With the Olympics being held in Beijing, the media and thousands of people have jumped on the latest human rights bandwagon, condemning China over its crackdown on Tibet. So much so that ceremonial Olympic torch routes are being canceled or rerouted to avoid the hordes of protesters trying to sabotage the event, thinking somehow they’d be making the statement. The US House of Representatives were right in with the pack, passing a resolution to call out China on its misbehavior. It’s great that the situation in Tibet is getting worldwide attention, but only because it is the ‘popular’ thing to do. I can almost guarantee a large percentage of the sign wavers have not bothered to read up and research on the decades long crisis they claim to be so passionate about, to the point of outright racism.

Hold up your pretty signs, sign lots of online petitions, talk about it in your social circles to make you sound like an activist so you can score a hot date…does anyone really believe China gives a fuck about the fanfare? The above CNN news story where the House decided “Let’s vote to tell China to stop its crackdown on Tibet” was just another classic media ploy by our government. China already has the US wrapped around its pinky and ‘telling’ them to do something has never been successful in the history books. If they cared what the rest of the world thought, China wouldn’t be committing these crimes in the first place.

If you really want to bring about change, the only way is to pressure them economically.

Despite moral disagreements, the US continues to do massive amount of business with China. Our reliance on them has reached out of control proportions and they damn well know all they need is their economic clout to make the rest of the world bend to their will. The US has no negotiating power, especially when we’re trillions of dollars in debt and counting. Slow down China’s rise as a global superpower, and only then will you see their government squirm in their seats.

Sadly, after the 2008 Olympics are over, the fervor will die and the “SAVE TIBET” shirts will lie in a hamper along with “SAVE THE WHALES” and “SAVE DARFUR” (made in china of course). That’s what you get with a Western world that runs on fads and limited attention spans. China will continue playing the world like puppets, victims will continue suffering, and the US will continue turning a blind eye on the escalating problem.