Saturday, August 16, 2008

China Olympics A Sham

From Aimee Cirucci writing at ToTheCenter.com:
“Made in China” has never spelled value to me, especially in light of last year’s lead toy fiasco, which proved products from China may not only be cheap but downright dangerous.
Sadly, this year’s Summer Olympic Games are also made in China and the recent scandals, cover-ups and egregious fraud prove that Beijing 2008 is no more trustworthy than the latest Mattel toy. Even before the Olympics began, news came of the horrors of China’s breakneck construction. By all reports, unskilled workers were paid meager sums to risk their lives building the often-photographed Bird’s Nest and other venues in the frenzied run-up to the games. When workers were killed on the job, often plummeting to their deaths, a systematic cover-up ensued: Bodies were quickly removed, and families paid for their silence. No detail was overlooked in the sham of presenting a unified, happy, near-perfect China.
Concerns about the country’s air quality, additional earthquakes, and an overgrowth of algae were quickly squelched in the lead-up to the games, but concerns about human rights have been tougher to push under the rug.As the Olympics began, even more stories broke of the digitized fireworks in the opening ceremony, the questionable ages of China’s gold medal winning women gymnasts and most recently, the admission that the little girl meant to “be flawless in vision” singing China’s national anthem was in fact not singing at all.
These Olympics are as much a farce as the statement said to come from the actual 7-year-old singer, the one the communist regime dubbed buck toothed and unfit, who was reportedly “honored” to have had a role in the opening ceremony. If you believe that, I have a piece of oceanfront property in Arizona for you.
While Matt and Meredith teach lessons on how to use chopsticks and participate in moon festivals, an oppressive communist machine controls every aspect of this year’s Olympics. In truth, the problems one may face in modern day China are far more serious than chopstick etiquette. Dissenting voices are relentlessly silenced; the Internet and media fiercely controlled, and propaganda run amuck. Most concerning of all, as China’s fraud is exposed again and again, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) continues to defend its host nation and refuses to investigate any of the recent criticisms. No one summed it up better than USA Today’s Christine Brennan who wrote, “The last amateurs left in the Olympic world are the people running it.”

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great article. The Chinese have been trying to portray a certain image to the public, however, their tactics are counterproductive to the skeptical world of Web 2.0. Here is an interesting article written by a Public Relations writer about this issue.. http://www.prwriterextraordinaire.com/blog.html