We're getting off topic, but look at this link. The Dalai Lama and is monks claim him to be a "God-King", a reincarnated God. Tibetan Buddhism is different from Buddhism in that they have a supposed human reincarnated God.
Dalai Lama as God-King -- The Dalai Lama in Tibetan Buddhism
This is getting off topic but since some of you are ignorant about the Dalai Lama, I'll also add that before 1950, if you weren't a monk in Tibet, you were basically an illiterate slave (95% of the Tibetan population).
The article you posted as reference is bunk. Check some more sources, and it will become obvious. Although sometimes mistranslations can be the cause of errors in a publication, it is not the case here. If you read to the end of the article, it becomes obvious that the mistranslation is deliberate.
Tibetans consider the Dali Lama to be a tulku, not a god.
Tulku - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tulku's are not dieties, and the current Dali Lama is said to be an emanation of Chenrezig.
Also, there are MANY schools of Buddhism and Tibetans are not the only one that believes in tulkus. If you think there is just Tibet Buddhism and then the "rest of Buddhism", you shouldn't be participating in this conversation.
You are correct, though, that like other landlocked, mountainous regions in Asia, Tibet was a feudalistic society into the 20th century. The Dali Lamas, being the head of the Tibetan government do hold some share of responsiblility, but when you consider how weak their rule actually was, and that they only held power from 1912 to 1949, it's more than a little bit silly to lay it all at the feet of Dali Lamas.
It might be worth looking at more than one slanted article before you start tossing the term "ignorant" around.
