Loosely Connected Thoughts On The Olympics

[poliphilo]

1. Once every four years we take the temperature of planet Earth.

Every nation turns up. Every nation is watching. 

It's too big an event for governments to control, though- God knows- they try.

Interesting things- horrible and inspiring- will happen in spite of the wishes of government.


2. All governments are horrid. Some are more horrid than others. 

The Chinese government is almost certainly less horrid than it was in the days of Chairman Mao.

There's no way the governments of the USA and the UK can lecture China about Tibet while they still have troops in Iraq, etc, etc...

The Beijing Olympics has opened China up to the rest of world. This is almost certainly a good thing.


3. My Radio Times contains a guide to the Olympics. In every event it gives me the name of a "Brit to Watch". What a ugly phrase! What an ugly idea!

How lovely if it were all about youth, beauty, speed, strength, grace- but it's not. It's mainly about nationalism.

Those American athletes turning up in Beijing wearing face masks- what rank bad manners!

Flags and national anthems should be banned and athletes should compete as individuals. Fat chance!


4. The Bird's Nest stadium is really pretty. 

This icon of the new China was designed by Swiss architects. 

Lots of homes were demolished to free up the site. The displaced people say they have received no compensation. 

Ach- the moral complexity...

Comments

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

The Olympics ARE political. They have always been, and are more so since the Hitler/Jesse Owens fiasco.

And you know, I am offended by your comment about bad manners. Perhaps it would have been better if the American contingent hadn't GONE to the Olympics, but since they did they have every right to draw attention to the air pollution. Pollution in China doesn't just STAY in China, you know.

I do agree with you about the Tibet/Iraq thing, though. And don't you believe for ONE SINGLE MOMENT that China is opened up to the rest of the world. We - the world, the press, whomever - will see exactly what 'they' want us to see. No more.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

I, too, thought that the American team ought to have stayed at home. After all, during Jimmy Carter's term of office Russia invaded Afghanistan and Carter boycotted the Moscow games. Yet in the face of China's flagrant human rights violations we send an Olympic team to Beijing, then suffer censorship because our team protects itself from air pollution. What a crazy world!

[nostoi.livejournal.com]

I don't think a government that operates a place such as Guantanamo Bay can really criticize any other country's government for the violation of human rights.

Governments in general are only ever concerned about human rights when they have another motive entirely which they wish to exploit.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

I am really upset about the whole Tibet thing, too, and that is only one of a long list of complaints that I have with China. So, yes, I suppose it would have been better if we had stayed home.

The only thing is, one of my best friends from high school was an Olympic swimmer. She trained for that all her life, and when she was 16, she was at her peak and won 3 gold medals. It would have been a shame if some political squabble had taken that away from her. So, even though I have stern reservations, I am glad athletes are getting the chance.

But, if I were there, I would probably wear a mask, too. China's unabashed consumerism is apparently the reason why gas is so expensive now (at least that is what we are being told), and there attitudes about pollution are totally unacceptable. If they want to play in the global market, they need to learn to follow the rules.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I applaud the team who ran the Tibetan flag up a lamp post in Tianamen Square. That took courage.

The same goes for the people- in many different countries- who attacked the Olympic torch as it was paraded round the world.

But the stunt with the masks struck me as a childish insult- aimed not so much at the Chinese government as at the Chinese people. Also the athletes who did it weren't really risking anything.

I've been watching reports from inside China on both the main British networks. They've dealt with corruption, repression, human rights abuses and government high-handedness. The Chinese government promised free access and can't deny it now without losing face. The journalists were certainly hindered by government agents, but- on the whole- incompetently and ineffectually. In one instance, wanting an interview with farmers who had been impoverished and then abandoned by government, they simply gave their minders the slip.