7 Responses to “2008 Beijing Olympics – The Day After Verdict”

1. redpepper on August 25th, 2008 2:35 am

   It was most well organised and performed olympics games and to add to it a touch of class i did not see sponsors ads splashed all over the place.

   it`s an event to truly celeberate one world one dream, well done ! beijing.

2. You Must be Joking on August 25th, 2008 10:07 am

   “One world, one dream?” Positively Orwellian. The Olympic Games in Beijing were one vast Potemkin village designed to dupe the gullible that China’s anything other than what it is, i.e. an oppressive nation of forced labor camps, religious repression and aid to every reactionary and fascist government under the sun, from Pinochet’s Chile and South African apartheid in the 1970s to Darfur today. Within China itself, countless people were evicted from their homes in order to make way for the shabby structures erected for the games; the Chinese gymnasts were well under the mandatory sixteen years of age, which the IOC, more than likely as a consequence of bribes, refused to even investigate; people of color deemed racially inferior (i.e., Mongolians and Africans) were driven from sight; anyone who dared to mount a protest was subjected to physical violence and deportation. China hasn’t advanced at iota in the forty years since the so-called “Cultural Revolution.” Spectacular? More like nauseating from where I’m sitting.

3. Chuan on August 25th, 2008 5:42 pm

   ^Okay, well besides that…

   you gotta admit, it was arguably better than any other Olympics we’ve seen.

4. LM on August 25th, 2008 7:22 pm

   It was certainly the most impressive opening ceremony I’ve seen. Even putting aside any controversies. And the closing was great, too. I gather the UK has no plans to try and outshine — probably not much motivation as it’s their 3rd. I’m kind of glad to hear this as I think constant one-upmanship get’s out of hand. Nice to have different sizes and tones from olympics to olympics, mixing the extravagant with the occasional pull back and tone down.

5. Chuan on August 25th, 2008 8:10 pm

   actually…from what I saw of the closing ceremonies, I thought the musical performances were pretty awful. I saw a lot of people laughing at the singing…and I couldn’t really blame them =/

   I’m guessing the music was intended to appeal to everyone globally.

6. Frank Eng on August 26th, 2008 12:45 am

   Dear “You Must be Joking”:
   C’mon, Christian, from behind this new “cover” and admit that you are one and the same.
   Your l;itany of infamies attributed to the PRC is so out of date as to be hilarious.
   Orwellian? How could ANY nation be more Orwellian than our own today? Shouting “democracy” as we shove bombs and billboards down the throats of those who have little or no interest in OUR fantasies of either “superiority,” as in medals won or lost, OR claims of “hegemony,” which is rather a Marxist concept.
   “Potemkin villages” and “shabby structures”?
   Christian, you are a gas and a half, now that the oil barons are discovering the limits of their cupidity.
   Russian villagers were the victims of feudal landlords, just as today’s working Americans are victims of their global “free trade” “trickle-down” employers.
   Just as Palestinians today under the supremely ironic yoke of latterday “Zionists,” of whatever nationality, creed or color, note well the graded scale of correctness in admissions to the new Holy Land of the Chosen.
   You rail against something that has morphed into a likeness of what you champion, a contemporary state of “union” that rhetorices what it preaches but what it rarely practices.
   Today, New America Media features an old-news piece about how the Obamaniacs raised millions from “Southeast Asians” the while it “stiffed” the only Southeast Asian medium.
   Just as Billary did the Chinese-language “press” in San Francisco half a year ago, only to apologize later.
   Point is, NONE of the above matters, much less factors in to the realities of today’s global politics.
   And “the West” should only hope for a “bird’s nest,” with or withjout the soup, like the one erected in Beijing, over the ashes of your late and lamented hutongs.
   Belabor me, and everyone else, NOT, with your crocodile tears for the “oppressed” of the Mainland. Save them for your fellow citizens, raht-cheer, in these still-benighted “states” of “Amurrika,” a “nation” you appear to upraise the while you demonize those godless cadres who dare to essay Olympian heights.
   Christian, names and icons and symbols and perceptions are never any more than same.
   What maters, and will, eventaully, emerge, is/are the realities of the future, most of which, I am certain, will give the lie to your provincial/ideiological/iconic stances.
   Whether or no Michelle’s rather stilted and scripted performance tonight willl factor in to the final vote is a question. Ted Kennedy, however, makes one less than apologetic, and inspires applause, if only for his courage.
   And if Joe Biden is all that he’s cracked up to be, then, perhaps, the racism involved herein may well be balanced as far as eledorate perceptions can be managed.
   Meanwhile, speaking to that mere single per centum of this experiment in statehood, statecraft, AND state of the union, may I suggest that BOTH “You must be joking” AND our very own awarthur are not simply OFF the mark, but they both servd the same master.
   Frank Eng
   P.S.: Art, despite your academic creeentials, I STILL find your “reasoning,” logic?, less than relevant. Tying affirmative action and the likes to games adult children play is less than duh. And “historic” references to Mainland “oppressions,” Christian, has as much to do with “shabby structures” as your incitations have to do with the political realities raht-cheer, and “at home.

7. CJY on August 28th, 2008 12:49 pm

   “aid to every reactionary and fascist government under the sun”

   Sounds like you know more Chinese history than American history. You should learn about American history also because America has also helped/supported other “fascist governments.”

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