“I’m in shock. I haven’t eaten in five days. I was in prison in Beijing and now here I’m in a [Brooklyn] restaurant.”
– John Watterberg, who, along with another American from Students for a Free Tibet, had a life-altering four-day stay in a Chinese jail during the Olympics, for a five-second wave of a flag.
The Vanity Fair interview with these two guys has reminded me once again that tuning the world’s moral barometer is very tricky business, despite the claims of those who have no qualms claiming to be the best tuners in the land. Somewhere there’s a wise saying that goes something like, “Beware of those who wave the truth.” And who could say it any better than Mr. Watterberg, in his own words:
“I’m a negligent citizen. I don’t have a checkbook, don’t work well in office buildings, don’t vote, don’t believe in the political system. This is my contribution. This is what I can do. People know they can depend on me. It’s my right and my duty to fight for what I believe in.”
So we learn that Mr. Watterberg and his faithful buddy, Jeremy Wells, were subjected to four days of undrinkable water, sleep deprivation, hallucinations from dehydration, time in a “toruture chair” and – though Vanity Fair chooses not to tell us – probably packing their dacks (h/t to Guerrilla Snorefare for that gem of Aussie idiom). And all of it in a cell with ten guys. They ought to feel fortunate; it easily could have been twenty or more guys, and a lot more time than four days.
For a biting piece of satire – perhaps not intentional – have a go at this Vanity Fair piece, a glancing blow off the lives of two men who chose to wave the banned Tibetan flag outside the Bird’s Nest during the Beijing Olympics.
Who could wrap it any better than Mr. Watterberg does when he reminds us at the beginning of the interview: “Here I am in a restaurant.” Indeed. In a restaurant. In Brooklyn, New York. Safely far, far away. Telling his story of hardships and friendships in a Chinese jail. I’m thinking this is really The Onion. Somebody, please tell me, “Really, it’s The Onion.”
What did these guys expect? Clean sheets, lights out at ten and a library cart full of Edward Abbey in English? If Vanity Fair doesn’t have their long, snaky tongue buried deeply in their sequined cheek, they ought to. I’m betting they do, but I’m also in a minority on this one. Perhaps it’s because I’m just too much of an optimist. Too bad the Misters Wells and Watterberg will never know how their five seconds of fame played out among the folks whose freedom they’re so desperately fighting for. Somewhere in a restaurant, far, far from Brooklyn, some guy slurping his mutton ‘n noodles continued watching the Olympics as the pair were doing to dacks what dacks weren’t meant to have done to them. And that seems to me to be the way of this world. Good luck guys. See you in London! What do you got on tap for that? Don’t forget the diapers.
Related posts:
Breaking Eggs in the Bird’s Nest – March 21, 2008
Unfurling Cliché – August 15, 2008
9 responses so far ↓
1 chriswaugh_bj // Aug 28, 2008 at 7:48 pm
“Personally, my pipe dream, my fantasy, is that this wave of nonviolent protests will re-awaken the Chinese people and restore their faith in the efficacy of dissent. The Chinese have no culture of speaking truth to power. They have no right to question or engage.”
Oh the ignorance. The quite deliberate, willful, self-righteous ignorance. I don’t suppose it occurred to any of them to actually try and learn anything about China before coming here. And clearly they don’t see Chinese people as being real people with real brains and equally valid points of view.
It would’ve been nice to see these people try to engage with ordinary Chinese and have an honest discussion in which opinions are exchanged and all views are respected and listen to. Unfortunately these people’s attitudes remind of neocons in the run up to Iraq. “Of course these people will welcome us with open arms as soon as we liberate/enlighten them!” Or, to steal a line from ‘Full Metal Jacket’: “Inside every gook is an American waiting to get out.”
And am I the only one to wonder how it was decided the water was undrinkable and who made the decision? What about all those other prisoners? Weren’t there 10 to a room? Were the others all equally delirious and hallucinating from dehydration and starvation? And all this torture…. Oh, the melodrama is killing me. Quick, call up those people who make those awful made-for-tv movies.
I’m picking a Sean Connery-led campaign for Scottish independence for 2012. At least that would be fun to watch.
2 jg // Aug 28, 2008 at 7:54 pm
According to Mr Watterberg he made friends in jail. I wonder if they spoke English. And if they spoke enough English to get along with two guys from NYC, what does that tell you about their friends? I’m still going with The Onion here. Somehow it got lost and ended up in Vanity Fair. Or maybe it’d been rejected by The Onion for being just too stupid, and Vanity Fair scooped it up.
3 Rhys // Aug 29, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I must say though, there is a little part of me that admires their devil-may-care single-mindedness. Ineffective, dumb, shortsighted, etc etc, these are all reasonable adjectives to describe their actions, but it must have been quite a buzz. And (not that anyone needs further confirmation of this) but how paranoid can a government get?
That’s a great last quote from Mr Watterberg too haha. “I’m a negligent citizen…”As if his POV needed any more undermining.
I agree it flirts delighfully with satire.
4 Chris L // Sep 12, 2008 at 8:28 am
It seems like time would be better spent trying to arouse those who do not and care not than those who care in the wrong manner. In the end, aren’t the bigger problems in this story not the shallow and ineffectual nature of the protest, but the nature of that which they were feebly protesting?
5 jg // Sep 12, 2008 at 4:54 pm
The bigger problems are the ones not being addressed at all. The issues are far more complicated than most are willing to give the time to try to understand, and so it goes on as if it is essentially an unsolvable issue. Neither of the principals have a track record of giving an inch, despite what the glancing press reports.
The monks have been given a sweeping bye by those in the West who have been spoon-fed a half-century of peaceful warrior crap. Most of the robed, were they given a chance to return to power in their native areas, would continue to ensure that the women would remain illiterate, water-carrying fuel gatherers, waiting on them hand-and-foot. If you go down the reincarnation road, coming back as a Tibetan woman ranks right up there with a next life as a pack animal. Tibetans have taken misogyny to the medieval level, and that suits the monks just fine. If they were actually given an opportunity to rule, they’d make Athenian democracy look positively liberal, despite having a lot of good examples to follow in the places they’ve been living all these years. I have had respected Tibetan men unblinkingly tell me that the reason the women are treated so badly has everything to do with karma, and that they’re getting everything they deserve. I’m not sure how that plays out in the mixed-gender student centers where the freedom flag wavers are plotting their next unravels. I’m sure they’d tell me I’m full of yak shit, which they probably have never seen. But if they go to nomadic areas they’ll find young school-aged girls with baskets on their back walking through the mountains collecting all of it for fuel. And the boys? Well, they may very well be off in school getting some sort of education. Schools, where there are schools, invariably have more boys than girls, since girls aren’t deemed to be educable, at least in the ways of books. But give them a bucket and a basket, and they do just fine, carrying shit all day long. I have asked many Tibetan men if they think that from a Buddhist POV that maybe they have it all wrong, and that maybe, just maybe, the women are actually making more spiritual progress than the men. The reactions I’ve gotten have been generally mixed, though I’d say they’re just being polite while actually thinking I am totally off the skids.
Please don’t take this to mean that I am supportive of the other side, since that is not the case. They’re clearly in a bind. Imagine having a country teeming with people, and everyday teeming a little more. And there to the west is a giant space big as all of Western Europe with less people by half than a good size east coast Chinese city. It feels positively 19th century American. Build a railroad and send them “Thata way.” And, oh, why you’re at it, give them any preference you can manage over the indigenes, a recipe for bad stuff happening, especially when you make the local boss a gristly bore who worked his way up from a Shandong factory floor.
I am supportive of a peaceful solution, which can only come when more women are allowed to come to the table. As long as it continues to be an all-male muscle game – and don’t think that the monks don’t play this too – there will be nothing but the same snarling, snot-slinging and spit that’s marked this problem since long before most people think it started, since it was underway and rolling long before that.
6 dwain // Sep 17, 2008 at 10:47 am
Tibetan Women 2000/11/15
Strongly built Tibetan women with ruddy cheeks, a common sight throughout Tibet, have joined their male counterparts in creating both material and cultural progress in the autonomous region.
Tibetan women, filled with both eternal and great maternal love, have given birth to an industrious and brave race on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Tibetan women love things of beauty, and have created unique highlands clothing featuring exaggerated coloring and rough lines. They fill their homes with beauty by using nimble hands to express their deep understanding of nature, including the sky, earth and all living things, as well as the braveness of man, in patterns on rugs. Their mere presence adds beauty to the mysterious Tibetan highlands.
Tibetan women are good vocalists, and break out into song no matter whether tilling the land, building enclosures, herding sheep or cows, weaving woolen rugs, churning butter or harvesting highland barley. They not only sing while engaging in labor, worshipping Buddha, drinking wine and meditating disputes. Most learned to sing and dance as children and find no difficulty in rendering a song no matter how difficult the situation at hand. They sing no matter whether happy or sad, with their songs expressing the ideals and pursuits of the Tibetan race.
Tibet reeled under the cruelty of feudal serfdom, a system often described as being much barbarous than that found in Europe in Middle Ages. The broad masses of Tibetan serfs and slaves suffered from both overt suppression and oppression, with women relegated to the lowest rung of society. Women were in fact subject to the abuses of political power, as well as the authoritarianism of the clan, religious officials and husbands. Local government codes in old Tibet clearly stipulated: “Women have no right to discuss state affairs,” and “neither slaves nor women are permitted to involve themselves in military and political matters.” Women were also subject to untold verbal abuses such as “believing the words of a woman will cause weed to grow on one’s roof.” Simply stated, Tibetan women shouldered the heaviest labor burdens, but were relegated to the lowest social status. They gave birth to and raised their children, but enjoyed no right to learn to read or write. They wove brightly colored clothing, but were forced to wear rags. This was indeed the cruel fate of women in old Tibet.
However, historic changes have taken place since the founding of New China in 1949, and Tibetan women have since been the masters of their own fate. Tibetan women have truly exhibited their brilliance in the new era, with many former female slaves and servants, headwomen and female Living Buddhas, as well as the wives of nobles assuming new professions as teachers, writers, judges, lawyers, tourist guides, officials, police officers, singers, dancers, economists and engineers. Tibetan women indeed continue to fully exhibit their graceful bearing.
A large number of Tibetan women hold high-ranking positions with government institutions. The long list includes Balsang, a former serf; former medical worker Cering Zholgar who now serves as vice-chairperson of the people’s government of the Tibet Autonomous Region in charge of cultural and public health activities in the region; Degyi Zholgar, deputy director of the Shannan Prefecture Administrative Office; Garma, deputy director of the Nagqu Prefectural Administrative Office; and Baizhoin, a magistrate in Nedong County. Each of the women have truly distinguished themselves in their new careers.
Tibetan women have traditionally been good managers and traders, with large numbers having excelled during the ongoing reform and opening program. They include Cering Yanzom, general manager of the Tibet Guest House; Qungzholma and Lhazhoin, respective director and deputy director of the Tibet Branch of the Bank of China; and Cering Zholgar, director of the Chenguan Rugs Factory in Lhasa.
Tibet is also home to a number of talented female artists, including famous singer Cedain Zholma; Yumei who distinguished herself in performances of the ballad King Gesar; Degyi Medog, a first-class state artist; and Baigyi, a famous dancer. Numerous Tibetan women have also joined troupes completing highly acclaimed tours abroad.
Tibetan women have also contributed greatly to the development of traditional Tibetan art. For example, female weavers have inherited the region’s outstanding weaving tradition and have proceeded to create colorful hats and accessories to meet the needs of the region’s advancing society.
Tibetan women, who quite simply love life and are devoted to common work, are excellent housekeepers and faithful neighbors. Just as their male counterparts, women are faithful Buddhists who undertake pilgrimages to monasteries and holy mountains to pray for good health, a happy life for their families, and the continuing modernization of Tibet.
Copyright © 1998-2005, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People’s Republic of China
Really Jim, who’s side are you on
?
dwain
7 jg // Sep 17, 2008 at 11:07 am
I think it’s pretty clear. Get more women to both sides of the table, and maybe all the useless posturing will lighten up a bit, allowing for the possibility of a solution. But I also know that that will not happen.
This is a lot more complicated than picking a side. You can quote all the commie lines you want, Dwain, but that too is nothing but more distraction. This whole thing is hardly a black-and-white, this-or-that thing. Right now there are more important things to do than claiming ‘sides.’ There’s a culture being lost, and the bigger question becomes, “How do we keep that from happening?” As I’ve said a time or twenty, it’s complicated. Very complicated, and each day it gets more so. There are certain things that are just not going to happen. Live with that. Now, what’s the next step?
8 dwain // Sep 17, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Jim, my point was that the abuse of women isn’t the strict domain of Buddhist men, that China is abusing them as well. Only China says that they are not to try and cover up the usurpation of Tibet. Sorry if you think i was belittling your point, wasn’t my intention, i just worry that your thinking throws the Buddhist baby out with the bath water. Women recieve much better treatment at the hands of Buddhists in progressive countries…not equal treatment…for that there must be a fundemental shift in men all over the world, a shift we may not see in our life times…but a shift we may well install in our children in this life time, if we are lucky.
dwain
9 Friday Focus: Absurdity, Allegory and China : Ruminate // Nov 4, 2008 at 4:56 am
[...] (or wrongly assumed shared) places, media and events, such as the recent Olympic games and the reality and illusion of Tibet and protests. Jim’s blog exemplifies one set of qualities that can make a blog interesting enough to stand [...]
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