Arresting My Attention

Okay, a couple more comments on the whole story of Brandi Swindell standing up for human rights in China.  First, over at Unequivocal Notion, Chris obsesses over the difference between “arrested and detained”:

Note the terminology; “arrested for the second time”, if you weren’t arrested the first time, how can you be arrested for the second time? In the first video you can also hear Swindell say that they were “detained”, not arrested.

The definition of “arrest” according to the American Heritage Dictionary:

n. The act of detaining in legal custody: the arrest of a criminal suspect.

Note, the people we have in Guantanamo are also detainees. Arrest and detention are synonyms.

Chris gets to this point:

It is good and all that they are trying to raise awareness about what is going on in China, but it’s pretty clear the only reason they are there now is because there are cameras there. Why haven’t they ever protested in China before?

So Chris concludes that the detainees are in China because the World is paying attention right now. Wow, it’s clear that I’ve underestimated Chris. He’s clearly:

Of course, the timing of the protest has something to do with the Olympics and the coverage of them. The question is not the reason for the timing of it, but why the publicity is being sought.

Brandi’s detractors want to insist that she flew out to Beijing to be arrested so she could get in the news. However, the fact of the matter is that, much as the 1936 Olympics represented a propaganda coup for the Nazis, the 2008 Olympics represent a propaganda coup for the ChiComs and an attempt to whitewash the regime’s brutal public image. The protests call attention to the real China, not the phony facade being broadcast around the World. It is a brutal and evil regime. That people are arrested for peaceful demonstration and for pointing to China’s brutal repression brings the lies of Beijing to light. She succeeded. Outside of Boise, this story is not being covered as being about Brandi Swindell.

To his credit, Scott Picken gets it, as he responds to an irate viewer angry about the situation in China being covered:

I’m not unclear on the laws of other countries, just as I am not unclear on the past laws of this country that got Rosa Parks arrested when she illegally refused to sit in the back of the bus.  The two are analogous.  Just because a nation has laws doesn’t make them right.

Ms. Swindell, like Rosa Parks, is making news because she is practicing civil disobedience, a practice that is firmly rooted in American history with everything from the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights Movement.  In both of those cases, Americans broke laws and in time were heralded for having the courage to protest in the name of freedom and equality.

Many like Ms. Swindell believe the Chinese should have the opportunity to hear voices that are divergent from the heavily censored message they get from their government, and whether you agree or disagree, her open civil disobedience in a land notorious for human rights abuses is newsworthy.

I don’t for a moment believe this viewer does not support human rights or religious freedom, either here or in China.  I just think she dislikes Brandi Swindell, and therefore feels anything Swindell does must in some way be wrong.

People do the same thing politically.  Democrats who despise President Bush wince when you point out the U.S. hasn’t had a terrorist attack since 9-11, as if he has been incapable of accomplishing anything good during his two terms in office.  Some Republicans shut down when Al Gore lays out the case that the earth is undergoing man-made climate change despite overwhelming non-political evidence it is true.  Our feelings for the messenger make us ignore the message.