There are times I am reminded that it truly is a privilege to be an American, this one of those times.  I do take our freedoms for granted sometimes.  This year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient reminds me that freedom of speech is a precious right to have.

You might recall that the Nobel Peace Prize was recently awarded to Chinese citizen, Liu Xiaobo. Xiaobo is currently serving an 11 year sentence for “inciting subversion of state power.”  This is his fourth time in prison for speaking out against the Chinese government. 

Well, the government did not like that he received the Peace Prize and consider it poor taste to award it to a “criminal.” His wife was even arrested for visiting him in prison and telling him about the honor.  Neither will be allowed to travel to Sweden to accept it. 

The Chinese government has also warned other countries that attending the ceremony on Friday would harm business relations.  Among those that have agreed to boycott the event are Iran, Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela.   That is not a surprising list at all.  According to the state run media “more than 100 countries have denounced the Nobel Committee for selecting a “criminal” for the award.”   

Instead of supporting the Nobel Committee the Chinese have turned the event into a farce by creating the Confucius Peace Prize.  On the list of nominees were President Jimmy Carter, Bill Gates, Nelson Mandela, and their own Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama.  The winner is the former Vice President of Taiwan, Lien Chen, and a suspected criminal in his own right. Chen has made billions in shady land and oil deals.

I am not so sure Confucius would approve.   After all he did emphasize personal and government morality, correctnes of social relationships, justice and sincerity.  Yet I suppose those tenets could be spun to support the governemnet philosphy.