爱华网在我修的美国历史课上，教授说到二战时美国花了5trillion美元，于是问学生：
“你们知道美国这次打伊拉克花了多少钱吗？”
“3trillion”，“2trillion”
“5trillion，你们知道钱是哪里来的吗？”
“我们交的税。”
“错，钱是借来的。问谁借的？”
“英国”“日本”…..“中国”
“对，中国。借了钱意味着什么？”
“还钱。”
“除了还钱，还要还…”
“利息。”
教室里有点骚动…
听完这段话，心里总有点不爽，感觉教授有点在挑拨。回家后给教授写了封邮件，委婉地把这个和现在闹得沸沸扬扬的西藏问题，还有学校internationalweek的东突旗帜事件等等都联系了起来，希望传递给他的信息是，美国人现在对中国人的偏见越来越深。
每当美国人说nooffense的时候，其实后面的话就是要冒犯你的话，还要让你咽下去，不能反驳。DrMatthews在“nooffense”以后给我写了这样的一封信：
“…About Tibet: to be honest, Iknow very little about Sino-Tibetan relations. Myinclination, though, inanyconflict isto side withthe under-dog. Thatsaid, I imagine that you must findit frustrating that the American media tend to takeasimplistic view of what are often complicatedsituations.
As for the world economy, you have a point in thatChina - & other emerging economies - are merelyliving the same sort of lifestyles that have been common in theWest for decades. The result is that there is a rush forresources (e.g., oil) that are, at the same time,ever morescarce.
What is dangerous for everyone is that when theglobal economy undergoes these sort of changes, conflicts too oftenerupt. Add to that the crisis over global warming. Whatstrikes me is that in both the West & inChina - or India, for that matter, or other countries too -few see that these challenges could, in fact, be anopportunity. Think about it: suppose any oneof these countries found a way of producing clean, non-pollutingenergy. The technology would not only be a gold mine; itwould solve a terrible crisis that will affect all of us& may hit the world sooner than wethink.
On one point at least, I do agree withyou: after the Bush administration's foolishinvasion ofIraq, as well as the criminal (there is nootherword for it sofar as I'm concerned) treatment ofdetainees, it will bevery hard formy country to preachto the rest of the world about human rights for a long timetocome. But - again, sadly - there are few countries,yours or mine, that has clean hands…”
不过，心平气和地想，他确实没有offend我，因为他的观点和立场也是合理的。现在不管国内国外一片谁支持“藏独”打谁的呼声中，其实想想很多头脑简单的西方人的逻辑还是“谁弱我帮谁”，毕竟不是每个人都有时间和精力来查人家的历史文化，即便我的历史教授都是如此。所以我们的当务之急，不是用红色的国旗海洋去包围雪山狮子旗，也不是做一只愤怒的熊猫见谁就咬，而是继续修炼内功，外柔内刚。
