Comments on: Mutiny? http://www.mahablog.com/2007/09/29/mutiny/ Exposing the ugly truths about the Bush Administration. Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:02:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1.3 by: Marshall http://www.mahablog.com/2007/09/29/mutiny/#comment-298148 Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:41:14 +0000 http://www.mahablog.com/2007/09/29/mutiny/#comment-298148 One of the major problems with the media in this country is that they by inclination and training mostly deal with the surface of things. They, for example, tend to see mass movements purely in terms of "how many people can they get into the streets?" If they protests go on, the generals are loosing, if not, they are winning. To me, the interesting questions are deeper. Why did the monks go to the streets ? Are their abbots involved in this ? Does this represent a turning of the Buddhist "establishment" against the Generals ? How long can they survive if that has happened ? Now, it may be that no one outside of Burma really has a grasp on the answers to these questions, but there is nothing wrong with admitting that you don't understand what is going on if you don't. That is much preferable to pretending that you do based only on surface manifestations. One of the major problems with the media in this country is that they by inclination and training mostly deal with the surface of things. They, for example, tend to see mass movements purely in terms of “how many people can they get into the streets?” If they protests go on, the generals are loosing, if not, they are winning.

To me, the interesting questions are deeper. Why did the monks go to the streets ? Are their abbots involved in this ? Does this represent a turning of the Buddhist “establishment” against the Generals ? How long can they survive if that has happened ?

Now, it may be that no one outside of Burma really has a grasp on the answers to these questions, but there is nothing wrong with admitting that you don’t understand what is going on if you don’t. That is much preferable to pretending that you do based only on surface manifestations.

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