The prejudice against Tibetans that has been exhibited by Chinese people living in America has been startling. Not only did college students bussed to San Francisco to see the Olympic torch literally attack pro-Tibet protesters, many seem perfectly willing to deny or downplay their country’s vicious record on human rights. An especially alarming example of slander recently appeared in the Columbia Daily Spectator, where a student majoring in American Studies alleged,
One Dalai Lama has admitted to having sex with a hundred men and women, knowing all the while that he had AIDS. His predecessor was abusive, forcing his students to perform acts against their will. The public praise and the private follies of the Dalai Lamas of the past and present construct a troublesome and hypocritical image of the Tibetan leader.
This would be amusing if it were not completely crackpot. The Spectator has since issued a correction, which will surely go down in the history of journalism as among the greats:
This submission misstates that one Dalai Lama admitted to having sex with hundreds of men and women while knowing that he had AIDS. Additionally, the submission misstates that many monks participated in the dismemberment of female bodies. In fact, there is no factual evidence to substantiate either of these claims….
Needless to say, the “Spectator regrets the error.”
