{"id":14101,"date":"2010-11-23T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2010-11-23T06:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/?p=14101"},"modified":"2016-11-23T07:26:05","modified_gmt":"2016-11-23T14:26:05","slug":"the-tank-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/the-tank-man\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tank Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"PeteEyre.com <\/a>| On June 5th, 1989 one individual had enough of the oppression he and others had long-endured from one of the biggest and most ruthless gangs ever to exist. Left with few other options after decades of rights-usurpations, the man stood up to the aggressors and very literally put his life on the line by standing in front of a column of tanks. Though never identified with absolute certainty, he became known as The Tank Man<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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Three weeks ago I got a tattoo depicting the incident to pay tribute to the actions of The Tank Man and to remind myself of the power of ideas. The bad ideas of collectivism have terrible impacts \u2013 war, famine and the denial of individual rights, whereas the good ideas of individualism have positive impacts – peace, wealth creation and respect of negative rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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The Tank Man\u2019s action \u2013 captured by Jeff Widener<\/a> from a hotel balcony half a mile away \u2013 became one of the most-recognizable images from the 20th Century. That is unless you happen to be born within the arbitrary political boundaries of the \u201cPeople\u2019s Republic of China\u201d where the event happened, as government censors there have all but erased the incident from history books.<\/p>\n

After posting a picture of my tat to Facebook my bud Kevin Eric<\/a> commented:<\/p>\n

I met this girl from China the other day she\u2019s 24 I showed her this pic she had no idea what it was\u2026We showed her the vid and she called her mom in China all like freaking out becauase she hadn\u2019t seen it and the gov\u2019t was lying to them and her mom was all like don\u2019t believe that stuff it never happened.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just how did this event transpire? How did it get to this?<\/p>\n

In the seven weeks that preceded The Tank Man\u2019s actions hundreds of thousands of people had rallied for more freedom in nearby Tiananmen Square and elsewhere around China. Their peaceful demonstrations were met with violence \u2013 the only tactic known by those who claim the \u201clegitimate\u201d right to use force (government). External media placed the death toll from the crackdown in the thousands, yet the gang \u2013 the Communist Party of China<\/a> \u2013 claims that there were no deaths within the square. Further, according to Wikipedia<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Chinese authorities summarily tried and executed many of the workers they arrested in Beijing. In contrast, the students \u2013 many of whom came from relatively affluent backgrounds and were well-connected \u2013 received much lighter sentences. Wang Dan, the student leader who topped the most wanted list, spent seven years in prison.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In late November, 2007 I was able to hear Dan speak at an event<\/a> sponsored by the Mercatus Center<\/a>. There, he gave an overview of the event and how he had rather spontaneously assumed his role before touching on the time he spent in Liaoning Prison for allegedly \u201cconspiring against the Chinese Communist Party\u201d. During the Q&A I asked him about his views on the climate of freedom in China today \u2013 he responded with a mixed outlook.<\/p>\n

But, to provide a more-foundational answer to the question \u2013 Just how did this event transpire? \u2013 It was only because people granted authority to these criminals \u2013 paid taxes and obeyed arbitrary rights-violating man-made dictates.<\/p>\n

Here in America we don\u2019t yet have tanks rolling down the streets (unless you were at Waco in 1993) but don\u2019t think such actions are impossible. All governments are based on violence \u2013 their natural tendency is to grow, and the U.S. government is no exception.<\/p>\n

If we don\u2019t stand against these criminals today it\u2019ll be more-difficult to do so tomorrow.<\/p>\n

For more:<\/p>\n

* R.J. Rummel\u2019s work on democide<\/a>, which puts the death toll in China from the government<\/a> at 77 million.
\n * \u2018The Tank Man<\/a>\u2018 by FRONTLINE on PBS
\n * Voluntaryism<\/a> on Wikipedia
\n * Civil Disobedience<\/a> on Wikipedia
\n * Public Choice Theory<\/a> on Wikipedia
\n * Connect with other liberty-lovers on Fr33Agents.net<\/a>
\n * Move to the \u2019shire as part of the Free State Project<\/a>
\n * \u2018Tattoos for Liberty<\/a>\u2018 video which shows Leah Patrick<\/a> giving me The Tank Man tat<\/p>\n


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Also See:<\/p>\n