Imprisoned and tortured for thinking? And for such thoughts that focused on ''truthfulness, benevolence and forbearance.'' As a Christian I am not at odds with the principles Falun Gong practitioners follow as featured on The Chronicle's July 8 front page. Yet it seems the Chinese regime cannot tolerate, well, tolerance unless it is sanctioned by the government. The thought police are here. I guess it's not what you think, but that you have freely chosen to think your own thoughts. Crazy. Diabolical. I knew Christians were persecuted in China, but this expose of the government's treatment of the Falun Gong practitioners shows that the regime is determined to crush every form of perceived resistance and free thinking among its own people.

And because of this an ugly shadow falls across our own country. What would we think of a man who enjoyed the pleasures of a woman, knowing that she abused and even murdered her own children and who, for the addiction to those pleasures, closed his eyes in the face of her crimes? I think this analogy fits the relationship between American consumers and merchants and Chinese manufacturers. We are locked in an embrace; just check the next time you shop how many products have ''made in China'' imprinted on them. If you decided to boycott Chinese products completely, you'd be minus an umbrella in your closet or silk flower arrangements adorning your home. Your choices would be limited in the toy department and you'd have to forget most of the wicker, not to mention a lot of the cute little ''stuff'' women like to decorate with. Businesses would go out of business without the China trade.

Yet, is pleasure and profit worth ignoring the lives wrecked and forfeited unjustly? We as a culture must wrestle with the Chinese government's mistreatment of its ''children,'' but can we, consumed with consuming, even generate the will to do so?

http://augustachronicle.com/stories/071601/opi_046-7903.shtml