China tiene razón, pero a nadie le importa. (Política, 2020)

being reasonable it's the most
ineluctably necessary and yet most difficult thing for human beings to do particularly in politics imagine if a situation had transpired in Montreal Canada very much parallel to what transpired within the last 12 months in Hong Kong China do you think that the Government of Canada would be so patient so tolerant and so broadly speaking nonviolent in standing by and allowing pro-democracy protesters to shut down the universities in downtown Montreal Canada allowing them to shut down all the major roads and highways that flow through Montreal Canada in allowing them altum Utley to shut down and occupy the airport from Montreal Canada do you think the Canadian government would have responded as obligingly would they have shown so much tolerance and so much pace that patience as we saw the communist government of China show now you may protest that the cause represented by the protests in Hong Kong is very pious and good challenge yourself think it through if you would approve of the same methods and tactics if it were a cause you do not sympathize with you do not agree with where you don't valorize the objectives what if instead of pro-democracy protesters and pro-independence protesters by the way both claims that revolutionaries in Quebec could make and historically in the recent past they have made that they wanted independence and democracy in Quebec for Quebecers and someone you can imagine much of the same rhetoric could apply to Montreal Quebec and their independence for democracy sovereignty movements so imagine if the same tactics were being used by anti-abortion protesters people who want abortion to be made illegal depending on where you live when you're watching this video it's quite likely that 40% of the people who surround you would prefer if abortion were illegal it's quite possible you live somewhere where 60% of people are morally opposed to abortion and in case you don't know this isn't just an issue within Christianity Christian dominate cultures it's an issue within Islam it's an issue within Chinese culture it's an issue with in Indian culture which is to say Hindu culture it's an issue within Buddhism worldwide Buddhists are anti-abortion case you didn't know including even Tibetan Buddhists supposedly groovy groups like that if you actually get to know Chinese people on a one-to-one basis you'll figure out that most of them are actually quite a bit more strongly opposed to abortion than Catholics in the modern West to give a very brief digression or example many Catholics will say they are opposed to abortion in abstract and in general but when it happens to them look it's their own family their own unplanned pregnancy or when they themselves get pregnant for example with a child with Down syndrome if they become pregnant with a fetus and it's proven to have Johnson or Catholics in the modern West generally we'll get abortions when it suits their purpose you can meet a lot of Chinese people alive right now in 21st century who made the opposite choice when it was the dam when it was their life on the line when it was their baby on the line etc they really lived by it so I won't comment further on Hindu India hasn't been as as much a part of my life but you could say something broadly similar Hinduism Buddhism Taoism these are actually all anti yours so the potential is there anti-abortion protesters could shut down your University anti-abortion protesters could shut down the highways of your capital city where you live anti-abortion protesters could shut down the airport and their perspective they are representing a cause even more pious and sacred and good than the cause of democracy or an abbess cos from their perspective they're trying to prevent the murder of innocent people they have total faith in their own cause your outside perspective may not see it that way but the outside perspective of people in Beijing may not see the situation of Hong Kong that way and the outside perspective of people in Toronto and Vancouver and New York they may not see chemic Wanda pendants and the québécois claims of a democracy in that same way let's let's just cut right to the chase here with one more example do you think the Canadian government would tolerate similar protests from our indigenous people our First Nations people for even five minutes if the Cree a Jib way den a Iroquois for Native people shut down the airport in Montreal shut down University camps shut down worlds through violence let's be clear you know although it wasn't a ton of violence the creation and maintenance of the barricades in downtown Hong Kong including shutting down their subway system by the way preventing the subways from working people couldn't enter and exit Subway's but actually closing off those roads closing off the campuses children it involves violence okay and you could imagine similarly if a bunch of really passionate native people indigenous people First Nations people Canada creed NH it what if they all got organized and all arrived at Montreal Airport at the same time they could shut down the airport all right if you believe that civil disobedience is good in and of itself right then you have to approve of it when it's applied to these various cases equally if it's acceptable to shut down the airport for one cause then it's acceptable to shut down the airport for another don't judge the method by the goodness of the cause or the objectives being pursued by that cause right you have to judge the method in and of itself nobody will sympathize with the government of Communist China and that's because it is an unelected dictatorship and holding elections and permitting a free press to criticize the government and certain measures of transparency those are the bare minimum requirements for legitimacy in the 21st century not the maximum performance I did not regard the government of George W Bush as being purchased with a JIT omit and you might remember he actually didn't win that election long story way back in their 2000 before most you were born I'm sure you don't remember oh it's not such a change in history it wasn't so long ago that the United States itself did not meet these minimum requirements for legitimacy and government that's that's really worth meditating on that's really worth reflecting on and learning from the future okay it is inevitable that no one is going to sympathize the government of China precisely because it is an unelected communist dictatorship however sympathy is not just for your friends sympathy is not just for people you agree with sympathy is not just for people who are on the same team as yourself sympathy is an analytical tool and it's absolutely crucial than in the pursuit of political change we use sympathy as an analytical tool to understand our enemies to understand people who are strange and exotic and distant and far removed from that of us whether that is the government of China the government of Iraq or the government 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