Sharon Stone hurts China’s feelings
Filed Under Tibet, Human Rights, China | Posted on May 30, 2008
Oh, give me a break. These Chinese are so terribly sensitive — except, of course, when they’re killing and torturing people.
Here is exactly what Sharon Stone said:
This is apparently what upset China so:
… and then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought, ‘Is that karma? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?’
In response, “the official Xinhua news agency today dubbed Stone a public enemy of all mankind”; Christian Dior pulled advertisements featuring Stone from Chinese markets; Stone apologized; and Chinese bloggers got so angry that they peed all over themselves rushing to post angry rebuttals.
Like most Chinese response to any criticism of their dismal human rights record, this is stupid. Stone did not say China deserved the earthquake; no reasonable person would think or say that. She simply asked herself the question, “Is that karma?” My guess is that is a question that was asked by a lot of us. I asked it myself — about the China earthquake, the Burma cyclone, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, and most other bad things that I see in the world. I asked it not because of any pleasure or satisfaction that I felt at the events, but simply because … well, because I don’t really understand karma that well. Can a country generate karma? Are natural disasters really karmic consequences?
The Buddha taught 10 non-virtuous actions that create negative karma. China and Burma are guilty of quite a few of them; and even with my limited knowledge of karma, I imagine that they’ve created quite a lot of negative karma for themselves in recent history; so has the U.S. and almost every other country in the world; so has almost every individual in the world.
“When you’re not nice … bad things happen to you” is probably not a grossly inaccurate description of karma. And China is indisputably not nice. Was the earthquake a karmic result? Beats me. I wonder. Does wondering makes me a “public enemy of all mankind”?
Chinese hysteria at the slightest hint of criticism is growing increasingly more desperate and more ridiculous. China’s not nice; the world criticizes China for not being nice; China thinks criticism is a bad thing. Is that karma? When you’re not nice, bad things happen to you? I think I can see a connection there.
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