Beijing 2008, or: who else isn't watching?

[Papewaio]

I did check out the medal count though, and to my surprise we are currently beating the communists 25 to 21. I'm shocked, as I know they're pulling every dirty trick out of their book to demonstrate how superior CHINA is. Kudos to South Korea as well!

Not even close. The ranking is gold, then silver then bronze. Bronze does not equal gold outside of childcare facilities . Mind you I have argued for a per capita ranking... slight reason for a bias... that way Australia's 4 Golds is equivalent to China having about 250 gold medals...

Yeap, watching the Olympics. A shame that when I see a record broken I think 'Wow, how long before those drugs are found?".

As a form of entertainment they can be great. As a way of 'measuring' the respective successes of different government system they are about as accurate as GDP or BMI. A rule of thumb at best, a casual hand wave more likely then a clinically accurate form of stat.

I prefer to see money being spent on sporting facilities, tourism and language development then for weapons facilities, political prisons and spooks. Then again I would prefer more money spent on science and arts and a Computer game Olympics.

I watch and sometimes I get to see what I really like behind the glitz and ego. Sportsmanship and some truly humble athletes breaking themselves apart and trying with all their might to just finish.

Eddie the Eagle and others of his ilk are the ones to watch for. The marathon's never fail to please in seeing someone push themselves to the wall. I like seeing people push past their physical limits, making a PB and all through hard work and willpower. The drug cheats diminish from this... that is why it is often good to see the amateurs at the back of the pack pushing on.

http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/bei...ries/?c_id=502

[ajaxfetish]

My primary reason for not watching is not having a TV at home--kind of makes it tricky. Saw some of the gymnastics and swimming on Sunday, but the 'human interest' stories seemed even more rampant than usual. It seems an awful waste when there are so many events they don't even spend time covering.

Ajax

[Tratorix]

Haven't really been watching. All they show on T.V. around here is swimming and diving anyway. The only thing about the Olympics I follow is Hockey during the winter games.

[Adrian II]

I'm Chinese, the Chinese are my people, and I strongly support them.

Do you also support the regime? China is certainly the record-holder for suppression during the Olympic Games. Today more protesters were arrested for unfolding a flag about Tibet, i.e. for simply expressing their opinions. Another journalist was roughed up. Tourists can't take a picture of Tienanman Square without being stopped, harassed or whisked away by some illiterate idiot in a uniform. How can a Chinese be proud of this zombie circus with drilled supporters, faked hymns and corrupt party bosses? In their place I would be deeply ashamed.

[DemonArchangel]

Do you also support the regime? China is certainly the record-holder for suppression during the Olympic Games. Today more protesters were arrested for unfolding a flag about Tibet, i.e. for simply expressing their opinions. Another journalist was roughed up. Tourists can't take a picture of Tienanmen Square without being stopped, harassed or whisked away by some illiterate idiot in a uniform. How can a Chinese be proud of this zombie circus with drilled supporters, faked hymns and corrupt party bosses? In their place I would be deeply ashamed.

Let's take this one by one:

1.) Do I support the regime? My family is heavily involved in the regime and ranks quite highly in it. I fully support it. The regime has done a lot of good things for China too. :China:

2.) Please use the designated protest zones for unfurling flags about Tibet. Also, please shut up about Tibet. As a reference, try to imagine if Wyoming tried to secede from the United States, and kicked up a on the international media every time the US govt. tried to stop it. Another way to look at it is that you know the Dutch would have held onto Indonesia if they had the forces to do so.

3.) The police are hardly illiterate. Also, the Chinese aren't the only people to randomly arrest people for taking pictures of landmarks. I recall it is a prominent practice in the United States too.

4.) Congratulations, you've pretty much described *all* the Olympics. Zombie circus precisely describes why I'm not watching the Olympics either. Ever since I started Parkour, I realized just how meaningless most Olympic events are. Sports are meant to be played, not watched.

5.) Li Ning was picked as the guy to light the torch not because he was rich. That acrobatic wire stunt takes an enormous amount of strength to pull off, and in the intervening years between his Olympic performances and now, Mr. Li has kept himself in the best of shape, allowing himself to actually complete something as insane as doing a sideways lap across the stadium. Also, he himself is a 3 time gold medalist in gymnastics.

6.) Little Grizzly: Surprisingly, most of the Olympic budget was to build vital infrastructure that was badly needed. And speaking of bankruptcy, I wonder just how London will fund the 2012 Olympics.

[Adrian II]

Also, please shut up about Tibet.

Thank heavens your trained monkeys have no say in this forum and I can bloody well speak as I want to. And thank heavens no one in the free world is impressed by the displays of suffocating obedience and mass kow-towing and drilling surrounding these games. Whenever such regimes try to convey an image of hospitality and national harmony to the world, they make utter fools of themselves and that of China is no exception.

[DemonArchangel]

Thank heavens your trained monkeys have no say in this forum and I can bloody well speak as I want to. And thank heavens no one in the free world is impressed by the displays of suffocating obedience and mass kow-towing and drilling surrounding these games. Whenever such regimes try to convey an image of hospitality and national harmony to the world, they make utter fools of themselves and that of China is no exception.

No, you can think what you want about Tibet. Just stop talking about it. That's the only thing that comes to the lips of every sinophobe ever. China has tons and tons and tons and tons and tons and tons of problems you can focus on. Tibet isn't one of them.

[Devastatin Dave]

Also, please shut up about Tibet.

Don't tell him to shutup. He doesn't reside in some oppressed provense where the iron fist of your folks beloved party controls the masses. Did the Chinese government have to teach you how to smile before you came over to the US? That's hillarious that they actually had to tell their own people to smile for this event. What a place to live that you have to have the government tell you when its alright to smile. Sounds like a great place to live to me!!! One more thing, I guess those little chinese girls on the gymnastic team should really be smiling since they didn't get slaughtered by their parents for the hopes of having a boy, or that they havn't been shot or killed for saying anything bad about your parents party. I bet their also happy they got the gold, I shudder to think what will happen to any Chinese athlete that doesn't place in their repective events. You and your government's a joke and I'll say it till I'm blue in the face because, I CAN without having to worry about a bunch of brain washed commie goons coming to kill me or my family for just being a human being with his own beliefs, not some done in a colony of homocidal bees.

[Banquo's Ghost]

EDIT: Re-opened. Please continue in a civil manner.

[JR-]

whoa, china shot up the gold rankings since i last checked, leaving the US in the dust!

Please use the designated protest zones for unfurling flags about Tibet. Also, please shut up about Tibet.

these people requested use of the dedicated protest zones and got sentenced to a year's ‘re-education through labour':
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/peter_f...ser_in_beijing