What I heard was that it was an expression that translates poorly and basically comes from some old story of a Tibetan king with a black tongue that was evil or some shit to show they weren’t him. No idea how true this is but a lot of things do translate poorly. For example, in Korea “Live 10000 years” is a phrase that is basically just wishing someone a good life as well as a phrase used to shout in triumph. I remember a DPRK documentary trying to spin people using that phrase as some crazy thing that shows how brainwashed they are when really they were just celebrating a holiday and shouting in excitement.
Cultural misunderstanding is different matter. Here, Dalai Lama’s PR agency later published the apology where Lama stated he was sorry that this video became public, not that the act itself was child abuse, promptly telling in the same tweet that he does this a lot “before” the cameras.
Tibetan culture seems to have the show tongue greeting from what I heard, not “suck my tongue” with even bringing the little Indian kid to do that. The phrase could have been misunderstood, but not the actions and the unapologetic “apology letter”.
I saw the full VOA footage that Mango Press on Telegram showed like a week ago, before it all blew up. Used headphones to ensure what I heard was correct.
What I heard was that it was an expression that translates poorly and basically comes from some old story of a Tibetan king with a black tongue that was evil or some shit to show they weren’t him. No idea how true this is but a lot of things do translate poorly. For example, in Korea “Live 10000 years” is a phrase that is basically just wishing someone a good life as well as a phrase used to shout in triumph. I remember a DPRK documentary trying to spin people using that phrase as some crazy thing that shows how brainwashed they are when really they were just celebrating a holiday and shouting in excitement.
Cultural misunderstanding is different matter. Here, Dalai Lama’s PR agency later published the apology where Lama stated he was sorry that this video became public, not that the act itself was child abuse, promptly telling in the same tweet that he does this a lot “before” the cameras.
Tibetan culture seems to have the show tongue greeting from what I heard, not “suck my tongue” with even bringing the little Indian kid to do that. The phrase could have been misunderstood, but not the actions and the unapologetic “apology letter”.
Oh, he said to suck his tongue? I thought it was just the show thing. That is much worse.
I saw the full VOA footage that Mango Press on Telegram showed like a week ago, before it all blew up. Used headphones to ensure what I heard was correct.