Left Coast Voices posted a piece about Liu Xiabo, a leader of the Chinese democracy movement, who won the latest Nobel Peace Prize. My response turned into a seven part series.
What is the freedom that Liu Xiabo wants for China?
From today’s Western democratic perspective, it means the individual is king and may do whatever he or she wants even rape children, murder and steal with the knowledge that his or her rights are protected regardless of the crimes and suffering caused.
Then there is the Western, Christian concept that even violent murderers and/or rapists of infants may ask God for forgiveness, and that forgiveness will be granted no matter the crime—no matter the suffering caused in society.
Meanwhile, in China, other than restrictions on political dissent and a limited number of religious choices, the people are free to live any honest lifestyle he or she can afford to support, as is the case in the West.
As for religious freedom in China, that is not important to most Chinese since Religion in China has been characterized by pluralism since the beginning of recorded Chinese history as far back as five thousand years.
Chinese religions are family-oriented and do not demand the exclusive adherence of members.
Generally, the percentages of people who call themselves religious in China have been the lowest in the world. This does not mean that most Chinese do not believe in heaven or God.
They just do not need to belong to organized religions such as Christianity or Islam.
In fact, evidence in the West says that political dissent isn’t an important freedom since about half of the West’s eligible voters don’t vote anyway.
After all, nonvoters in America are too busy enjoying many of the freedoms that are now enjoyed by the citizens of China.
However, I admit that I enjoy my First Amendment rights as a US citizen, or I might not be writing this Blog defending China’s right to decide its political future.
As a US citizen, I do vote and express my political opinions, but I don’t stage public demonstrations as Liu Xiabo did in China. If you study the Chinese Constitution, you will discover that what he did could be considered illegal in China’s collective culture.
Return to The Flaws of Democracy and Humanitarianism – Part 6
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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