Honor Him: Courageous Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo Dies [VIDEO]

Honor Him: Courageous Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo Dies [VIDEO]

Honor Him: Courageous Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo Dies [VIDEO]

A hero died today, and I’m afraid that few Americans have even heard of him. He didn’t wear a superhero cape, or even a uniform. But he spoke out for democratic reforms in his home nation of China, and it cost him his freedom. His actions may have also cost him his life.

Liu Xiaobo. Credit: washingtonpost.com

His name was Liu Xiaobo. He won a Nobel Prize. He also was an imprisoned Chinese dissident, and he passed away from liver cancer in a northern Chinese hospital. Yet despite his grave condition, Liu died while still under guard in his hospital room, as if he were a dangerous man.

Here’s a short video about Liu. We all should be inspired by him.

It also appears that Liu did not receive timely care for his cancer. Activists had called on the Chinese government to allow Liu to travel outside China for treatment. Furthermore, Liu’s wife, Liu Xia — who is under house arrest — sent a message to a friend, saying “Can’t operate, can’t do radiotherapy, can’t do chemotherapy.” But the Chinese Communists have a long shameful record of allowing sick dissidents to die from lack of medical care, which one victim called “murder without spilling blood.”

Cancer-stricken Liu with wife. Credit: rfa.org

We Americans have such a skewed idea of courage. Too many of us think that “speaking truth to power,” and then going home to a warm bed constitutes heroics. It doesn’t.

Wearing a Guy Fawkes mask in Berkeley and calling yourself “Antifa” is not brave.

Credit: eastbayexpress.com

Neither is saying you’re part of a “Resistance.”

Credit: theatlantic.com

And protesting in a costume from a dystopian Hulu series is not brave. It’s juvenile.

Credit: thehill.com

Then there’s this guy. Not brave, but a worthless traitor.

But Liu Xiaobo? He was the epitome of courage, which he expressed peacefully through words and ideas. Moreover, he spoke against hate, which he said “can rot a person’s wisdom and conscience.” But he also was a stalwart defender of free speech.

We need to remember the legacy of this indomitable man.

Written by

Kim is a pint-sized patriot who packs some big contradictions. She is a Baby Boomer who never became a hippie, an active Republican who first registered as a Democrat (okay, it was to help a sorority sister's father in his run for sheriff), and a devout Lutheran who practices yoga. Growing up in small-town Indiana, now living in the Kansas City metro, Kim is a conservative Midwestern gal whose heart is also in the Seattle area, where her eldest daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live. Kim is a working speech pathologist who left school system employment behind to subcontract to an agency, and has never looked back. She describes her conservatism as falling in the mold of Russell Kirk's Ten Conservative Principles. Don't know what they are? Google them!

4 Comments
  • Scott says:

    RIP sir, truly a hero, and your examples above are spot on for what is NOT a hero (in a number of the cases, it’s the exact opposite of a hero…) Thanks for posting this!

  • Henry says:

    I’d suggest we rename International Place, in NW Washington Liu Xiaobo Place.

    • Kim Quade says:

      Great idea, Henry. Actually, Sen. Ted Cruz has proposed to rename the street in front of the Chinese embassy in DC as “Liu Xiaobo Plaza.” He did so in 2015 and just again prior to Liu’s death. In 2015 the Dems told him to pound sand. Maybe this time it can be different.
      Thank you so much for reading. Please see this link for Sen. Cruz’s statements.
      http://www.eurasiareview.com/13072017-ted-cruz-dying-liu-xiaobos-freedom-blocked-by-xi-jinping-oped/

      • Henry says:

        Thanks for the link. I hadn’t heard that Sen. Cruz had proposed that. It was, of course, the renaming of the street in front of the Soviet embassy after Andrei Sakharov that gave me the idea. It was a good idea then and it’s a good idea now. I’ve been a fan of Sen. Cruz and this certainly speaks well of him.

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