Comments on: SHADES OF 1936

By: B.Poster

B.Poster — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:52:00 +0000

During the olympics we should expect to see massive anti-American protests. These protests will range from protests over American foreign policy, protests over American environmental polices, protests over American “racisim”, to so called American predatory trade practices, and anything else they can think of. These massive protests will be appear to be spontaneous but in actuallity they will be organized and led by Chinese intellegence officials. This will be done by the Chinese to deflect attention away from their policies.

The American government should be prepared to counter this. Unfortunately given the inept response of the Aemrican government to anti-Americanism to date I hold out little hope that they will be able to mount an effective response. I hope and pray I’m wrong this time.

By: Surabaya Stew

Surabaya Stew — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:16:50 +0000

Moral relativity is a hard game to play, and while Beijing 2008 is by no means perfect, it does not compare well to Berlin 1936. I have always thought that Mexico City 1968 was a more apt comparison, in the scale of government hubris, a thin veneer of “progress” applied to a decaying infrastructure, murdering of street animals, and crackdowns on dissenters. I am confident that progress in China will in fact come out of these olympics, even if it takes 30 years like it did in Mexico. (Remember that Seoul 1988 was followed by riots and political reform within a matter of a few years after the games.) Myself, I will be watching to cheer the USA on, to observe what the media does and does not report, and to give my brain a rest from the election! Should be very interesting…

By: Drewsmom

Drewsmom — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:23:25 +0000

Oh, I almost forgot, Ed, are you on drugs?

By: Drewsmom

Drewsmom — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:21:17 +0000

It is a joke that this country is hosting. Love the way the commies are going back on alot of promises made in order to get the games, but hey, whataya expect.
I will watch the opening ceremonies cuz I love the parade of nations and I do watch a few events but most of it I’ll skip.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:32:32 +0000

This is an interesting comparison, this year with 1936, had not thought of it. As far as the IOC, I love the Olympics for the athletes, but gave up on fair in 1972. As a side note, I was thinking today about doping after seeing the news about the US relay team. Any guess as to whether we will have any Chinese caught doping this year?

By: Fausta

Fausta — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:09:52 +0000

I agree with you Rick. Won’t be watching.

By: Aiala

Aiala — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:54:37 +0000

I agree that staging the Olympics in a polluted sump like China is a disgrace. But maybe, just maybe, having the world spotlight on their revolting oppression will help in the long run.

Unless, of course, the brutalist ChiCom authorities see to it that anyone with a non-approved opinion meets with the same fate as those poor dogs and cats.

~A~

By: michael reynolds

michael reynolds — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:13:30 +0000

I think you’re right, Rick, and I’m ashamed of myself for not really thinking about it much before this.

By: aj

aj — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:03:13 +0000

It blows my mind the IOC dipsticks picked Beijing, just on the smog alone is enough reason not to.

By: Transplanted Lawyer

Transplanted Lawyer — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:00:50 +0000

It should not be news to anyone here that the PRC is a repressive, brutal regime which is the largest and most dangerous relic of the twentieth century’s sad history of bloody political extremism. And it should not be particularly surprising that the Olympics Committee, with its unique and intense blend of foolish idealism and tawdry corruption, would delude itself into thinking that it could have made things better somehow. So the Olympics are there this year and the Chinese have performed exactly as we would have feared, demonstrating competence only in the brutal suppression of dissent. The question is, what can and should we do about it? China has become too important economically, and is too strong militarily, to be confronted directly about changing its murderous ways. As I see it, we had the following options:

A) Boycott the Olympics entirely. That did us a lot of good back in 1980.
B) Attend but have our government put public political pressure on the PRC to reform itself in the form of trade sanctions and statements of political condemnation. This would embarrass and anger the PRC, but not directly change anything. And why should we wait for the Olympics to do this if it’s the right thing to do anyway?
C) Attend but the athletes make some spontaneous protests, like entering the opening ceremony with the athletes putting on black armbands and carrying the flag upside down as a signal of distress and danger — which the rest of the world would see as a protest. This too would embarrass and anger the PRC, but it wouldn’t be seen as coming from the government.
D) Recognize that the Olympics are a showpiece event anyway and resign ourselves to the idea that no meaningful change is going to result from them, other than new answers to trivia questions in the Guinness Book.

Personally, I kind of favor answer “C” and I hope (and expect) that our athletes have the stones and the smarts to pull it off.