09:00 am
Hu’s Lying Now?
That wacky, wacky Hu Juntao — he’s such a kidder! Via the BBC:
With one week to go to the Beijing Olympics, Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged people not to politicise the Games…. Mr. Hu said politicising the event undermined the Olympic movement, and called for dialogue to resolve contentious issues.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. As my 20-month-old daughter would say, “So funny.”
Contrary to the myth propagated by the IOC (and NBC), the Olympics aren’t about bringing the world together; they’re about nations competing, often viciously, to demonstrate their superiority. And this year, no one is doing that more loudly or frequently than the ChiComs.
Much as Berlin 1936 was about demonstrating Germany’s reemergence as a major player on the world scene, Beijing 2008 is about showing China’s dynamism and power. That is why the ChiComs basically tore down the entire freaking city and rebuilt it from scratch. Albert Speer, white courtesy phone please.
In fairness to the Chinese, no recent Olympics host has avoided the temptation to use the Games to show off. The United States was just as bad in Atlanta and Los Angeles, the Soviets were almost as over the top in Moscow, the South Koreans had their moments in Seoul, and the Brits will represent more of the same in four years. Even the Greeks managed to be loud, proud, and jingoistic in 2004. After all, that’s the whole point: countries fight so hard to host one of these quadrennial monstrosities posing as spectacular sporting events so they can act like the diplomatic equivalent of alpha males.
The only exception I can think of are the Aussies in 2000. They were having far too much fun to be overtly nationalistic. Occasionally obnoxious, sure, but that was just the alcohol talking.
That said, when Molly and I visited Melbourne during the 2006 Commonwealth games, we were treated to a roomful of our well-lubricated friends cheerfully shouting “Aussie Aussie Oi Oi!” over and over and over again as their countrymen and -women swept the swimming medals. So perhaps even the residents of Oz are not immune to nationalism’s siren call.
Photo credits:
- Beijing National Stadium: via darajan, using a Creative Commons license.
- Berlin Olympic Stadium: via Olympiastadium Berlin, public domain.