Thoughts on China & the Olympics

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

I think it is stupid to complain about something after the fact. It isn't like human rights abuses in China are a recent phenomenon. The proper time to raise this issue was after China made their bid. Don't get me wrong, China is a horrible country regarding human rights, but we already knew that.

I'm soured to the Olympics anyway, as I was pretty disappointed in the international community slamming the Atlanta games. As someone who attended both Atlanta and Sydney (and don't get me wrong, I love Sydney), Atlanta was ridiculously better prepared. Many of the facilities in Sydney were incomplete, and it was obvious that many others were hastily constructed. I realize that the bombing is likely to blame for some of this, but it is hard for me to look at Sydney and the disaster that was Greece being celebrated and yet concede that Atlanta wasn't a success.

Except for the opening ceremonies in Atlanta which I found exceptionally wretched and not having attended any Olympic games in person, I'm with you.

I do have to say that the Tibet protesters took the opportunity presented to remind everyone what China is like. I think a lot of people had been hoping that things were getting better as China opened more to industry and trade, but nope.

ETA: although the more I think about it, the fact that the reaction to Tibet this year didn't rival Tiananmen Square in 1989 might owe a lot to the media focus as the Olympics approach. So, in that sense, China hosting the Olympics may be doing some short term good.

[Kevlar281]

I was going to type some comment about China’s terrible human rights record and then I remembered that my keyboard has the words “made in China” stamped on it…

[NinjaPoodle]

The Chinese government denies everything. For them, it's always about saving face. This is the same country that to this day, denies the Tiananmen Square Massacre happened.

[AGDee]

Protesting the torch being passed around the world doesn't hurt China in the least. Why would they even care what happens to the torch when it's not in their country? Being one of the participants in the torch's journey has traditionally been quite an honor and the people hurt are those who don't get to participate when they were looking forward to it. Same with boycotting the opening ceremonies. These athletes have devoted most of their lives to their sport to reach this pinnacle of being in the Olympics. They are the ones who miss out if the US were to boycott. Just as it hurt the athletes who missed the 1980 Olympics in the Soviet Union.

If you want to protest China, then don't buy anything made there. I'd wager a guess that most of these protesters were wearing something made in China while they were protesting.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Protesting the torch being passed around the world doesn't hurt China in the least. Why would they even care what happens to the torch when it's not in their country? Being one of the participants in the torch's journey has traditionally been quite an honor and the people hurt are those who don't get to participate when they were looking forward to it. Same with boycotting the opening ceremonies. These athletes have devoted most of their lives to their sport to reach this pinnacle of being in the Olympics. They are the ones who miss out if the US were to boycott. Just as it hurt the athletes who missed the 1980 Olympics in the Soviet Union.

If you want to protest China, then don't buy anything made there. I'd wager a guess that most of these protesters were wearing something made in China while they were protesting.

I generally agree with you, but did you see the coverage of the group who accompanied the torch in England? They were described by torch runners as "Chinese thugs" who didn't even cooperate with local police on the run.

[RACooper]

My thoughts... personally I'd have liked to have seen the bid go to Toronto but I'm not disappointed that the Olympics went to China.

The international media and public focus on a "closed" society will continue to raise the pressure on the Chinese government for reforms as well as highlight all of it's failings - all in all a good thing.

As for the Torch Relay - well Vancouver has just announced that it won't be doing an international relay, instead focusing on a cross-country national relay showing off the torch. They cited the security issues of course, as well as a distaste for the torch relay being used as a political tool... but really that shouldn't be a surprise since the whole modern torch relay was concocted by the Nazis for the Berlin Olympics.