Lady Gaga sat down for a conversation with his Holiness, the Dalai Lama, to discuss the power of kindness and compassion, finding inner peace, and the Lama's advice to people struggling with personal issues. This beautiful and positive conversation was the epitome of great communication and understanding, however the reaction from the Chinese was one of anger and narrow-mindedness.

The Dalai Lama, a Nobel peace laureate, was forced into exile after a failed uprising against Beijing's rule in 1959. He is notoriously despised by China's Communist leadership and is regarded as a violent separatist who is trying to split Tibet from China. The Chinese have been gone so far as to call him “a wolf dressed in monk’s clothing.” After the video of Lady Gaga and the Dalai Lama was released, the singer was flooded with rude and threatening attacks on her Instagram and Twitter pages, her music has even been banned from playing in public and is only available to consume through the internet, at least for now.

A long list of Western celebrities have been banned by China thanks to their supposed connection to the Dalai Lama, from Hollywood actor Richard Gere to musicians Bjork, Bon Jovi, and Maroon 5. As China fast becomes a big market for Western artists, more and more of them are learning they may have to toe the Communist Party line to maintain their presence and popularity there. To me it seems more dangerous for celebrities to remain silent and ignorant on controversies like this just to protect their personal financial interests. Sometimes it makes me wary when celebrities are too political because their endorsements can feel patronizing or flashy, but I would prefer global superstars like Lady Gaga to care too much instead of caring too little.

It is painfully ironic that a harmless video about compassion could have evoked such vitriol and violent sentiments. In an attempt to re-focus on the message of the video I have chosen to highlight my favorite moments. In the video, the Grammy-award winning singer asked, "How do you help young people address issues of poor self-esteem, managing eating disorders, addiction, self-harm and suicide?" The spiritual leader responded by explaining that it is important in these times to not be swept up in materialism and that "compassion is part of our life." "Your mental attitude is [a] key factor," the Lama said. "Your mental attitude is sound with self-confidence and foresightedness."

"So what you're saying is, caring for others and having compassion, it gives you a sense of purpose, so it helps you to feel less alone and alienated so you know we all belong together," Gaga added.

Lama also relayed a message for the Facebook Live-watching youth, nearly three million of which have watched the Gaga interview since its broadcast. "Future depends on our younger generations … Past, nobody can change. Future, yet to come. So there is possibility to change," he said. "The younger generation has to create more healthy environment."

Thankfully our country, like so many others, gives us the freedom to express ourselves and our views openly without oppressive political/social/cultural pressures that are still inherently present in China. Hopefully the millions of young people that watched the video and were moved by it, and can take the positivity and enlighten themselves with compassion and not fear.