I gather that the Olympics are underway, although I think NBC is showing everything on about a 10 hour delay here, so that kind of sucks. Considering about all I do in life these days is change diapers and check sports news on the internet, I may have to modify my behavior if I want the TV coverage to be suspenseful at all.
The air quality in Beijing, by most accounts is still awful despite the Chinese government's great plans such as seeding clouds, taking millions of cars off the road, closing factories, and ordering 250 million citizens to stop breathing. One of the Washington papers, I think The Post, but I don't remember for sure, has a correspondent in Beijing who is a semi-serious runner. He runs a few miles every morning in Beijing and reports on how he feels, and it sounds pretty terrible. He says he gets more tired, dizzy, and much thirstier than running on a humid, summer day in DC. The thirst thing really confuses me--how filthy must the air be?
So probably a good move by the organizers to have indoor events first. Swimming, gymnastics, that stuff. Although I have to say, if the air makes you thirsty, I wonder what the water in the pool does. There's probably a good chance that the swimmers will come out glowing.
In all seriousness though, I hadn't really thought too much about the global political implications of China hosting the Olympics until this week. Some people have gone so far as to compare these games to Hitler's 1936 games in Berlin. Well, China isn't invading anyone, you might say. No, but neither was Germany in 1936. Just as Hitler did, China brutally suppresses politic, religious and social freedoms.
In 1936 Hitler was just a crazy nationalist in the eyes of the US, restoring Germany to it's pre-1918 glory. The US didn't care too much, because they had such a vested interest in the success of the German economy. Reparations could be paid, American goods could be purchased, all good stuff. Of course, a few short years later, the US was defending Europe from Hitler's advances, the Holocaust was exposed, and the image of American athletes showing Hitler the Nazi salute wasn't a happy memory.
That's not to say that China will become aggressively expansionist. However, given the US's vested economic interest in China's growth and success, and thus it's willingness to turn a blind eye to the brutality of the state, the parallels are undeniable. You can make the argument that China has worse human rights than a couple of places in which the US is currently militarily involved. But Iraq didn't produce millions of tons of cheap stuff for Americans to buy at Wal-Mart.
Anyway, my goal isn't to go on an anti-Chinese rant. Neither is it to criticize George W. Bush for making the Beijing opening ceremony the first non-American-hosted Olympics to be attended by a sitting American president (it's not like he has anything better to be doing, and at least this way he isn't fucking anything up at home). Simply, I hope everyone reflects on the message that China is receiving--keep on doing what you're doing, it's great. And after reflecting, is that the right message?
