Iron Cross and Scott Carrier “Rock the Junta” in Burma

I found Carrier’s piece to be appaling. Toward the end of the essay, he writes that he “found it hard to care [about the Burmese people]” and that they “need to start the revolution themselves.” I noticed that since the demonstrations in October, -Mother Jones- has edited those lines out of the online version. The original, which contains these offensive, ignorant, self-centered lines has recently been published in Dave Eggers’ anthology -Best American Nonrequired Reading-. Shame on Dave Eggers, whose work I usually admire greatly. (How could the same man who wrote and published such a moving novel about the Lost Boys of Sudan condone such views?) 
In the artice, Carrier writes about the fact that no one seemed to give him a clear answer about what happened to the rock star who disappeared after writing anti-junta lyrics. It’s probably not that they didn’t care; it’s that they would hesitate to tell an insensitive and short-sighted journalist who doesn’t understand their culture or their experiences, anything that might cause the government to make them “disappear,” too.
It is really easy for a western guy to go to Burma on vacation and judge these people, claiming they are not truly at risk because “it took two days to even see a policeman” on the streets of Rangoon. There are informers everywhere. Most people have relatives and/or friends who were shot in the 1988 uprisings and most people know about the fact that this governmet has displaced over a million people from the Karen tribe, burning their villages and cutting off their noses and lips before they move onto the next location. Carrier makes it seem like these people don’t care and that their lives aren’t that bad. In the original version which again, has been edited from -Mother Jones- online but not Eggers volume, he claims that Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung SanSuu Kyi is “not a prisoner.” She is merely “sitting on a cushion in the lotus positon..empt[ying] her mind of thoughts and desires.”
Shame on this guy. Last month we all saw the limited footage of soldiers firing at, killing and beating unarmed monks and civilians. We have heard the figures that thousands were arrested and tortured in makeshift prisons, and that monks who are “free” can no longer leave their monasteries without government permission.
Carrier is a spoiled westerner. I hope he never has to go though the fear and oppression these people experience on a day-to-day, night-to-night basis. “Start your own revolution,” he says. Well, they tried and look what happened.

I couldn’t agree more.  As I read this article, I was shocked at the author’s insensitivity.  He knew that the “uncle” present while he was interviewing the musician was not an uncle, but a minder, yet he persisted in asking dangerous questions.  I kept asking myself why he would put this person in such a position.  Ignorance?  Arrogance?  whatever the case, it was VERY irresponsible journalism, and hope that he never again puts those long suffering people into such a position again.  He is not simply an arrogant guy in Burma.  He is dangerous.