Why in the fuck did China get the Olympics, again?
Feel free to stalk our every post with the f*cking c*nts RSS feed, subscribe to f-ckingc-nts.com by email, follow our new posts and random comments on Twitter, or become a fan on facebook. Go on. You know you want to! All the cool kids are doing it ...
So, I'm trying to figure out exactly what the Olympic committee's standards are for choosing a host country for the Games … It's not as though the Chinese government's latest bullshit in Tibet is some new, shocking, heretofore-unheard-of behavior from them. (Tiananmen Square, anyone?) You might say, "Well, sure. But Germany had the Olympics when Hitler was in power." To that, I'd have to point out that Hitler was not in power when the Olympic committee made its decision, and 1936 was before he'd started exterminating millions of people and trying to invade all of Europe. The Chinese government, on the other hand, have been evil fucks for decades.
Even before they invaded Tibet, forcing the Dalai Lama into exile, back in the early 50s, we knew they were bastards. When good ol' Chairman Mao took the place over (ahh, and what a glorious revolution it was), any of the intellectuals he rounded up and executed could have told you that. It's not like China's become some model citizen of the world since then. Sure, they may not arrest and kill their citizens with quite the same voluminous enthusiasm as they did back in Mao's day, but COME ON people! In what fucking way have they done anything to deserve the publicity, prestige and massive economic windfall that is the Olympic Games?
We're talking about a government that completely controls their national news media (many Chinese citizens today have no idea what's going on in Tibet right now … or if they do, they've got it so bass-ackwards they think the Tibetans should be thankful the Chinese gov't has done such a good job of taking care of them). A government that openly, and stringently, censors internet access throughout the country (I'll bet this site doesn't get much bandwidth over in China). A government that is, as you read this, rounding Tibetans up in their homes for any suspicion of being involved in the current protests there (as well as any known Tibetan sympathizers in the neighboring provinces, where a large number of ethnic Tibetans live).
So, one wonders what it is the Chinese government is being rewarded for here? I can't imagine it'd be physically possible to give everyone on the Olympic committee a good enough blowjob to explain this. So what is it? Is the whole world saying, "Good fucking job on painting all those kids' toys with lead paint! And those AquaDots date rape pills, just brilliant!" Or maybe we're congratulating them on having such horrible pollution in Beijing that it actually poses a health hazard for the athletes?
Sure, the Chinese leadership doesn't wear shabby Mao pajamas any more, or any arbitrarily designed dictator-for-life uniforms. They dress like respectable businessmen! They even mostly try to avoid shooting people in the streets (unless the people in question have the audacity to protest something). But just because an insane, violently oppressive government dresses in suits and ties, and stopped openly screaming for the destruction of the capitalist world, doesn't mean they're good boys who deserve a great big multi-billion dollar, international pat on the fucking head.
Mind you, I'm not a huge sports fan. I'm not getting all teary eyed about polluting the sanctity of The Games by hosting them in Beijing. And I'm pretty well solidly anti-xenophobia, so this isn't some racist-minded rant dressing itself up as politics. I just can't help but think that certain principles, such as the freedom to express your opinion without being shot, or put under house arrest for the rest of your life, ought to be worth doing a little sticking-up for. I can't help but think that in 2008, an historically independent nation ought to have the right to self-determination (look at everyone jumping on the bandwagon to support Kosovo's breakaway).
No matter how they lobbied and begged, I'm pretty sure nobody would have given the Olympics to fucking Baghdad when Saddam invaded Kuwait. I don't think we'll be seeing the Summer games in Havana any time soon, no matter how many cigars they sent to the committee members … although I fail to see how the Chinese gov't is any more virtuous than Cuba's.
So, I suppose, once again my theory that money trumps any semblance of principled decision making among the powers-that-be, whether political or Olympic, is proven correct? China's got too much money, too many consumers, and too many natural resources for the US (or pretty much anyone else) to actually stop playing nice. Of course, the US did boycott the 1980 Olympics, in protest of the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan … but they were our sworn enemies already.
People have been calling for an Olympic boycott since China was announced as the next host, and the recent face-stomping of the Tibetan people (shouldn't they be used to it by now?) has revived support for the idea. But that's a no-go. China didn't join the USSR in boycotting the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, so I guess we owe our good buddies a favor, eh? Besides, if we pissed off China, it could spell the death of Wal*Mart, and we wouldn't want THAT now, would we?
We could make it the Kumbaya Olympics–China could use some holding hands and singing of stinky hippie folk songs!
21st March 2008 at 6:01 pm | permalink |It's a sad and sorry day when it's all about the money, isn't it? I'm planning on not watching it. Piss off, advertisers.
21st March 2008 at 6:31 pm | permalink |Fuck China, Fuck the Olympics. I miss the old days when during the Olympics all the networks covered it. You had certain events on certain networks and they were on non stop. You could watch any event. But like everything else it has become money. God forbid they have to put a sitcom on hiatus and miss out on the advertising revenue. So now I am stuck watching gymnastics and ice skating and that's about it. I admit these are some very talented athletes but basically it is telling the other athletes they just don't matter. Not that I want to watch curling and who would. But I would like to see some of the other events. OK I am done know.
22nd March 2008 at 11:20 am | permalink |I've NEVER missed the summer Olympics, and I'm not even going to watch it on TV this year. Then again, I always used to watch the State of the Union address, up until this monkey-ass took over. Whats next, porno? Is Karl Rove or Wal-Mart going to ruin porno for me??
22nd March 2008 at 12:36 pm | permalink |@jim: Yeah, what you said too. :-)
@thomas p.: I dunno … if they messed up porno, I think the people (mostly the male ones, granted) would revolt. ;-)
22nd March 2008 at 1:38 pm | permalink |I love that Americans going to the Olympics are being told that they'll be spied on and that China is refusing to let broadcasters do live feeds of the events. What is the fucking point of even HAVING the Olympics? It's more like 'Organized Communist Party Exercise Time with Special Guests.'
22nd March 2008 at 1:40 pm | permalink |I'm just so sad that all of these athletes who've trained for YEARS are dropping out of the competition because of the pollution.
Fuck China. I'm not watching the Olympics this year. There's no way in hell I can support a country that bans youtube.
22nd March 2008 at 4:41 pm | permalink |@mjm: I'd only heard they'd banned live footage of Tiananmen Square, for fear of protesters jumping on the photo op?
@hellationships: Yeah, you'd think good air quality would be a minimum requirement for hosting a major outdoor sporting event, wouldn't you?
22nd March 2008 at 5:43 pm | permalink |money rules, simple as that.
My daughter lived in Tianjin while they were building the Olympic stadium there. The stories she told me were just horrifying.
What you have written is just the tip of the iceberg, and sadly true. I will say that there are plenty of smart people with the misfortune of living there, and they do have their ways of getting around China's internet censorship….
The best I can say is that it will give the oppressed Chinese ethnic minorities a world stage, and Tibet is just the beginning…
23rd March 2008 at 1:59 am | permalink |Well you said it best chick, money is first in this world.
Of course that's the reason why most past civilizations have tanked. Greed. Hopefully I wont be around when it does tank.
23rd March 2008 at 4:27 am | permalink |@beth: I know there are a lot of folks who run public proxy servers, specifically so Chinese people can get uncensored Internet, so that's a plus.
@hellationships: I don't know that civilization as we know it is going to crash any time soon, but I'm pretty sure the US 'empire' is going down. ;-)
23rd March 2008 at 12:17 pm | permalink |china sucks.
23rd March 2008 at 12:23 pm | permalink |but who gives china the power? do you buy chinese goods? i bet ya do!
I hate sports and am not well up on it, but I do take the piss out of/watch the news. It seems to me that the Olympics has new things in it, weird stuff that is not sport at all!
Or maybe it is and I have been living a sheltered life, I too have a decree nisi and a framed decree absolute on my wall! I practiced writing my maiden name throughout it
I digress, but no more than the Olympic committee, I do not know, is Mickey Mouse running it or Whacky Races? This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, did they not think about this? Money talks, as per usual.
They are clueless, they couldn't find their arse with both hands!
23rd March 2008 at 2:18 pm | permalink |Umm…I don't even know why we are talking about this…
This could never happen to “us”…
It's not “our” problem that the Chine's government does this…that's just how it is over there.
No one, no way, could anyone or anything infringe on “our” civil liberty's… I mean Jesus did die for Americas sins, and “our” declaration of independences does say that “we” are endowed by the “Creator with certain unalienable Rights”. I don't recall anything about China being entitled to any special consideration. Sure, the declaration also says “all men are created equal” but I think this really means all Christians are created equal, and only if they were fortunate enough to be born in America. Obviously I don't need to point out that this equality does not, under any circumstance, extend to “the gays”; because that shit is wrong and ungodly… ya bunch of god damned sodomites and pedophiles, with your nice cloths and your nice hair and your washboard abs…that shit aint right!
So I think we best let China alone, and if our the President hasn't told us to worry about it… then whats with all the hubbub?
23rd March 2008 at 2:26 pm | permalink |@nocturna: Yeah, can't say I'm big on sports either … Wacky Races sounds better. ;-)
@secularsanta: Colbert would be proud. LOL
23rd March 2008 at 5:44 pm | permalink |So the olympics should be awarded on a moral standing basis?
"In what fucking way have they done anything to deserve the publicity, prestige and massive economic windfall that is the Olympic Games?"
Well what has america done to deserve the Olympics? Invade countless countries? Defeat elected democracies, and install fascist dictatorships? Taser its citizens who arent posing a threat? Resist all progress on climate change? What makes america better than china?
24th March 2008 at 4:42 am | permalink |Your article comes across like its written by an angry adolescent, who doesnt really understand the world, so gets fuckign pissed off by it
I would like to say that I think the olympic committee gave China the Olympics in hopes of shining the international flashlight of truth in that direction, and thus increasing the pressure for China to clean up it's act. I'd like to… but I can't. It's far more likely that they're simply corrupt.
24th March 2008 at 1:39 pm | permalink |@paulc: Oh goody, an excuse to make a list!
That would have been a much longer list, but the Patriot Act and Bush's other pet legislative assaults on our civil liberties have kind of fucked things up … but until 2001, we had a hell of a set of constitutional rights, the likes of which the Chinese have never come CLOSE to seeing since the Maoists took over.
@kavan wolfe: Yeah, that sounds nice, but it's kind of like saying we went to Iraq so we could bring democracy to the poor, oppressed Iraqi people, isn't it? ;-)
24th March 2008 at 1:57 pm | permalink |Hmm yes the Chinese have been abusing their governance. I hope at least some peer pressure will now get to them because of the Olympic Games. Groups against the oppression in Tibet are now using the Games in a hope to alleviate their situation. I support them fully. I won't quote the whole blurb here, but here is the link :
http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/34.php?cl=65790088
25th March 2008 at 3:06 am | permalink |@fabrulana: Petition signed, thanks for the link!
25th March 2008 at 5:48 pm | permalink |I would like to see the Olymics beeing awarded under some moral criteria. Then all the countries that constantly keep pissing on the world would miss out. These countries would of course also include the US, as it is the very symbol of corruption and greed (ref. the coporate mass media, corrupt politicians, health insurance companies, privatized hospitals, war industry etc.). I would like to see the Games in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Australia, Canada, Japan, Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands etc. where happy faces in the crowds are not part of some PR-strategy involving actors or guns.
27th March 2008 at 3:40 am | permalink |@winchester: I would be fully thrilled to forfeit the US's bid on any near-future Olympics, if the site was going to be awarded on a thoroughly moral basis.
27th March 2008 at 3:55 am | permalink |But then, how can you make a rant about China not deserving the Olymics based in its morally disgusting policies, when there are just as many horrific policies in the US? Just because the two nations uses different tactics and methods of executing their policies, does not make the core problems any better or worse for either of them. China uses the iron fist, the US moves in the shadows. The end result of these political games is never the less, more often than not, a tragedy (Iraq, Tibet, Vietnam, Panama, Iran, Cuba, Taiwan etc.).
27th March 2008 at 6:22 am | permalink |yeah china is out of control. my fiance says the monks need to start lighting themselves on fire they did back before the century change. no one even remmebers that crap. and then india supporting them blew my mind. they wouldn't let a demonstration go on or something because they said they wouldn't allow any actions that would embarrass china.
and i also signed the petition.
@jim: one of the reasons i stopped watching. they only show like 2 events!
@winchester: look up above for her comment list. no ones saying the usa is the greatest place in the world either.
@Hellationships: not only youtube. they censor anything that talks about freedom and civil liberties and shit like that from what i understand.
27th March 2008 at 11:56 am | permalink |@winchester: Frankly, I think China is worse.
@swayla: It'd be a damn shame if people had to start setting themselves on fire to get their point across, but I can't say it would surprise me.
27th March 2008 at 5:28 pm | permalink |*sigh* "Better" or "worse" is a matter of perspective, and always relative. Remember I'm not defending the Chinese government, nor their policies. I am simply commenting your bias undertone with a twist of the "American Moral High-Ground"/"American Exceptionalism" view. Your political system is just as flawed as any other totalitarian regime using the media to manipulate the masses. How many of the Obama/Clinton supporters really know their stance on important political issues? Or why they are better candidates than, oh lets say, Kucinich or Gravel? Your perception of democracy and freedom of choice is an illusion. Accept it.
28th March 2008 at 1:58 pm | permalink |@winchester: "Your perception of democracy and freedom of choice is an illusion. Accept it." Have you actually read the rest of this site? I'm the last person who needs that particular lecture, trust me. I just happen to think the Chinese are considerably more extreme in their suppression of political dissent.
*sigh* all you want, I'm quite entitled to my opinion, as are you.
28th March 2008 at 2:05 pm | permalink |Yes, I know that is your opinion and we do see eye to eye on the majority of issues raised here, but I can't help react to this: You say "the Chinese are considerable _more extreme_ in their suppression of political dissent". I disagree. I would say the Chinese are more visible with their suppressive tactics, but not worse. How do you measure their extremes? How do you weigh their suppression? Compare people killed by the US vs. people killed by China, own citizens killed by each, ways of killing, length of execution? How? Is it better to die from obesity than hunger? Or does your opinion of them being considerable "more extreme" come from FOX News coverage?
To summarize, I get the feeling of this from your article: "from an American exceptional point of view, from up here on our rightful and well deserved occupation of the moral high-ground, I (you) can't believe China got the Olympics because they are pure evil".
29th March 2008 at 9:18 am | permalink |@winchester: Well, I assure you the feeling you get from the article does not accurately represent my actual thoughts on the subject [of American exceptionalism].
FWIW, I was, in fact, considering own citizens killed/jailed/disappeared by each when I used the phrase "suppression of political dissent."
And I don't watch Fox news. ;-)
29th March 2008 at 11:59 am | permalink |@winchester: "Is it better to die from obesity than from hunger?"
Isn't that fucking obvious?
I hate relativism.
1st April 2008 at 1:32 pm | permalink |@bruno: Yeah, I couldn't even think of a succinct comeback for that one. heh
Which is worse: A death caused by 100% preventable and self-selected behavior, or a death caused by a lack of basic necessities inflicted upon you by the government you're subject to? Tough call.
1st April 2008 at 3:06 pm | permalink |And the obesity option comes with cake and ice cream. And probably some ribs.
1st April 2008 at 4:05 pm | permalink |"A death caused by 100% preventable and self-selected behavior"
This is exactly my point. I would argue that the obesity epidemic, which is getting worse every day in your nation, is not because people make bad choices about their diet. It is your oppressive governmental and economic system/society that encourages and manipulated the behavior of the masses into super-consuming. Which again results in suffering and death from obesity and poverty (from debt).
2nd April 2008 at 7:41 am | permalink |