Olympics, the Torch, Tibet, and my Chinese Roomie

a one-sided conversation about the civil unrest in tibet, the protest surrounding the upcoming olympics, and china's ever growing PR nightmare.

Roomie: I don't know why they (Tibetans) want to separate from China. They are so poor. They got nothing. It's stupid.

Me: Ok...

what are you supposed to say to a 20-year old male who was raised in a 'not so communist anymore' but 'still desperately trying to cling on to media censorship with the help of google' regime?

Me: Ok... uh... Hey, 'Friends' is on. Let's shut up and watch TV.

(chinese roommate pictured with japanese roommate during a pan-asian cook-a-thon. at least they're getting a long.)

for some more background information on this topic. here are some links to -

NPR's coverage of the controversy surrounding the Olympics and China

BBC's coverage of GOOGLE's unholy exploits in CHINA

some guy catching his chinese roommate rocking out ON TAPE

two chinese boys lip syncing to backstreet boys

by now you can tell that these links do very little in helping you understand the 'bigger' picture.