From: W. Trevor King Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 17:20:12 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Importing NanoBlogger post "Tiananmen anniversary" X-Git-Url: http://git.tremily.us/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=6b57cd674a26ffb279d140fb2c9ff28cb49c3327;p=mw2txt.git Importing NanoBlogger post "Tiananmen anniversary" --- diff --git a/posts/Tiananmen_anniversary.mdwn b/posts/Tiananmen_anniversary.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e46446 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/Tiananmen_anniversary.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +[[!meta title="Tiananmen anniversary"]] +[[!meta date="2009-06-04 13:20:12"]] + +NPR coverage over the last few days has been bouncing back and forth +between the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown and +Obama's Egypt speech. They featured an interview with a Chinese +student. She said she'd read something about soldiers firing on +civilians in one book, but didn't really believe it, since other than +that there hadn't been any mention of shootings. Sometimes +information passes so quickly, and sometimes surprisingly slowly... +They also interviewed a history teacher in China, who said he could +safely teach about the crackdown, but didn't because there wasn't +enough time. + +It all reminded me of my grade-school US history classes, which +stopped after the 50s, conveniently before the Vietnam war kicked into +high gear. We did get some Vietnam coverage in high school, but not +much discussion of the protests, e.g. the Kent State shootings. Maybe +not on the same scale as the Tiananmen crackdown, but still, the +rose-colored history glasses are not unique to China. Not that that +makes them acceptable, it's just a sign of how much people dislike +rocking the boat. After all, I would certainly rank more +Vietnam-at-home coverage above the War of Jenkins' Ear coverage we got +in the high school course. + +Anyhow, here's a bow to people taking nonviolent stands for what they +believe in.