Just a few days until the beginning of the Olympic Games in Beijing. I wish I could get excited. After all, these are usually happy moments where friends, foes and others around the world gather to supposedly shed their political problems amid the purity of athletic competition.
But that’s just bullshit, of course, and never more so than as the curtain readies to rise within this panorama of totalitarianism and propaganda.
First of all, China made a number of promises in order to be considered and then to be approved to host the games. In essence the country’s tyrannical dictators promised to let up for the duration of the games and at least let a modicum of information flow within and out of the country.
But they’ve done none of that. Quite the contrary. Chinese citizens haven’t a clue about where they are or who they are in the world, what their country is about or how this impending series of international games is just a huge political sham. Journalists visiting the country are finding their efforts throttled wherever and whenever the dictatorial government can figure out a way to impose their malignant will.
Just a couple of examples: Ability to access the Internet, a basic element of communications in this fast-paced era is compromised by a government hell-bent on restricting the flow of information in and out of China. And how about a South Korean journalist’s scoop in filming the audition of the Chinese opening ceremony only to find the totalitarians had intervened and gotten their dirty asses kissed by YouTube and others who withdrew the film from circulation? That’s pure crap.
We can only imagine the doublethink to come and we’ll probably never know how coverage of the games will be portrayed to the Chinese people themselves. Obviously, Chinese athletes will not ‘lose’ in any event; they’ll just compete very successfully. And is it a silly question to ask if Tibet will field a team at all?
While we on the topic of who’s in and who’s out, there is the issue of the Iraq team originally being disqualified. If there ever was a time for exceptions to bureaucratic and arbitrary rulings, this would be it. No one would see Iraq as a contender in anything, but it will be healthy to see divided sides in that mess coming together for a moment of athletic competition. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for their initial decisions on Iraq..
Anyway, for my part, I’m going to impose my own censorship on the whole damned thing. Since we can’t get unbiased coverage out of China I don’t plan to tune in at all. At the end of the day, it’s a joke; it’s like an Olympics being publicized by Disney. Why should anyone really give a damn who supposedly wins or loses any events. It’s all just a fantasy.
Tags: olympics
