New picture of the Tank Man

[neighborboy]

Just in time for the anniversary of Tienanmen, a never before picture of the Tank Man has been published. It's from ground level, and the confrontation with the tanks hasn't happened yet. Still, pretty awesome stuff. What an exceptional individual.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/behind-the-scenes-a-new-angle-on-history/

 

[squallumz]

yeah, i was surprised when i heard he was alive and well a while back.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

I am so disappointed with this thread. I was expecting some new lame-ass superhero. Instead I'm treated to a topic 20 years old. But he is a hero, nonetheless.

 

[afsd42]

Truly courageous

 

[Spleen]

yeah, i was surprised when i heard he was alive and well a while back.

No one really knows what happened to him. Some claim he is alive and in hiding, other reports say he was arrested and killed by a firing squad. There is just no evidence to back any of these claims.
I'd love to believe he is alive, but the chances are he was killed. After all, this is China we are talking about

 

[Skyraider22]

yeah, i was surprised when i heard he was alive and well a while back.

Wow he lived I did not know that.

 

[24788]

Can someone please explain this a bit to me? Was he someone just standing up to the government?

 

[neighborboy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/behind-the-scenes-tank-man-of-tiananmen/

As the Chinese government is in the midst of crushing the pro-democracy protests at Tienanmen in 1989, this guy stands in front of a column of tanks and refuses to move. He eventually climbs onto the tank and yells at the driver, "get out of our city," or something to that effect. Then he's whisked away into the crowd, never to be heard from again. Most believe he was caught and executed a few weeks later. Some believe he survives in hiding. No one even knows for sure who he was. Some say a college student, but no one knows.

Whoever he was, he had balls the size of boulders.

 

[Ace Bandage]

Whoever he was, he had balls the size of boulders.

I agree. To stand in front of a column of tanks by yourself in the middle of a city during such a volatile time takes an incredible amount of courage. The original photo still gives me chills. It epitomizes standing up for yourself and your beliefs.

But, it also makes me think of Halo. Had the tank driver went forward, he would have gotten a medal for a vehicle splatter...

 

[Red Spyder]

Protesting in a country that does not recognize a person's freedom to do so, now that is brave. I guess I'm one of the few people here old enough to have seen that live on TV, I sure was hoping back then that the Chinese communist government had fallen just like it had recently fallen in East Germany, the Soviet Union, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. Hell of a domino effect but going the other way for a change