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sum1 · 08-27-2008, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vc318 (View Post)

Could it be that the Olympics is about the players and not the government? I think the Chinese athletes are fully aware that they have no control over their government. What does that have anything to do with them competing for medals? And you just insulted them for their hard work by saying the medals they earned were fake. I guess all that training was fake too.

Who said anything about Chinese athletes? "Faking things" doesn't refer to athletes, it refers to stuff like pretending a girl is singing when it's another girl who's not seen as good-looking enough to be presented, or lining up a bunch of kids who were supposed to represent the different ethnic minorities of China except they all came from China's dominant ethnic group. That's faking things in a way that I think says a lot about the Chinese government's attitudes. Note I pointed out in my last post that I was talking about the government not the people, so obviously I wasn't talking about the athletes. There's no need to jump to false conclusions and jump down my throat. I didn't insult the athletes.

But as for the olympics being about the players and not the government, that's debatable. No one should miss the fact that the olympics were created to serve a political end and are very much about politics. Giving the olympics to China was a big statement of approval for the Chinese govrnment. These olympics were definitely about the government.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vc318 (View Post)

And while we're talking about China being a worthy place for the Olympics or not, who has the right to decide that? I guess it would be a complete horror for the Olympics to be held in Afghanistan and Russia too? Someone better tell them that they're not worthy to compete either next time.

How did you jump from not being the right country to host the olympics to not being "worthy" to compete? That's not the same thing you know. I never said any country wasn't worthy to compete. I've talked about China not being the right place for the olympics because of what its government has been doing.

"And while we're talking about China being a worthy place for the Olympics or not, who has the right to decide that?"

I don't know, the Tibetans maybe?

Quote:

Originally Posted by vc318 (View Post)

True but the athletes are the one's competing - not the government. The athletes are there to compete and that's it. I'm sure a day doesn't go by for them when they're not thinking about how much their government stinks. But sometimes we really need to get off our high horse. China is no worse off than other places. It would be nice for once if politics could stay out of a simple game for two weeks. I'm sure people are forming their own opinion about the 2012 London Olympics right now.

"It would be nice for once if politics could stay out of a simple game for two weeks."

Except it's NOT a simple game. It's about politics and it always has been about politics.

"the athletes are the one's competing - not the government"

That's debatable. This olympics was all about effectively celebrating the Chinese government -worldwide approval, rubber-stamped by getting the olympics. The Chinese government was "competing" for what amounts to worldwide acceptance of its policies (worldwide celebration of its policies even).

"But sometimes we really need to get off our high horse."

I don't think calling for better human rights and for freedom for an oppressed nation is getting on a high horse.

"China is no worse off than other places."

What other places? China is way worse off than some places.

"I'm sure people are forming their own opinion about the 2012 London Olympics right now."

People have all sorts of opinions. That's the world.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post)

it's about the athletes at the end of the day.

But to write the whole thing off because these athletes were being hosted by a rather despicable government flies in the face of what the Olympics are supposed to be about: sports and competition.

The olympics have always been about politics and this olympics was about the world effectively approving what the Chinese government has been doing. Let's not miss the big picture here.