1) politics (no brainer)
2) economy (“things might just turn around if we win the game”, sound familiar?)
3) personal/national pride (no brainer)
4) dietary choice (don’t eat dogs)
5) clothing choice (don’t wear fur)
…

on and on.

2 Japanese journalists were beaten a week before the games.

4-5 months ago, there was a bloody crackdown in Tibet.

It’s pretty obvious that the Chinese government doesn’t care and hopes that something shiny will change the minds of the gullible.

Meanwhile at least 4 provinces have the majority without access to potable water, those parents that questioned why only government buildings collapsed during the Sichuan earthquake are getting silenced, human rights has continued its dive, and nothing substantial has improved other than foreign economic investment.

Tibet is no more a province of China than Taiwan is.

Cheers,

LL

The problem with the above view is that it is so often based on ignorant self-righteousness (and moral superiority of ones own country) that mostly ignores the reality and practicality, and the complexity of the political, let alone modern, world.

When I was a child I learnt a rule concerning manners, also known as the country-side rule, it went something like this: live by the rules of where you are, not how you’d act in your own environment.

The great thing about the Internet and satellite television is that it allows us to compare and contrast, see the wider world, have access to plural thought, presentation, information and where they don’t occur. This also means access is gained to american media, and a realisation of how little enlightenment occurs.

I wonder, of those who are getting so easily judgmental about a province of china that has got a lot of foreign support based on a charismatic leader and ignorance about the local culture and span of sovereign history, feel about the area of china where muslims are equally repressed and there have been bombing in retribution, or how about the various oil companies that operate and get their oil from other repressed areas of the world, or break environmental regulations, or the well of ills that is Israel (where most in the west, as on most subjects, live in complete ignorance of the details and strategy).

If you want to get a handle on the world, this wouldn’t be the worst place to start: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q

If you want to get along in the world, you need to decide what your morals are going to be and actually live by the reality rather than the myth, which the self-righteous seem to especially like believing in, and not be a hypocrite, be fair; which means if you’re going to do any more than the superficial and comfortableness of avoiding watching some sport in a country many miles away on a TV, you could start by needing to leave america.

Kind regards,

History and Humility

I would not be surprised if the IOC is hesitant to give China another chance to host the Olympics in the future.

For my part, I am watching the Olympics but trying to minimize my use of Made in China items…..which is very difficult, especially with kids.

It is absolutely sad that some readers here are making this an India vs. China episode.

I think the corporate kowtow to China is disgusting. The opening ceremonies in particular were 3 hours of spare-no-expense government propaganda, and NBC never once recognized it.

On the other hand, I also believe that the surest way to peace between two countries is open trade relations. When nations have an economic interest in getting along, somehow they manage to do so. So I am of two minds on this.

This is not about India and China. Actually, the fact that you would think that is, speaks a lot about you.

“special Olympics-oriented sites”

I’m thinking that “niche” would have worked better there. :)

Sure global corporations appear to be kowtowing to China in search of a piece of the economic action but a bigger issue looms. With US government surveillance of it’s own citizens at an all time high and China holding record levels of US debt there’s a disturbing kind of ‘harmonization’ underway between the two countries [more specifically, their respective governments] and the stakes, particularly for Americans, are incredibly high.

Let the games begin…