[Newsbot]

Filibuster Cartoon
Title: Non-event of 2008! (click to view)
Date: August 01, 2008
One week to go!

Does anyone care?

[emart]

so, ummm... i'm not really going to watch, unless they get handball on at a good time. which i doubt. any one else?

[Mr_Canada]

Yeah, to be honest, I could care less about the Summer Olympics.

[Canadaka]

i might be away for the start, so i will try and torrent the opening ceremony, i think it could be interesting. I don't have cable, but I do get HD CBC, so i hope it some stuff will be playing on there. Some of the gymnastics stuff is entertaining, its crazy what they can do. A lot of the sports are kinda boring to watch though. I more look forward to the mini documentaries I'm sure the CBC and others will be playing to highlight the host country and such.

[Prestwick]

HBC does! So much so they were even kind enough to let China make Canada's olympic kit!

Also, the BBC is up for it with its usual "I for one welcome our new Chinese overlords" tone on BBC News.

[fire_i]

I might catch a few events now and then... won't be following it religiously. Wishing Canada well of course, but I can't help but not feel quite right about those olympics in particular, so I'll take those less seriously than I usually do.

[Voyager]

For this Olympics, the crazy politics are the show to watch.

[Psudo]

I rarely pay attention to the Olympics anyway, and this year I have a new job that takes up more of my time and no TV channels. I doubt I'll even notice the games.

[romanP]

I usually pay very little attention to the Olympics because of the stupid drama that usually happens, which should be inconsequential but instead is not.

This time, I will pay no attention at all, and shame on every Canadian athlete who went just for a shiny peice of metal, because people have been imprisoned and killed in the name of freedom for their country, and yet the games go on as if nothing has happened.

[Murray_Smith]

romanP wrote:

I usually pay very little attention to the Olympics because of the stupid drama that usually happens, which should be inconsequential but instead is not.

This time, I will pay no attention at all, and shame on every Canadian athlete who went just for a shiny peice of metal, because people have been imprisoned and killed in the name of freedom for their country, and yet the games go on as if nothing has happened.

Politicizing the Olympics is stupid. The modern Olympics are supposed to be a period of time where the best athletes from around the world gather in one city to compete with one another.

Criticizing athletes for participating in a competition because the competition just happens to take place in a specific country is silly; if you worked your ass off just to get to the Olympics, only to find out that you don't like the host country, would you boycott it, knowing that four years is a very long time when it comes to sports? You may not be in peak health in four years. It's not just for a shiny piece of metal. It's the fact that you competed with the best of the best, and you came out on top.

With that being said, I fully acknowledge that the "P"RC's human rights record is nothing short of atrocious. But in all seriousness, what does the human rights record of a country have to do with a sports competition? And if it's such a big deal, why didn't anyone bring this up when it was initially decided that Beijing would host the 2008 Olympics?

[Prestwick]

I love just how shallow, ignorant, forgetful and hypocritical everyone in a position of power can be. Just 25 years ago, we had patriotic showboating on a scale not seen since the 1930s with the Soviets hosting the Olympics.

This time though, for some reason, this is different?

[romanP]

Murray_Smith wrote:

Criticizing athletes for participating in a competition because the competition just happens to take place in a specific country is silly; if you worked your ass off just to get to the Olympics, only to find out that you don't like the host country, would you boycott it, knowing that four years is a very long time when it comes to sports?

Yes, I would. Which is more important, people's freedom from oppression, or a shiny bit of metal because you can run fast?

Quote:

With that being said, I fully acknowledge that the "P"RC's human rights record is nothing short of atrocious. But in all seriousness, what does the human rights record of a country have to do with a sports competition? And if it's such a big deal, why didn't anyone bring this up when it was initially decided that Beijing would host the 2008 Olympics?

It was brought up, and China lied and said they would improve things. The smog is still in the air and Tibetans are still being imprisoned for daring to demand to be treated like human beings.

[Tiler]

China started this whole mess with the politicizing. It was their efforts to suppress dissent and use the Olympics as a tool to hide their failures and abuses that brought real attention to itself. Hell, it really started with the selection process for the 2008 Summer Olympics, with a committee led by 'His Excellency' Juan Antonio Samaranch and marred with corruption, whitewashing over China's abuses to justify their bid. Considering both the status of the IOC, and China's eagerness to have the game and their Machiavellian style of doing things, I personally think that there was a lot more than simply good faith towards China in play here.

And, in my opinion, the whole mess about "the Olympics is supposed to be unified and happy and sunshine and lolipops" is misguided idealism at the best and apologetic drivel at the worst. The Olympics were, are, and always will be politicized, because you're dealing with friggin political entities. And I find the idea of ignoring abuses of human rights for the sake of a bunch of games to be morally bankrupt.

[Zipperfish]

It's a little early to call the Olympics a non-event. It hasn't even started yet. There will be hundreds of individual dramas playing out, some of which will be great to see.

I suppose there are those who insist on politicizing the whole thing and to them I say: Pshaw! These are just wankers who never made the team in high school.

Like Psudo, I probably won't see much of them. But what I do like doing is flicking on the tube and just catching some preliminary rounds of some sport I'm not familiar with--like weightlifting, or judo. I get more of teh Olympic flavour there than I ever would from the opening ceremonies, or the mens 100 m final.

[CKASlacker]

romanP wrote:

Yes, I would. Which is more important, people's freedom from oppression, or a shiny bit of metal because you can run fast?

I find it unlikely that you'd make that choice, and since I'll assume that this point that you're not an aspiring Olympian, let me just say that it takes a lot more than "being able to run fast" to be going to Beijing, or London in 2012 or whatever. Most of these athletes dedicate their *lives* for their moment when they reach the games - it's almost certainly more than four years of work. And (at least in Canada) they often do so out of their own pocket, what with the low level of funding/facilities available in our country.

And now you claim that they, in spite of the uncountable sacrifices they've made, should stay home -- as if that would make the slightest difference to those in China who are/were actually oppressed?

You want change in China? Write your representative -- give them your concerns. Join Amnesty International, or one of a host of organizations fighting injustice worldwide. You could even stop buying goods "Made in China". These are all more productive steps in securing people's liberty than asking an athlete to be a politician.

Watch the games or not -- that's your choice that you're entitled to. But don't deny the opportunity to those athletes who've dedicated their lives for the chance at these games.