Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Monday, December 11, 2006
Felonious Monk?
I don´t have much time for anyone who calls themself a spiritual leader. I do like the love your enemies part, the way you feel about other people is just a reflection of the way you feel about yourself. Like that Kundera quote has been mentioned here a few moments, Hate traps us by binding us together with our enemies.
Though it sounded way cooler than the Dalai Llama when this guy said it: http://tinyurl.com/yf5zgy
Posted by owen on from sea turtle massage parlour 12/11 at 05:57 AMThis article was a breath of fresh air, and starts my week off right. A perfect puncturing of one of the mass media’s examples of myth-making. A media-driven myth which, like so many, has found automatic acceptance across the entire political spectrum.
Posted by Greg on from Ohio 12/11 at 06:49 AMAnother great one, Mickey. I may practice Buddhism, but I am NOT a fan of the Dalai Lama. I cringe whenever people bring him up in conversation.
Posted by Brian on from Belly of the Beast 12/11 at 08:45 AMHello my fellow Expendables. I know it sounds like a broken record but we are once again enjoying unseasonably warm weather for mid-December in NYC.
Thanks for the comments above (and good to see you here, Greg). As you might imagine, some folks were not happy about this article. Perhaps, as the day goes on, I will discuss the knee-jerk critiques but, for now, there’s one I must mention.
It seems that a few lefties are wigging out that I had the nerve to quote from Workers World. It’s Stalinist, Maoist, unreliable...blah, blah, blah. What has me laughing is that no one has yet questioned the info I used from the Chicago Tribune.
Today’s left wing lesson: it’s okay to quote capitalists but not communists.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 10:42 AMYes! - the Dali Lama is a farce.
His childish venerations of “democracy” and “freedom” blah, blah, blah are generally insulting to anybody who’s paying attention to the world around them.Our Neocon Primemonger Steve Harper awarded “The Lama” an honorary Canadian citizenship as a part of our Neocons cynical façade of “progressive awareness“.
Our prickminister would not award the clown anything if he wasn’t a useful tool of the elite.
When the representative of world Buddhism starts discussing the “positive” potential of invasion and occupation it becomes fairly obvious that he is a sham.
The rarely reported slavery and association with one of the world’s most malevolent terrorist organizations, (the CIA) are as unforgivable as the disingenuous gatekeeper media’s promotion of the “Dali Lama” fiction.I’ve listened to speeches by this goof and your observation about his childish naiveté is bang on.
Like all of the “Love and Light” fruit baskets of the so-called “New Age” movement the Dalai Lama is all hype and no substance.
Even if you put aside his associations with State terrorists and generally spotty past, what he actually has to say about world affairs is steeped in rancid clichés and corny dime store platitudes.This sort of article is why I love Mickey Z, - the sacred cow slaughtering vegan.
Kudos, Z-Man
Posted by Youngfox on from around 12/11 at 10:52 AMI think you pointed it out here when he said it...but the DL only recently realized that the Iraq war was a mistake.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 12/11 at 11:38 AMThanks, Youngfox. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed your comment. The DL’s friendship with such leaders speaks volumes.
JOS: Yeah, three years later. Maybe in his next life, the DL will get it right but that isn’t much solace for all the victims out there.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 11:43 AMHere’s a good link to check out and follow through on:
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 12/11 at 11:58 AMGood stuff, JOS...thanks.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 12:02 PMGreetings, Expendables. The weather is indeed too warm in the Northeast - about 15 degrees above the norm. I’m EXXONMOBIL sure it’s KILL THE OCEANS nothing. (I miss Kevin Nealon’s Mr. Subliminal.)
When that Brad Pitt vehicle “Seven Years In Tibet” came out, some noted that his character was in fact a hard-line Nazi. Maybe not as bad as Zionists collaborating with Nazis, but bad enough. http://tinyurl.com/vftfu
Religion reminds me of that Marx quote: “I wouldn’t belong to any club that would have me as a member.”
I see that the Endgame Movie Festival site is now working: http://www.endgamefilmfest.org
Moviemaking tech is beyond me right now, but I can’t wait to get the DVD and do some showings.Posted by Zenprole on from Urth 12/11 at 12:17 PMHey Zen...I’m beginning to wonder: Who didn’t collaborate with the damn Nazis?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 01:09 PMReal felons operate the christian mega chuches in the US. Talk about that you moonie freaks.
Posted by noone on from nowhere 12/11 at 01:17 PMHey....that’s Mr. Moonie Freak to you.
And since Zen quoted Groucho, I’ll toss this in from his brother Karl:
“The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.”
(thanks to Liz for that one)
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 01:26 PMMZ #11-- figured you were half-kidding, but:
http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/denmark.htm
Posted by James on from work 12/11 at 01:34 PMAh, Cat Lady...you know I was talking about groups like Zionists, American corporations, Tibet, CIA, Mafia, etc.
On the ground, of course, many people risked everything to resist.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 02:00 PMI hear that… just any chance to remind that Denmark’s been more than those stupid cartoons last year. And Legos.
Posted by James on from work 12/11 at 02:04 PMLegos do kick ass, though.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 12/11 at 02:17 PMAbsÆlutely.
Posted by James on from work 12/11 at 02:45 PMI was more of a Hot Wheels kid.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 03:02 PMI share many of your frustrations with spiritual leaders such as the Dalai Lama...since I am the real conduit of wisdom...I am ‘ALL’...of the past the present and the future. I also object to impeaching a war criminal. Impeachment is the equivalent of giving a rapist a $5 parking ticket.
If you have any pressing questions about your life experience...simply ask yourself, why do I have pressing questions about my life experience? Look at fear..! Until later...’ALL’Posted by Joe on from Maine 12/11 at 03:14 PMhmmmm…
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 12/11 at 03:33 PMHello everyone...I am reading all of these great comments here, too many to comment on right now but Joe from Maine # 20 says what I have been saying all along. Impeachment trivializes the war crimes besides that, the Congress would never impeach because they are complicit. Congress continues to fund the war therefore congress is more responsible than the Bush Administration. GWB has no guns, bombers, DU, land mines, etc. Without the money from Congress he would be impotent.
Dennis Kuncinich and Ron Paul sponsored a hearing today about the civilians that we have slaughtered. It was broadcast live on C-span and worth seeing if it is repeated. They gave the number of slaughtered civilians as 650,000+. Too bad they forgot about all of the 500,000+ that were killed by the bombings and sanctions before 2003. Everyone keeps forgetting that we have been bombing Iraq since 1991.
I think Daily Kos and some other sites are talking about my retrial. Some of the information out there is not quite correct but it has been encouraging to see.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 12/11 at 03:36 PMRMJ, when you have a chance, let’s add a question or two to the interview we did...to update it. I’ll then send it around to some sites that didn’t jump on the bandwagon last time.
And...thanks, Joe.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 03:55 PMOne thing you left out was that the Dalai Lama was but a teenager when he ‘owned slaves.’
If we were all judged by the world we lived in, we’d probably all qualify as bigots, or racists, and some even ‘slave owners.’
I’ve spent time with the Dalai Lama and I think others who have would rekate to you that he’s the real deal. He really DOES believe what he says. The rest of the Tibetans? Have they played-off like they’re all pacificists? Hell no! I have spoken with their resistance and those guys are weathered and tough.
And they want Tibet to be run by Tibetans.
Just in case your arm-chair judgement of Tibetans fails the alert your readers to the fact that the Chinese and Tibetan people ARE ethnically different and the Chinese have about as much right to take over Tibet as the USA has to take over Iraq: zilch
You also left-out the torture and systematic elimination of Tibetan culture by the Chinese government. They dynamited Buddhist monasteries and nunneries during the Cultural Revolution. They continue to prop-up their own Panchen Lama in order to influence Tibetans who remain in Tibet.
People laud the Civil Rights movement as non-violent and peaceful. But have you ever heard of the black-militias that were requisite at the time to create a perimeter of safety around movements such as the one Dr Martin Luther King lead. His was a peaceful movement, but whether you saw them or not, it had ‘teeth.’
You’ve latched onto one thing about Tibetan history that has magical powers over most non-discriminate readers/writers: owning slaves
While I was in Dharamsala, many Tibetans felt the exiling of the Tibetan spiritual leadership helped to evolve Tibetan Culture into something more sustainable, more along the lines of what they are preaching.
Besides, they make no secret of the fact that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar (or threats).
I urge you to spend some time actually around Tibetans and perhaps even in places like Dharamsala, India or Tibet. You might learn that the Potala is actually considered a mandala and its very architecture is rooted in Tibetan Buddhist mysticism. You might get to meet one of the many rape or torture victims who fled across the Himalayas. You might get the feeling that the slave-owning days of Tibetans are about as relevant to Tibetan society today as Senator Robert Byrd’s KKK card-carrying days are to his present stance on the issues of race and bigotry.
When I compare what the CHinese have done to the Tibetans, to what the Tibetans have done to the Chinese, or themselves, there is NO COMPARISON.
Lastly, even if the Dalai Lama is just a naiive, hocus-pocus, mystic . . . at least he’s not telling his people to wreak havoc on the planet or on each other. They might not have come from a perfect place, but they at least are trying to do what they can to attain a little bit of perfection.
Go to Dharamsala, you will never be the same.
Posted by Jackspace on from Berkeley, CA 12/11 at 04:02 PM“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.”
---Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night(I had to use that one ‘cause Owen stole my tried-but-true Kundera quote in comment #1.)
Posted by Keir on from The Gray Hague 12/11 at 04:09 PMyoink!
Posted by owen on from sea turtle massage parlour 12/11 at 04:15 PMSo refreshing to read what you write about the Dalai Lama, Mickey! And that is a roundabout way of saying that I fully agree with you.
Hello, Owen, Greg, Brian, Youngfox (sacred cow slaughtering vegan - I like that!), JOS, zenprole, noone, James, Jackspace, Rosemarie and Keir. A few names here I haven’t seen before. So good to be part of a family of expendables.
You have unseasonably warm weather in NYC, Mickey, and in Australia the bushfire season has started unseasonably early - high temperatures, strong winds and all that. And summer is only 12 days old.
captcha: ‘after’ as in ‘after the deluge/bushfires’ ..
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 12/11 at 05:11 PMHello everyone...and welcome, Jackspace. As I mentioned above, I’ve gotten some negative feedback on this article and one issue was me quoting from Workers World.
Also, some readers seem to think (or pretend to think) that just because I am critical of the DL, I am somehow either ignoring or supporting Chinese repression. I hope this is obviously false and I don’t need to explain.
Also, some implied that they don’t blame Tibet for aligning with the CIA. Let me clarify: I was in no way advocating that the DL or his people be pacifists. Of course, they should fight back. But accepting CIA help? Since when is that something to support? Also, let’s not forget the cynical exploiting of the “pacifist” role to seduce Westerners.
Finally, I’ll repeat something Youngfox said: “Even if you put aside his associations with State terrorists and generally spotty past, what he actually has to say about world affairs is steeped in rancid clichés and corny dime store platitudes.” I’ve heard nothing from my critics to make me disagree with this statement.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 06:44 PMMickey # 23....tell me when…
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 12/11 at 07:44 PMI’ll e-mail you about it no later than Wednesday, RMJ.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/11 at 07:57 PMI’ve read some of these criticisms before—in The Spartacist.
Your views come from the same reactionary Leftist propaganda and are reactionary. They are reactionary because you never reference any factual information. You rely solely on your ill-informed opinion.
A simple Wikipedia search would have provided some factual context for your views.
On CIA involvement with the Tibetan resistance:
“When asked by CIA officer John Kenneth Knaus in 1995 whether the organization did a good or bad thing in providing its support, the Dalai Lama replied that though it helped the morale of those resisting the Chinese, “thousands of lives were lost in the resistance” and further, that “the U.S. Government had involved itself in his country’s affairs not to help Tibet but only as a Cold War tactic to challenge the Chinese.”
As for the futrue government of a Tibet free of Chinese rule:
“In 1963, he promulgated a supposed democratic constitution which is based upon the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A Tibetan parliament-in-exile is elected by the Tibetan refugees scattered all over the world, and the Tibetan Government in Exile is likewise elected by the Tibetan parliament.”
China is intent on settling Tibet with ethnic Chinese. I would hope you understand that this is ethnic cleansing. Furthermore, the Dalai Lama is opposed Chinese nuclear testing in Tibet.
If you had done any research, you might have discovered this information. Surely, an aging Leftist like you would be in favor of any government based on the UDHR, opposed to nuclear testing, resistance to ethnic cleansing and colonialist settlement under an authoritarian regime.
The CIA was behind the Tibetan Indepence campaign, according to a former agent. So what?Who is behind the Tibetan ethnic cleansing program? The Chinese Communist Party and the PLA. Which would you rather have independnece or ethnic cleansing, Mickey Z?
Who would you turn to if the Chinese had invaded your country? Furthermore, there may have been CIA funding of propganda,but here is no mention of covert operations.
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
Also, the CIA officer says nothing about any involvement since the 1990s. It might help if you included the full quote instead of excising it.
Again, another example of you taking things out of context and not backing it up with any facts.
Posted by AR on from 12/11 at 10:32 PMJackspace, welcome. I concur with you here: “People laud the Civil Rights movement as non-violent and peaceful. But have you ever heard of the black-militias that were requisite at the time to create a perimeter of safety around movements such as the one Dr Martin Luther King lead. His was a peaceful movement, but whether you saw them or not, it had ‘teeth.’” [See also the “Notebook” essay in this month’s Harper’s.]
Otherwise, I see no good reason to refrain from serving up the DL who, in my eyes, occupies the same moral space as Bono (Who also really believes what he says). Strip away the pomp and celebrity and the devout beliefs of the DL are unremarkable. Three cheers for the bus drivers and dishwashers of this world who don’t need a sacred text or royal family to do the right thing.
MZ: *I* did not collaborate with the Nazis. Today, as it happens, I thought of a great name for a band: The Flaming Goebbels. They play ska-billy chamber music. Imagine the t-shirts.
Posted by zenprole on from Urth 12/11 at 10:45 PMAttacking the Dalai Lama in a feeble to improve one’s blog statistics, are we?
Haw haw haw.
Get OVER it, dude.
Posted by Buddhist Jihad on from US 12/11 at 10:53 PMWhoa, AR! Before you start using Wikipedia as a “factual context,” see http://www.wikipedia-watch.org then break out your copy of William Blum’s ‘Killing Hope.’ The Tibetans are just one of many who were tools (hammer or anvil) of US foreign policy.
“The Government of the United States has borne in mind the fact that the Chinese Government has long claimed suzerainty over Tibet and that the Chinese constitution lists Tibet among areas constituting the territory of the Republic of China. This Government has at no time raised a question regarding either of these claims.” (1943)
- page 25, Killing HopeGo easy on those false dichotomies, too. (Would you rather have puppies and candy or nuclear war? Child molestation or aid to the poor? Fox News or the moon crashes into the Pacific Ocean?)
Posted by Zenprole on from Urth 12/11 at 11:04 PMAnother informative article, Mickey. This quote is a gem: “The prevalence of anti-communism as a near religion in the United States has made it easy to sell slave masters as humanitarians.” I know of a few people who have changed their diet to a vegetarian one primarily because (in their minds at least) that is what the “great” spiritual leader advocates.
Posted by Fiona on from san diego 12/11 at 11:25 PMLooks like I missed some fun here today. Always fun attacking a sacred cow.
Best wishes to everyone here, and I’ll be back in action shortly.
Posted by Banta on from 12/12 at 04:18 AMmy friend just sent me your article on the dalai lama and this was my response.
ok, deuche, am i to understand that this article in any way substantiates the idea of the dalai lama being a tool? dude, you can’t be that credulous!!!! you should know as well as anyone that someone can portray damn near anything however they want and dipshits will buy into it so long as they are ignorant and willing. this guy supports his claims with quotes taken out of context, nonsequitors, and flimsy arguments that are way too easy to refute. hell, even an informed ten-year-old could shut this guy down.
let’s take a look at the article chapter by chapter, eh?
1) that quote reflects the deeper ideals that motivate the dalai lama and his ilk. it is a perspective that is useful in curtailing harmful impulses. it says nothing of the tactics of defense he has posited, up to and including violence if need be (which i have seen him write in numerous books, not obliquely).
2) again, this is a starting point that is fundamental in facilitating seeing all human beings as one, and then going from there. it’s part of his teachings on the ethics of restraint. it’s a starting point. read his books, he’s not this dim-witted. these are words of wisdom that follow from extensive thought that require a great body of work to explain, which he is not afforded on these occasions. he has to give what amounts to sound-bites.
3) he was designated dalai lama when he was 3, which is lame. is this guy suggesting that the tibetans provoked the chinese into conquering and expelling them? any facts of history to back this up? also, as i mentioned above, the dalai lama strives for pacificism but admits to supporting violence if it is to meet an injustice, but it may go no further. sound words, conveniently omitted.
4) i don’t know the story behind this, but the cia is opportunist, as you know, and the tibetans were fighting communist china. the us, in order to stem the tide of communism, supported causes good and bad as long as they were functional in assisting us achieve our aims. this says something about the cynicism of us foreign policy, not the cia-like nature, or anything revealing of the nature, of the tibetan resistance.
5) side note: does this guy know anything about the media? the pentagon papers did not alter in any significant way the duplicitous nature of the media. and that was the f-ing pentagon papers!!!!!! wmd’s? that was the cornerstone for bush’s bid for war, but bush still won the next election after the public knew that that was false beyond a shadow of a doubt. the vox populi is incredibly impervious to facts. the charade is nearly impossible to reveal.
6) if this is true i absolutely disagree with it. and it may very well be. but he began his rule at the age of 3 and tibet was invaded when he was in his teens. was he to overturn the status quo in that time? i know he now lives humbly. i don’t know when the change occured, but i do recall him lamenting the excesses of his childhood on numerous occasions.
7) see paragraph 4
8) given the fallaciousness of the arguments given hitherto, it’s no wonder this guy sees the dalai lama’s behavior as paradoxical. ignorance and misinformation precludes understanding reality in its proper context. again, you can’t seriously believe this!!!!
9) does a selection of words from a public figure accurately epitomize the views of one side? is one side always homogenous? kerry opposes the war. does that mean that i should lump you into that category and gather from that one commonality that you share identical beliefs?
10) the first sentence of this quote is almost a truism. but the second does not logically follow from the first. thus the second has no substantiation or proper context. so much more is required. if these are the best excerpts from the book used to underpin his claims, well, dude! you can’t be this gullible.
11) again, see paragraph 4. recall that the us allied itself with stalin to strengthen its forces against hitler. sometimes there is merit to the lesser of two evils argument. using available means says nothing of your merits of your cause.
12) i’ve read several condemnations of the us in iraq from him. he talks about the hypocrisy of our arms sales to him when he was a valued friend (even pointing out sweden’s culpability). here’s a quote from a book he wrote in 2000 that should reinforce what i mentioned earlier: “i could see developing a ‘smart’ bullet that could seek out those who decide on wars in the first place. that would seem to me more fair, and on these grounds i would welcome a weapon to eliminate the decision-makers while leaving the innocent unharmed.”
dude, use your brainPosted by kyle anderson on from newport beach, ca 12/12 at 07:55 PMQuick, someone run out and find “an informed ten-year-old” because the above rebuttals (sic) are, uh, lacking.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/12 at 08:24 PMdear comment #38,
i meant complicitous, not duplicitous (are either of those even words? i’m pretty stupid sometimes). is that what you meant by lacking? if not, then what? just curious (it’s my first blog comment ever). also, the ten-year-old thing, that was an ironic comment on the oversimplification of the dalai lama’s teachings. peace outPosted by kyle anderson on from newport beach, ca 12/12 at 08:44 PMIf the Tibetians today held a yes/no vote on the return of the DL and the return of Tibet to Tibet....the vote would be a big yes.......
would Bush survive such a vote?.....
people do not like foreign invaders.....
ally of the CIA----kind of irrelevant....’your enemy is my enemy’...
today US gov’t of course will do nothing to change the status quo there....certainly closeness to China is important and as another of the ‘great powers’ of the world, the US is willing to overlook some of each other’s acts toward the smaller nations.....
Milan Kundera wrote that when growing up in the old Czechoslavakia people feared the losing of their nationhood.....Certainly not the only place in the world where that thought has existed and of course too many ‘nations’ have been lost.....
Posted by Riko on from Asia 12/13 at 05:57 AMOne LAST time: Just because I was critical of the DL does not mean I support the Chinese. Why is that so difficult to understand?
Also, it’s downright amazing how many folks are willing to support CIA intervention if it coincides with their beliefs.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 12/13 at 06:03 AM
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