[Riddil]

And eh... the "death vans" thing... honestly I think that's like blaming George Bush directly for a specific incident of violence that happened after Katrina. Sure, he shares responsibility for the inept system he put in place, but you can't say that he himself is responsible for that one incident.

That's the same way I regard the "death van" thing in China. The ruling party would never condone or approve anything like that. (It's too easy to farm organs from prisoners). Many of the specific horrific cases you hear of aren't things the government has any direct involvement in. Most of the terrible stories come from the runaway capitalist greed in the country, coupled with corruption and lack of local authority oversight by the national party.

So while those types of examples are bad, I rather focus on the direct actions or inactions of the ruling party. I normally focus on things like controlled media. Or the rampant destruction of the environment. Corrupt officials, and rigged trials. Because if you pull out a "death vans" argument when you're talking to a Chinese person.....

*poof*

Their nationalistic pride kicks in and suddenly you've got a regular-Joe type of guy that's against you, and defending his country. Because I promise he's never seen a "death van", he's never heard of them through any source, and he'll argue the whole thing is another vicious Western lie intended to erode China's "spirit", whatever that is supposed to mean.

Remember that old hoax that came out years ago, showing a picture of a Chinese man eating what looked like a baby? Turns out it was just a prank by some regular-Joe. He put a doll's head on a roast duck, and sent it to his friends. It made a small splash on the internet in the US... but in China.... that was a front-page story for weeks. The media was reporting about it constantly, showing how Western countries were planting lies about China, to erode their "spirit".

And yup, it did the trick, it got the populace whipped up against the perceived attack. "How dare they accuse us of being baby-eaters??"

So that's what you're working against. Any of those small, extreme examples will always be lumped into the "baby eater" category, and you'll get a roomful of people lashing out at you.

And that's what's happening now with Tibet. It's a perceived attack. You want to get those people on your side, don't talk about some small example that is far away from their daily life... talk about how you feel bad for THEM.

Hell.... I weep for these people. Almost every single day in any major city the pollution is so bad you can't see the end of a long street. On bad days you can't see the ground if you're in a 15-story building. And then I see old people outside for their "morning exercise", thinking the whole thing is just fog, because that's what their weather man told them. They're out exercising in air that's probably cutting off years from their life.

*shakes head*