MARCUS: WHY is world afraid to call out potential abuse by Dalai Lama?
DAVID MARCUS: If the Pope asked a child to ‘suck’ his tongue, he wouldn’t be the Pope anymore. The Dalai Lama does it and there’s almost universal silence. It looks like child abuse – and the inaction is shameful
What a strange commentary on our times.
One of the only prominent American voices reacting with the appropriate degree of disgust to a horrifying video of the Dalai Lama appearing to abuse a young boy is rapper Cardi B.
If you haven’t seen the viral footage of the Dalai Lama’s February event in northern India – you should. It’s shocking and the world cannot look away.
The video shows the 87-year-old spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, considered by his followers to be the living embodiment of the virtues of the religion and the reincarnation of the living Buddha, kissing a child on the lips and then asking the boy to ‘suck my tongue.’
We must scream that this was not just flat out wrong, it appears to be sexual abuse.
Cardi B tweeted in response to the sick display, ‘This world is full of predators. They prey on the innocent. The ones who are most unknowing, our children.’
And the singer’s reward for stating this obvious and vital truth? She was pilloried on social media, threatened in her direct messages, and made out to be some kind of bigot.
While I may blanch at her lyrics – I applaud her courage. But I ask: where is the chorus?
Why is the performer of WAP (If you don’t know it – Google it) among few public people expressing fitting moral outrage and revulsion?
Meanwhile, there are crickets from pro-Tibet Hollywood celebrities, like actor Richard Gere, who attended the Dalai Lama’s 87th birthday party last year in India.
Over at the New York Times, there is one lousy straight news report with the bizarrely milquetoast headline: ‘Dalai Lama Apologizes Over an Exchange With a Boy’
If you haven’t seen the viral footage of Dalai Lama’s February event in northern India – you should. It’s shocking and the world cannot look away.
Cardi B tweeted in response to the sick display, ‘This world is full of predators. They prey on the innocent. The ones who are most unknowing, our children.’
‘Exchange’? What a maddening perversion of the English language. An exchange suggests equity. A give and take. This was not that.
This was one of the most powerful and influential men on earth, the leader of one of the world’s five great religions, appearing to treat a child as a plaything.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a U.S.-based advocacy group for victims of spiritual and religious exploitation, hit the nail on the head: ‘An 87-year-old man asking a young boy to perform a blatantly sexual act in a public setting is very disturbing. We feel it is important that every single person who sees, suspects, or suffers child sex crimes, regardless of the level of crime, contact law enforcement to report it.’
Correct. But this outcry may be falling on deaf ears.
It took weeks for the Dalai Lama’s office to even release a statement. They clearly wanted this to go away. This week, representatives of the Dalai Lama conceded that the leader of millions ‘regrets the incident,’ but then went on to disturbingly explain it away.
‘His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way,’ they write, ‘even in public and before cameras.’
It is basically the Eastern version of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo suggesting that he may have inappropriately touched women, because Italian Americans are emotional and handsy people.
One Tibetan activist cited in U.S. news coverage took to Twitter to defend the Dalai Lama, blaming the reaction on cultural misunderstanding – an imposition of Western values on Eastern tradition.
‘Bringing in [a] narrative of other cultures, customs and social influence on gender and sexuality to interpret Tibetan way of expression is heinous,’ she writes.
Sticking out one’s tongue is a sign of respect or agreement and is often used as a greeting in traditional Tibetan culture, according to the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Asking a child to suck on your tongue is not, however, part of any acceptable religious, philosophical, or cultural code.
This isn’t Western chauvinism.
This also isn’t an attack on Buddhism. Christianity has had its abusers, so has Judaism.
Child abuse is an evil that exists and we must not allow a veil of authority, or cultural sensitivity, or anything else, to be pulled over it.
One of the only prominent American voices reacting with the appropriate degree of disgust to a horrifying video of the Dalai Lama appearing to abuse a young boy is rapper Cardi B.
Meanwhile, there are crickets from pro-Tibet Hollywood celebrities, like actor Richard Gere, who attended the Dalai Lama’s 87th birthday party last year in India.
Over at the New York Times, there is one lousy straight news report with the bizarrely milquetoast headline: ‘Dalai Lama Apologizes Over an Exchange With a Boy’
A prominent children’s rights group in India, where the exiled Tibetan leader lives, called the incident ‘child abuse’ and dismissed this twisted cultural defense.
‘Some news refers to Tibetan culture about showing tongue,’ reads their statement, ‘but this video is certainly not about cultural expression, and even if it is, such cultural expressions are not acceptable.’
Hear, Hear. The bottom line is that we cannot ignore what we saw.
I am not making unfounded allegations. I am saying that the explanation for this behavior is disturbingly insufficient.
Let’s be honest, if the Pope had asked a child to suck his tongue in public, he wouldn’t be the Pope anymore. The Cardinals would remove and replace him.
Where are the American Buddhist organizations decrying the incident? Where are our politicians? Where are the internal demands for action and change?
There must be a firm line drawn when it comes to the treatment of children. They cannot consent in the ways adults can, not at drag shows or in a Tibetan temple.
If we allow ourselves to overlook the abuse of children because of the power, the prestige, the cultural sensitivity, or even the holiness of the culprits, then we are failing our children in an unforgivable way.
So, shout it from the rooftops.
Forceful condemnation of the sexual abuse of children must be a prerequisite of any religion or modern movement.
The Dalai Lama needs to come clean and admit this behavior is wrong and unacceptable. His regret is grossly insufficient.
If the Dalai Lama can’t do that then he has no place among world leaders who enjoy trust and respect.
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