everything is political. it doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s religion or science or art. everything is political because money drives politics. and if money can be made off something, or if you can leverage something to make money off it, it becomes political. this is no different for the olympics, which have long since lost its idealistic sheen as a forum for world athletes to show off the human spirit.
the olympics are coming to beijing, but in light of the consistent human rights violations by the government against its own people, and the people of tibet, idealistically, a boycott would be in order. actually, beijing should have never been awarded the olympics in the first place, but that’s a different matter.
as a result of all the unrest from the recent crackdown in tibet, the government is considering banning live television shots of tiananmen square during the games. i guess reminding people that they violently crushed a pro-democracy rebellion two decades ago, and the possibility of repeated protests during the games being broadcast live isn’t something the chinese government is looking forward to. and i don’t blame them. their bottom line is holding onto power, no matter what the cost, even if they have to offend some big u.s. television networks that have paid millions to broadcast the games and are counting on those great shots of the square. the end game is all that matters, which in this case is to enjoy all the benefits of becoming a superpower, while still holding onto all the power.
will there be a boycott? probably not. at least not by any major industrialized nation, because there is too much money riding on this. barring some sort of implosion, china will be come one of the next great superpowers. their economy will be off the scale. one of the major reasons why the world markets haven’t collapsed under the weight of the sub prime mess, is because of china and india, two of the largest, most populated countries in the world whose economies are boeying the world markets, with the united states as the linchpin in all of this, because recession or not, the united states consumes more than anyone else on the planet.
george bush and other politicians will have you believe that the olympics should only be about the athletes, and that it should be kept separate from politics. well, with all due respect, that is bullshit, because it’s the politicians and the businessmen that are making this political, because they see this as yet another – albeit massive – economic opportunity. heck, even nixon was ahead of the curve decades ago when he went over to china to normalize relations and open trade! the hypocrisy is right in our faces. politicians don’t have the right to dictate what kind of politics is good for the pallet. politicians are hoping the olympics helps open yet another door for more political discourse and economic gain. if that is the case, they’d better be prepared for all the rest of it, like human rights, because once those doors are open, there’s no stopping it.
ultimately, the olympics may be the best thing to happen for human rights in china. If carried out right, there is a massive opportunity to expose the chinese government, because there will be hundreds of thousands of reporters and cameras from all over the world descending on beijing. and everyone, especially the chinese government, knows that the biggest threat to power in this day and age, is the marriage of technology and ideas.
the olympics are coming to beijing, but in light of the consistent human rights violations by the government against its own people, and the people of tibet, idealistically, a boycott would be in order. actually, beijing should have never been awarded the olympics in the first place, but that’s a different matter.
as a result of all the unrest from the recent crackdown in tibet, the government is considering banning live television shots of tiananmen square during the games. i guess reminding people that they violently crushed a pro-democracy rebellion two decades ago, and the possibility of repeated protests during the games being broadcast live isn’t something the chinese government is looking forward to. and i don’t blame them. their bottom line is holding onto power, no matter what the cost, even if they have to offend some big u.s. television networks that have paid millions to broadcast the games and are counting on those great shots of the square. the end game is all that matters, which in this case is to enjoy all the benefits of becoming a superpower, while still holding onto all the power.
will there be a boycott? probably not. at least not by any major industrialized nation, because there is too much money riding on this. barring some sort of implosion, china will be come one of the next great superpowers. their economy will be off the scale. one of the major reasons why the world markets haven’t collapsed under the weight of the sub prime mess, is because of china and india, two of the largest, most populated countries in the world whose economies are boeying the world markets, with the united states as the linchpin in all of this, because recession or not, the united states consumes more than anyone else on the planet.
george bush and other politicians will have you believe that the olympics should only be about the athletes, and that it should be kept separate from politics. well, with all due respect, that is bullshit, because it’s the politicians and the businessmen that are making this political, because they see this as yet another – albeit massive – economic opportunity. heck, even nixon was ahead of the curve decades ago when he went over to china to normalize relations and open trade! the hypocrisy is right in our faces. politicians don’t have the right to dictate what kind of politics is good for the pallet. politicians are hoping the olympics helps open yet another door for more political discourse and economic gain. if that is the case, they’d better be prepared for all the rest of it, like human rights, because once those doors are open, there’s no stopping it.
ultimately, the olympics may be the best thing to happen for human rights in china. If carried out right, there is a massive opportunity to expose the chinese government, because there will be hundreds of thousands of reporters and cameras from all over the world descending on beijing. and everyone, especially the chinese government, knows that the biggest threat to power in this day and age, is the marriage of technology and ideas.
now the question is, what will happen when those protests and pro-democrazy rallies start to crop up during the olympics, which you know they will. which side of the chinese government will we see? the one promised the international olympics committee years ago that the games would promote greater openness, and a friendly, confident chinese nation... or the one that recently killed 19 tibetan protesters last week?
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