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July 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Lynne,
Choosing China was the greatest set-up in Olympic history.
In 1986, the IOC chose South Korea to host the 1988 Games. South Korea was a semi-democratic republic with some serious issues. As part of their application, they promised to improve their political system and address other problems in their country.
Then they did it, and the 1988 Olympics were South Korea’s great coming-out party, their entry onto the world stage as top-tier, important, democratic nation. Everything went perfect for them.
China wanted the Games to do the same for them, and so they made all of these promises about democracy, human rights, and the environment. And then they broke those promises.
What happened? Protests around the globe. Footage day after day after day of people trying to put out the torch, and stories about China’s nasty human rights record, and their repression of Tibet. This isn’t their coming-out party like South Korea, it’s a great big bloody nose, visible to the entire world. Their mulit-billion dollar investment in these games has brought them nothing but shame. They’ve been humiliated and dragged through the mud, and it’s nobody’s fault but their own. The 2008 games are the anti-South Korea.
I’m going to cheer on American athletes, which has nothing to do with supporting the Beijing government, because as far as sticking it to the Chinese government: Mission Accomplished.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Honestly joe, I’m not convinced. China has learned nothing, and will learn nothing. The IOC hasn’t said one word about these increased violations, neither has any of our leaders.
The only thing that talks is money. Money that supports the ads on TV while you watch, and in turn, the contract that the TV station has with the IOC. The Olympics are more about money than anything, and I don’t think any aspect of the political situation within or with China and other nations has changed very much at all. If anything, we as a collective people are just culpable of letting it pass despite the fact we “know more” than we did due to some protests.
I can’t watch something where I know that serious oppression, pain, and even murder brought it about, I just can’t.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I once mentioned Tibet to a chinese friend of mine, and she responded, “Well ok, when are you guys going to give back the southwest quarter of your country to Mexico?”
I started to say “But that’s different” before trailing off and having to admit that she had a bit of a point.
Funny thing about China in the present day and age is the young people are all hypernationalist right now, they’re proud of what they’ve done in a short time as far as modernizing. Outsiders telling them that their government is terrible doesn’t really go over well, it’s just gonna make them defend their culture by defending their gov’t. And let’s face it, their government is building up massive capital reserves and lining up raw materials from Africa while ours goes in debt to the tune of 500 billion a year.
I say if you want to see where Chinese liberalization is gonna come from, watch the environment. That’s the place that’s pitting the grass-roots against the power structure right now. All the other issues, they could really care less about as long as today’s better than yesterday.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I forget who said this but it is very apropos of the so called “People’s Republic of China”…
“Democracies may prefer markets, but markets may not necessarily prefer democracies”.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Lynne,
The IOC hasn’t said one word about these increased violations, neither has any of our leaders.
That’s the great part: they don’t need to. Shame is a job best left to the private sector.
If the IOC or George Bush was pushing this, the Chinese would get to cry “Boo hoo, the imperialist western powers are picking on us.” This way, the Chinese themselves get to the bad guys, the heavies.
George Bush should walk through the rituals with perfect, detached formality, and the only statements he should make should be about the sports and the athletes. He should do absolutely nothing to turn the story “China Bad” into “George Bush Says China Bad.”
July 29th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Jay - I didn’t realize the citizens of the southwest are demanding their autonomy from the US.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Sad to say, but I think Beijing is going to get very, very high ratings. I wish Joe could be right, and we could look forward to America whipping them in the standings, but that’s not going to accomplish anything and it’s not going to happen, either. The Chinese will win this year’s Olympics in all likelihood.
This all really stems back to the Olympic committee and their anti-Americanism. The Americans used to control the committee, that’s why we had so many events here in a short period of time, but the pendulum’s shifted back to Europe. I’m pretty sure they all got around a big table and asked each other “where is there a place in the world that we could have an Olympics that would piss America off the most?” China was their answer. Don’t expect an Olympics in America for decades and decades, so long as that pendulum is shifted the other way. America is obviously almost as guilty as China is on many fronts, but we wouldn’t choose an a country like China to host, ever. That just shouldn’t be allowed.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Tim — the point’s about legitimacy to the original claim, not about whether the original occupants are still alive.
I mean, if the Chinese slaughter the Tibetans like we did the Indians, will that raise them to our moral standard?
July 29th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I sympathize with your sentiment, but I don’t see the connection to watching it on television. I’m not a fan anyway and usually just watch the opening/closing ceremonies and probably will this time too. It seems that boycotting a television broadcast only hurts NBC and its advertisers, none of whom had any say on where the Olympics would be held.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Tim… Georgia tried that once.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Jay- your previous comment about China’s environmental movement was exactly right. Not only are ENGOs on the forefront of civil society in China, but their long-standing existence in China is setting an example that’s being followed by groups dedicated to AIDS, womens rights and a whole host of other causes. It’s good to see people recognizing this fact.