[Sleuth]

Originally Posted by goleoboy

why is awarding the olympics to china pure politics again? sorry I haven't been caught up to speed on that scandal...

If you were going to list places to hold gruelling athletic contests in the summer, would Beijing instantly spring to mind? Would it even make the top 25? Never mind the pollution, but the weather is awful. China is more of a winter Olympic country, except you wouldn't have those in Beijing.
And no, China isn't in Darfur except in the sense that they aren't helping matters there. And China doesn't have to invade Tibet, having already done that.
The fact that China has had a terrible history doesn't necessarily absolve it of today's sins. That line of reasoning could be used to justify all sorts of actions in almost every country on Earth.
I am not sure how nuclear weaponry enters the Olympic debate, but I will give it a go. The US has slashed its weapon stockpile over the years, but it would make no sense to give it up entirely. The genie is out of the bottle and has been for 60years so you can't put him back in. Best you can do is try to limit his spread. The fewer countries with them, the better. China perhaps not so bad, but Pakistan and Iran (plus the rest of the mid-east once Iran declares) seems to be a rather shaky bet on survival of a region.

[Gatts]

Originally Posted by goleoboy

... and as for China "in" Tibet... isn't Tibet part of China? It's like saying the United States is "in" Nevada... Is Tibet a country that China is brutally taking over?

Yes...native Tibetans are being brutally treated to this day. Please read up a bit on the situation there.

[sylvesterjay]

What the hell did China expect was going to happen when they bid for the Olympics? That the intense international media scrutiny given to any host country would simply kowtow and tow the "party" line in China?

How utterly naive. They wanted the olympics, now they can suffer the spotlight.

[hullexile]

Originally Posted by Sleuth

If you were going to list places to hold gruelling athletic contests in the summer, would Beijing instantly spring to mind? Would it even make the top 25? Never mind the pollution, but the weather is awful. .

On those grounds then Athens 2004 wasn't a great choice either.

[Sleuth]

Originally Posted by hullexile

On those grounds then Athens 2004 wasn't a great choice either.

Correct. Except that Athens is Athens, the birthplace of the Olympics and Beijing isn't. So Athens gets grandfathered.
And I am not saying that this is the only politically motivated Olympic city either. They are probably mostly political.
But, like sylvesterjay said, if you are going to make a political pitch to host these things so you can show off to the world, you are going to get the media scrutiny. Which will include--for better or for worse-some Hollywood "holier than thou" types mouthing off about whatever they feel like mouthing off about.
Imagine if this was going to be in the USA now--you have Bush, global warming and Bush and Iraq/Guantanamo and Bush, etc....

[goleoboy]

i guess it comes with the territory... scrutiny for those in the limelight... i agree on the pollution issue tho, it's directly affectly the performance / health of not only the athletes but the visitors etc... that's also the price you pay when you become 'the world's factory'... along with higher incidences of tainted products...

[goleoboy]

Originally Posted by Sleuth

Imagine if this was going to be in the USA now--you have Bush, global warming and Bush and Iraq/Guantanamo and Bush, etc....

heheh.. so much 'bush' so little time... sounds like a posting on the penthouse forum...

[jimbob70]

Originally Posted by Gatts

Yes...native Tibetans are being brutally treated to this day. Please read up a bit on the situation there.

Penn and Teller has an interesting take on the Dalai Lama and Tibet...
as usual things are never that clear cut

YouTube - Penn & Teller - Bullshit - Holier Than...

[Mat]

the Spielberg controversy is plain bullshit....

China is far from being a "perfect" country but the olympics are about Sports (and money) not about politics...

Otherwise following that logic, the US should never have hosted the games (Death Penalty still on, Vietnam war...), France, Germany, UK also (2nd world war)....Maybe only Liechtenshtein in this case could apply to host the games....

Just cos Beijing isn't helping in Darfur doesn't mean we should boycott the games...

The West is using the press as a propagnada tool just as Beijing is using it the other way round...

There is a growing fear in the West that China (and India somehow) are economically catching up and using the games to bash the political regime is to say the least "below the belt" strategy (the same apply for the US/UE talks to reevaluate the Yuan..) ....

That China should clean up its act in terms of Human Right is a fact (so does the US and the european nations who depsite big talks are far from "clean") and even if the Olympics will not totally change the country it will somehow force the country to evolve (because of the huge press coverage and the secptisim surrounding the regim)

Now if Spielberg wants to go back to the US, fine by me....as said previously, nobody forced him to take on the job and if he thought that because he made Jurassic Park he could dictate the Chinese Communist Party how to handle the country he obviously made a huge huge mistake....and knew squatt about China....

Now if he really wants to do something he better go back to the US and try to stop the "global circus" that the democrate and republican nomination election is.

[Sleuth]

Originally Posted by goleoboy

heheh.. so much 'bush' so little time... sounds like a posting on the penthouse forum...

That's because Bush caused porno.

And Mat, the Olympics are always about politics. Boycotts, medal counts, who wins what when are all turned into statements about the superiority and inferiority of the countries involved. Germany in the 1930s, anyone?
The fact that it is sport is secondary and an unfortunate offshoot from the Greeks having used sports in their Olympics.
But agree with the money comment.