2:46:14 PM

if i was the university president, i would let people ask him whatever the hell they wanted

4/11/2008 8:16:14 PM

maybe they should ask him why he accepts money from terrorist organizations

4/11/2008 8:24:53 PM