The Wondering Mind

The Beijing games are long over, but I didn’t get a chance to post post about some stories. Since they stand on their own, and being reminded with the recent article about China and the Nobel awards, I thought I would just post the links to the following stories.

• Protests still unwelcome in Beijing
• Rogge rips the wrong guy
• Olympics: How does Nike feel about conspiracy theories? No comment
• A Victory for China

That last article seems particularly prescient, considering China’s proclamations about the Nobel Peace Award.

And not directly related to the Beijing games, but speaking volumes about the modern “Olympic spirit”:

• Paralympic Athletes Add Equality to Their Goals

Leaves you with less than a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

In case anyone was still under the delusion of China having been transformed into a modern paradise of freedom and democracy by that august and incorruptible body known as the International Olympic Committee, we have this announcement (more like a threat actually) from China.

What’s note-worthy about it is not the oppressive propaganda the Chinese authorities are spouting, but the crude nature of the propaganda. It’s so patently absurd that no one would take it for anything other than a crude attempt at coercion and intimidation, and also a load of rubbish.

As the recent conflict in Georgia demonstrated, a country can ride rough shod over international opinion and consensus if they are rich and powerful enough, even if they are not the United States. But there are limits even to the power of riches, as the Russians found out.

The Chinese may be encouraged by the sort of shenanigans going on in the American elections, where mud-slinging with half-truths and outright lies actually seems to work. But those tactics rarely convert people to your argument, only succeeding in reinforcing existing biases, especially when it comes from a less than reputable source. Sure, it fires up the faithful, but that’s hardly necessary in an authoritarian country.

Maybe I’m missing something, but I just find it surprising that a country that has come so far economically has not learned more sophistication in its international propaganda efforts.

That’s the headline I expect to read in any and every respectable newspaper in the U.S., if the press were actually doing their job any more.

I just sat through watching some old guy, who I can only imagine has gone senile, presenting what he thought was some touching hommage to the “Olympic spirit”, while Bob Costas sat there with that perennial smug grin on his face. What a load of bollocks.

This guy (not going to call him a “reporter”) presented a piece about how the Olympics represented peace and harmony throughout history, which ironically spent most of the opening part of the film on scenes of the German Olympic team during the Berlin games opening ceremony, goose-stepping into the stadium and presenting the Nazi salute to Hitler.

Unless that was the work of some subversive editor, it illustrated the complete selling out long ago of any Olympic ideals the event may have had at one point and exposed the naked hypocrisy and condescension of NBC in presenting something so obsequious to the games and to China.

For those who actually watched this travesty of reporting, the Russian and Georgian pistol shooters, whose actions are indeed admirable, have been friends for years, as they started competing together while Georgia and Russia were still part of the U.S.S.R. Granted, in this day and age when neighbours turn on neighbour and friends denounce each other at times of conflict, that these women refused to abandon their friendship is heart warming. But there’s no reason to think that the Olympics had any positive role to play here.

In the same BBC report of this scene, we get two examples of other members of the Olympics squads, from both countries, engaging in bellicose rhetoric. And today we hear reports of the spat between the Russian and Georgian teams in women’s beach volleyball.

The one thing that Bob Costas and friend did point out, in a clearly snide remark (I have no idea why these men were so miffed about it), is that the Georgian team do appear to have obtained Georgian passports primarily to compete in the games. And in what must count as the most crass comment to be uttered by anyone at an Olympic game, one of the Russian players taunted the winning Georgian team by saying,

“If they are Georgian they would certainly have been influenced (by world events), but certainly they are not.”

Forget good sportsmanship. How about not being possibly the worst sore loser in history?

No doubt NBC is anxious to get their pound of flesh from having bought the rights to the games and do not want the coverage spoiled with negative stories. GE, the parent company of NBC, probably doesn’t want to broadcast overly negative coverage of the games so that they don’t complicate or jeopardise any existing and future business in China. It helps to have in their employ Costas and friend, who are clearly prostitutes in all but name. Either that or they are both high on drugs to believe the manure they’re shoveling.

But the way to keep the coverage relevant and worth watching isn’t to ignore inconvenient truths. No one will be convinced by such transparent and ham-fisted propaganda for commercial interests. People will have noticed the ridiculous attempt to play down the pollution before the major outdoor endurance events, even as we see the smog on television almost everyday. There are reports of human rights (in particular, rights which China specifically promised to the IOC would be respected, in order to win the games) being oppressed during the games if people look for them.

So people won’t fall for this kind of nonsense from NBC or China, right? Well, unless the people are all too busy doping too.

P.S. – The Olympic truce that Costas and friend talk about, and other “reporters” keep trotting out faithfully from the IOC propaganda packets, refers to the ancient Greek games, when the participating Greek nations would observe a truce. That was actually due to the fact that the Olympic games were a sacred religious event as well as a sporting one, primarily honouring Zeus.

For many, if not most, Greeks of various nations, to engage in war during that time would have been sacrilege. It had nothing to do with any desire for peace. Greeks, especially Spartans, were famous for actually refusing to engage in battle during religious periods, only to resume fighting when the festivals were over.

With all the depressing things I’ve been writing about the Olympics, I thought it would be nice to point out an article listing some of the great moments of the Olympic games.

The first item on the list is trite, I think. The second item is a rather sad reminder of the bad old days of the Cold War and the Soviet Union, made all the sadder by the apparent Russian determination to recreate some form of the feudal empire they used to have by waging war, now that they have some money. (You almost wish they would have just kept on giving it to the oligarchs if they weren’t going to spend it on the people.)

But the other items are truly touching and demonstrate the sort of Olympic spirit that the IOC keeps harping on about and keeps turning its back on.

For all those of us who did not go to Harvard, and not just those of us who are U of C graduates, the last item is especially priceless.

All the reports of the numerous controversies surrounding these Olympic games are out there, if you look for them. But as a friend of mine pointed out last night, just don’t look for any of those reports on NBC during the Olympic coverage. God forbid that “journalists” offend the powers that be.

To the list of real reporting though, I wanted to add this commentary in the Guardian, which I thought to be very enlightening for many of us not familiar with the details of the particular incidents listed in the article.

It’s really depressing that people make news because they act like adults, rather than acting out.

It didn’t take long for protests to invade the Olympic events themselves.

Ms Chan sat in the front row of the dressage arena in the Sha Tin district of Hong Kong, when the first full day of the Games got under way.

Christina Chan refused to leave and was later removed

She was holding a Tibetan flag concealed under a Canadian flag, and when she and another protester tried to display it, several security officials covered her with a blue cloth.

She was asked to leave, but refused to do so, and was later carried out of the venue.

“She was sort of disturbing other spectators around her, which is against the house rules,” equestrian event spokesman Mark Pinkstone said.

Sound and looks like the security was doing all the disturbing to me.

What’s really just pathetic is this bit of information.

China bans the Tibetan flag from events under rules which prevent the display of flags of countries not competing in the Games.

Seriously, if the Nazis came back today, I think the IOC would hold the Olympic games in Berlin all over again.

It’s still touch and go whether the pollution in Beijing will be cleared before the games. Then yesterday, there were reports that journalists had trouble accessing some websites on the Internet from the press centre in Beijing. Officials suggested that the problem was with the particular sites themselves, saying,

There are some problems with a lot of websites themselves that makes it not easy to view them in China.

The only “problems” most observers saw with the sites was the unflattering things they had to say about the Chinese authorities. Although the Olympic officials promised to look into it, they were already setting the stage to make lame excuses.

All of these things are a concern and we’ll investigate them but our preoccupation is that the media are able to report on the Games as they did in previous Games.

Previous Games like the one in Mexico City, when students and protesters were massacred days before the Games began? Apparently, yes.

Today, we got the truth. The Chinese will block any and all sites they don’t like and they’re not even apologising for it.

The embarrassment for the IOC is not helped by the apparent confusion within the organisation.

A senior international Olympic official called the move disappointing.

But International Olympic Committee press commission chairman Kevan Gosper confirmed that officials had been aware of it.

We actually got more honesty out of the Chinese, even if inadvertently.

During the Olympic Games we will provide reporters with sufficient and convenient Internet access so the Olympic Games will not be affected.

Read: “We just want you to report on how many medals people win, not about anything embarrassing about China.”

On top of all the regressive, and repressive, measures China has been taking since the Sichuan earthquakes, these policies are promising to turn this year’s Olympics into the worst political farce since the Nazis hosted it in 1936. And this is even before the doping scandals have started.

So, let the Games begin!

So the Chinese government is apparently going to go back on its word and rather publicly ban foreign entertainers from not only speaking out in China, but even entering the country altogether. This is rather puzzling. Let’s put aside the outrage against this oppressive act and just analyse it dispassionately.

Many people have seen the Chinese desire to host the Olympic games in the same light as the Olympic games in Japan and in Korea. They were hosted by countries which were emerging as economic powerhouses and wanted to introduce themselves to the world by hosting a grand “coming out party”. In both cases, the countries were not yet as developed or as advanced as they would liked to have thought. But in both cases the games presaged the countries becoming true economic powers on the world stage, and joining the developed countries in many respects.  Although the countries were not quite there yet, it demonstrated the boundless optimism, confidence, and energy with which the countries would continue to grow.

More than that, the games reflected the willingness of the countries to throw themselves open to the world, and all that such an act entails. It is an act that not only introduces the countries to the world, but opens the countries up to the rest of the world. It is an act which cannot be half-hearted. You cannot control all the elements of human interaction under an oppressive regime and have a coming out party for yourself. One need only look back at the games in Moscow and Mexico City; they are remembered more for the boycott and the massacre of protesters, not for the games.

With all these lessons in history, for China to now go to all this trouble to host the games only to sabotage themselves is bizzare. If their intent was to merely act as they always have, as an oppressive police-state which brooks no opposition, why would they go to the trouble and expense of hosting an event to show case that to the world?

“Hey look, world. We’re the same old mean and neo-fascist state we have always been. Happy to introduce ourselves.”

Unless they were so naive and arrogant enough to believe that they were now so rich and powerful that they could do whatever they wanted to and it would be OK with the world. Perhaps they were led astray by the sycophancy of all the so-called “business leaders” who are only too willing to prostitute themselves before the altar of profits. Far too many of the rest of us are also beholden to the siren call of money, and we give voice and power to these business people out of that greed. But one should not confuse greed and envy for respect.

And respect is what China is looking for. It is, after all, what many of us in our vanity, secretly, or not so secretly, crave. And like so many before them, they believe that they can gain respect through power. But if history has taught us anything, it is that power through force often breeds only fear and envy. Force may give tyrants power over men’s bodies, but respect gives power over men’s hearts and minds.

It seems incomprehensible for China to act this way when only a few months ago they had garnered so much sympathy for the earthquake in Sichuan. By acting, at least initially, in a way in which much of the developed world hoped to see China behave now and in the future, they had effectively diffused criticisms over Tibet and convinced people that the games might indeed be a true coming out party for China. Since then, they seem to have been working steadily to squander that goodwill.

You wonder if the Chinese leadership realize just how much harm they are doing to themselves. In the most recent leg of the Olympic torch procession, there were angry demonstrations in South Korea. Ironically, most of the anger was actually from Chinese protesters, demonstrating in support of their country.

That seems reasonable and understandable, especially among a community that is living abroad and missing their homes. What’s doing the damage is the manner of the Chinese protests. Both in Japan, and now in Korea, there are reports that Chinese supporters surrounded and physically assaulted anti-Chinese protesters. China’s people engaging in behavior for which their government is being condemned only serves to highlight accusations of Chinese human rights abuses and their support for regimes accused of perpetrating such abuses.

It also shows a nation and a people not yet mature enough to play a role as world leaders. We see selfishness, intemperate behavior, and playground bullying tactics we don’t expect to see from a great nation. China condemns, quite rightly, such behavior when it comes from the U.S. and others, so it should come as no surprise when it is called on it.

It also gives lie to the ridiculous opine that we separate politics from the Olympics. Hosting the Olympics is a political act, to demonstrate the power, the prestige, and the glory of the host nation to the world. So to condemn the politicization of the Olympics is plain rubbish.

I think the German doctor quoted in the Times article says it best.

This torch run reminds me of Hitler, who first invented it in 1936 to divert world attention from human rights problems in Germany under the disguise of ‘world harmony.

China will only get the respect and admiration it so desperately craves when its government and its people act like responsible members of the world community.