Originally Posted By ecdc I'll fess up that I'm pretty ignorant of Asian current events. I know China historically has a poor human rights record and that they've recently intensified efforts to stop protests in favor of a free Tibet. What does everyone think of the Olympics being in China? Is it inappropriate, as millions of protestors worldwide seem to think, or are the Olympics supposed to transcend these things and unite people? Will protesting bring more attention to these issues, or will letting China hold the Olympics be the best course for human rights in that part of the world?
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 The Olympics in China are going to be a disaster, it's going to be a memorable and news-worthy Olympics, just not in the way China wants....
Originally Posted By ecdc LOL. I'm getting that sense myself. The protests thus far have been far beyond what was expected. They had to stop the torch run today in Paris. Soon it'll be in San Francisco; hmm... large Chinese population, city with a long history of protest...this'll be interesting.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 The best bet for the torch running ceremony would be to skip any major city with a high conentration of Chinese.
Originally Posted By johnno52 I think the protesting will increase regardless where its at (torch). Too many left that country for a better life away from the Communist rule. This is one way of showing their discontent with them.
Originally Posted By utahjosh The OLYMPICS are all about forgetting our differences and coming together to play some games, make friends, and create memories and foster good feelings. We forget wars, we forget differences, and we come together for good will and fun for a few weeks. I think China has despicable laws and is an evil empire, full of wonderful people who are oppressed. But I don't want to protest the games.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 I don't think the Olympic committee should ever have chosen China as the site of the Olympics. For too long, the West has ignored countless human rights violations in China all in the name of "making money". We've sold out this countries ideals to buy cheap crap, and now the world is doing the same with the Olympic Games.
Originally Posted By johnno52 Many countries, activists and terrorists use the Olympic Games to stage their political or economic powers or agendas. Nazi Germany was one of the first, the Moscow games boycotted by the West and paybacks by them in LA. Black Power was shown in Mexico City and Palestinians massacre in Munich. Atlanta had an incident. I'm sure there are many other events that happened besides these. Its one World event that everybody watches and notices. For many of us its a sports event and is a symbol of peace but to others its a news opportunity.
Originally Posted By Mr X At this point I'd say they're better off changing the "torch run" to a "torch flight", and get the damned thing back to China asap. As for a disaster. Well, it sure is shaping up that way, ain't it? :0
Originally Posted By ecdc >>I don't think the Olympic committee should ever have chosen China as the site of the Olympics. For too long, the West has ignored countless human rights violations in China all in the name of "making money". We've sold out this countries ideals to buy cheap crap, and now the world is doing the same with the Olympic Games.<< Like I said, I'm pretty ignorant of Asian culture and current issues, but what little I've read tells me this is spot on. It's certainly true with Iraq; the Chinese are paying for that war, and now we're in a position where we don't have a lot of leverage over them on any of these issues.
Originally Posted By BigJim89 <<I don't think the Olympic committee should ever have chosen China as the site of the Olympics.>> I agree, a very bad decision. The polution is so bad the athletes can't even practice. <<It's certainly true with Iraq; the Chinese are paying for that war, and now we're in a position where we don't have a lot of leverage over them on any of these issues.>> The Chinese are funding not only Iraq, they essentially are purchasing our debt and funding the entire U.S. budgetand are a major trade partner with us. Gotta love those sweat shop-made lead-poisoned toys. You're absolutely right to say we hve no leverage with them, not that we would really care to do much about it anyway.
Originally Posted By DAR As far as I'm concerned those crooks in the IOC are getting exactly what they deserve by picking China.
Originally Posted By jdub >>The OLYMPICS are all about forgetting our differences and coming together to play some games, make friends, and create memories and foster good feelings. We forget wars, we forget differences, and we come together for good will and fun for a few weeks<< Uhhm, even in my own lifetime I've seen the strong signs that they are about nationalistic pride. And of course, if one does a websearch for "Olympic torch," "Nazi," and "origin," there's all kinds of buried treasure.. <a href="http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGkwvcJhBIMwMALxpXNyoA?p=%22olympic+torch%22+nazi+origin&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501&ei=UTF-8" target="_blank">http://search.yahoo.com/search...ei=UTF-8</a> Apart from that, check out this article: <a href="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/eo20080422a1.html" target="_blank">http://search.japantimes.co.jp...2a1.html</a> (excerpting just a few bits here) ((Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Mixing sports and politics By DOMINIQUE MOISI PARIS — "Do not mix sports and politics!" That defiant cry from China's rulers ...does not stand the test of reality. Sport and politics have always been closely linked. Obvious examples abound. The 1936 Berlin Olympics were dominated as much by Nazi propaganda as by the athletic events. To claim that politics and sports can be any more separated in today's media age than they were in the past is especially naive. The Olympics were awarded to Beijing for a mixture of economic and political reasons, and China wanted the Games for the same reasons. The current tension between China and Western public opinion on the eve of the Beijing Olympics is the result of incompetence, hypocrisy, and legitimate but potentially counterproductive indignation. ...China saw in the Olympics a symbolic opportunity to consolidate and celebrate its new status in the world. But the West's hypocrisy nearly matches the Chinese regime's incompetence. The moment the international community "bestowed" the Olympics on China, the West demonstrated how little consideration it actually gives to human rights and democracy. The idea that the Chinese regime would quickly reform the country into an open, moderate, and benevolent giant was either a fraud, a gigantic misperception, or wishful thinking. ...selective responses to the actions of dictatorships can be problematic and counterproductive.))
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< The OLYMPICS are all about forgetting our differences and coming together to play some games, make friends, and create memories and foster good feelings. We forget wars, we forget differences, and we come together for good will and fun for a few weeks. I think China has despicable laws and is an evil empire, full of wonderful people who are oppressed. But I don't want to protest the games.>>> All hail utahjosh. I think he got it exactly correct when it comes to the Olympic games.
Originally Posted By jdub No, no, no--from bidding to host, to going for the gold, it's all about bragging rights. And sponsorships.
