Was this really so hard an episode to respond to competently?
As discussed in this post, the Dalai Lama got himself videoed while pressuring a young boy to kiss him (on the lips) and asking the boy to <cough> suck the holy man’s tongue. Too bad Peter Graves is dead: he could play the Dalai Lama in a movie…
“Joey…would you like to suck my tongue?” was apparently cut. But I digress.
On “CNN Tonight” panel this week, and host Alisyn Camerota asked Michaelson to comment on the disturbing video. Ethics Aalrms frozen solid, the rabbi answered,
“The Dalai Lama is a very playful human being. And we may see this in a weird, kind of gross, sexualized way, but this is about as sexual as a bowl of plain rice. There is nothing sexual … or erotic happening in this encounter. Tibetan culture just has different boundaries…[the tongue] is what we kiss with, it’s sexualized … it’s not seen that way in Tibetan culture. This is a part of the body. It’s something playful….The apology was in order. This was clearly something that was at best, you know, insensitive to how this would be seen by a large swath of the world population. [But]“the Dalai Lama is one of my spiritual heroes. I have met him. Being in his presence is really one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had in my life. And the aura of loving kindness that he has is evident, even here where he’s being playful in a way that in Western culture would certainly be inappropriate.”
Since the rabbi wasn’t defending Joe Biden, Camerota felt free to actually practice journalism and challenge this spin, saying, “the boy doesn’t want to” kiss the Dalai Lama or suck his tongue,” and adding that the Dalai Lama is “taking the boy’s head … just sort of reading the body language here. I’ll take your word for it that it seemed differently there culturally, but the boy doesn’t seem to be wanting to participate in this.”
Nope! The man is as pure as the driven snow, Michaelson said:
“Well, I don’t know … the boy’s face … appropriately is blanked out. We have no idea what his facial expression was. I don’t see that in the body language. I just see kind of a weird moment. And again, look, this is an 80-something … year-old spiritual leader who’s been celibate for his entire life. Unlike, you know … we see our religious figures in a position of power, and we read it through our lens. We’re scarred by generations of Catholic Church sexual scandals and by abuses by spiritual teachers of all varieties, including some of my fellow rabbis in the Jewish tradition. And we see that through that lens — as well we should — but that’s not necessarily the lens that a different culture might see this interaction through.”
The ethical issue is not how a different culture might see this conduct, but how we should react to it. Willfully blind apologists like Michaelson are the crucial enablers who allowed (and allow) those “religious figures in a position of power” to continue as secret sexual predators for years and decades. Political figures also benefit from the same phenomenon, and the Dalai Lama is both a religious and a political figure.
Michaelson’s spinning and rationalizing immediately forced my mind to return to a Netflix documentary I am trying to forget: “Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story.”
Saville was a beloved disk jockey, TV host and national celebrity in Great Britain for decades. He was knighted, feted by the Royal Family, cheered for his philanthropic work, and mourned by the nation when he died in 2011. Only then did hundreds of allegations of child sexual abuse surface against Saville, and investigators concluded that he had been a prolific sexual predator during most of his career as one of Great Britain’s most trusted celebrities. In retrospect, all the signs were there, but “our Jimmy” was just too good to suspect of such evil.
How does Michaelson know that the Dalai Lama has been celibate for his entire life? He knows because this is one of his heroes.
Pretending that this long-time world traveler and self-promoter is completely unaware of any culture but his own is, frankly, insulting: Does Michaelson even believe that? ‘He was just kidding around’? ‘It’s no big deal’? It was “a mistake” but he apologized? ‘Maybe the kid liked it’? ‘He didn’t mean anything by it’?
The King’s Pass? The Saint’s Excuse?
Rationalizations are supposed to set off ethics alarms when your brain starts thinking them. Michaelson’s brain was spitting out so many his head should have exploded killing everyone in the studio.
Yes, bias makes us stupid, but a rabbi brought onto national TV as an analyst has an ethical obligation not to let bias make him that stupid.
Ethics Alarms 
I’ve never been able to take the Lama seriously. Sorry. Seems too much like some kind of scam.
Other Bill wrote, “I’ve never been able to take the Lama seriously. Sorry. Seems too much like some kind of scam.”
Overall, I agree. but it’s a cultural thing.
““The Dalai Lama is a very playful human being. And we may see this in a weird, kind of gross, sexualized way, but this is about as sexual as a bowl of plain rice. There is nothing sexual … or erotic happening in this encounter. Tibetan culture just has different boundaries…[the tongue] is what we kiss with, it’s sexualized … it’s not seen that way in Tibetan culture. This is a part of the body. It’s something playful….The apology was in order. This was clearly something that was at best, you know, insensitive to how this would be seen by a large swath of the world population. [But]“the Dalai Lama is one of my spiritual heroes. I have met him. Being in his presence is really one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had in my life. And the aura of loving kindness that he has is evident, even here where he’s being playful in a way that in Western culture would certainly be inappropriate.””
After seeing the Canaanites burn their children on a pyre to Moloch –
“The Canaanites are very playful human beings. And we may see this in a weird, kind of gross, murderous way, but this is about as murderous as a bowl of plain rice. There is nothing murderous … or violent happening in this encounter. Canaanite culture just has different boundaries…[the open flames] is what we harm people with with, it’s murderous … it’s not seen that way in Canaanite culture. This is a part of the worship. It’s something playful….The apology was in order. This was clearly something that was at best, you know, insensitive to how this would be seen by a large swath of the world population. [But]“the Canaanites are one of my spiritual heroes. I have met them. Being in their presence is really one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had in my life. And the aura of loving kindness that they have is evident, even here where they’re being playful in a way that in Western culture would certainly be inappropriate.”
Personally I don’t much give a damn what the Dalai Lama says or does but he should really heed his own words…
His own signature significant individual actions in this video will have far reaching effects and I hope people turn their backs on “His Holiness” now and put him out to pasture so he can graze with his honored reincarnated ancestors.
I remember the day I learned that Gandhi was kinda gross. It wasn’t a shock as much as a disappointment.
The disappointment was really about confronting my own ideas about him. It turned out my good judgement was wrong and that I bought into a story pushed by Hollywood and “peace” activists.
I remember when Dalai Lama came to Portland. People sounded just like this apologist. People said seeing him was “amazing” and “spiritual.”
But I wonder, was this really a moment shared with an enlightened being or was it the hope that it was a shared moment with an enlightened being that made the experience what it is? We all want the feeling of transcendence with the devine…and that’s usually where blind spots about character and actions come into play.
Enlightenment or ego? Maybe both.
But Johnny Rotten knew about Saville and said so in 1978. He claims he was blacklisted by the BBC for it. If Johnny Rotten knew, then everyone at the BBC knew from 1978 until 2011 and they let it happen. The allegations didn’t happen in 2011, they were suppressed by the press until 2011.