Believe it or not, I don't really want to talk about politics in the sports section. I figure most of you come here to get away from things like the bloodshed in Myanmar. But try as you might, this is one event you can't get away from. Just ask the government of China.
Good and bad have never been so easily and universally defined as they were in Myanmar this week, which means that the pious podium has been getting really crowded. Pretty much everybody agrees that the actions by that country's oppressive military regime in brutally beating down dissent among peaceful and unarmed monks is an odious and sickening turn of events.
Pretty much everybody agrees this is a clash between humanity at its highest form, the courageous monks, against humanity at its lowest form, the military junta. Yeah, pretty much everybody feels that way but, sadly, not everybody. Russia's government refuses to condemn its trading partner and has claimed that internal matters are just that - internal.
Russia, though, is not nearly as engaged internationally as Myanmar's biggest trading partner, China. Consequently, the government in Beijing is now being counted on to save the people of Myanmar. How's that for irony? The world is calling on China to stop the bloodshed, to rein in the tyrants and help deliver freedom to Myanmar. One would assume that all this will be done right after China accomplishes that internally as well. And what if China does not rein in its tyrannical chums in Myanmar? Well, this is where it gets good.
Watching footage of the monks this week was something of a revelation to me. I believe that the true intent of religion is to give hope to people, to lead them to a better way of life and not to make demagogues richer and more powerful.
The Buddhist monks in Myanmar are taking bullets and bats to the head and bruising and bleeding and dying so the people will have a better life. I have to believe that is what religion in its highest form should be. Naturally, it is next to impossible to get footage or information out of Myanmar because of the ban on any foreign media. And yet we are seeing copious images because unlike the last brutal clampdown in 1988, technology has advanced so rapidly.