So, yesterday, a great tradition - the one that takes the Olympic Torch to several cities around the world before finishing in the host city, was screwed up by protesters in San Francisco. San Francisco was chosen to represent the USA during the Torch's tour due to its large Asian population. It should have been a great honor for the city, but Pro-Tibet and Pro-China protesters took advantage of the international coverage of the event to cause a stir. In addition, due to the activity of the Pro-Tibet protests around the world, many world leaders, including those in the US, are planning at least a partial boycott of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
It really is a huge shame for the world - kind of tells us a lot about how messed up people can be. The Olympic Games is supposed to be an event where all the countries of the world can have a good time together and compete fairly (despite all the doping!) in athletic events. Instead, at nearly every Olympics in recent memory, there have been some hippie extremists there to try to mess it up for everyone. The Olympics shouldn't be used as a platform for any kind of political disputes. You have the rest of four years to raise your voice about issues that you "care" about, why pick the days when everyone is supposed to get along?
What were these issues that the protesters cared so much about? Let's take a look at them. The Tibet issue, this one really aggravates me. Maybe I'm biased because I'm ethnic Chinese, but I still try to look at all sides of the issue when I can. However, I can't really find myself supporting the Pro-Tibet side very much. What people can't seem to understand is that Tibet has been a part of China for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years, and the Chinese people actually hold the region in quite high regard. Rallying for a free tibet is in a sense like rallying for, say, a free North Carolina! Even the USA was against this kind of secession, as evident in one of the bloodiest wars of all time, the American Civil War, so why should it be so strange that the Chinese government doesn't want to let it go?
Independence and democracy aside, there are other issues I have with the pro-Tibet movement as well. We keep on hearing about how poorly the Tibetans are treated. I fail to see where they are really treated all that much more poorly than anyone else in China. Chinese protestors are usually jailed, despite some movements towards free speech. There has always been a fine line between peaceful protesting and rioting - anywhere you gather hundreds or thousands of people, it is likely that some ruckus will break out! Most importantly, however, is people seem to fail to remember that it was the Tibetans that attacked non-Tibetan ethnic groups that started the Tibetan unrest this year. In fact, Tibet has always been a region rife with terrorism. I won't outright state it as a fact, but I strongly believe that without the Communist government cracking down, there would be more terrorism than there is today. The counter-argument is that the terrorism is an effect of Tibet not being free, but that simply isn't the end-all case. Just as with the terrorism in the Middle East, much of Tibetan terrorism is likely due to just differences in beliefs, or even ethnic differences, and not that much to do with politics at all!
Then there's Darfur. China has recently come under a lot of criticism for their lack of involvement in Darfur. I really can't understand this one. One of the biggest criticisms of the United States that you will hear if you ever spend any time overseas is that the Americans can't seem to mind their own business. Yes, it's unfortunate what is going on in Darfur. But it really has nothing to do with you, me, or China. While the United States claims to be able to afford sending troops and support to war-torn nations, China probably isn't - I'm sure they have a lot of problems of their own that they are more pressed to address at this time, such as their dangerously booming economy and the vast disparity between economic classes. We also should not forget that American citizens were not always so interested in helping foreign peoples. During the Vietnam War, the media kept a count of the number of Americans vs. the number of VCs killed on a daily basis, in an attempt to maintain support of the war. The effect was quite opposite - once the people knew how many people, especially Americans (many of whom they knew) were getting killed, support for the war effort took a sharp turn for the worse, and the United States was thus defeated (yes, we lost that war, I don't care what anyone else says!). The bottom line is, war kills, even if you're just sending help.
So, because of these two issues, many people, some powerful ones at that, want the Olympic Games in Beijing to be a failure, or worse, want the Chinese athletes to perform poorly! Americans tend to think that we are so much better informed than anyone else because of our Headline News and other media outlets, and because of this, they think they know what's best for everyone in the world. But don't think that the U.S. is that much different from any other country - propaganda is still rampant and news reporters are still biased. We might get a few more opinions than other countries do, but U.S. media is anything but objective. And because a few hippie extremists read the headlines about the "treatment" of Tibet and Darfur, the great spirit of the Olympic Games was tainted again - before the games even started. That's not what it should be about. Look at the Friendlies below - aren't they so cute? Together (using a homophonic word twist), their names say "Welcome to Beijing", and they represent the five color Olympic Rings and the various sporting events that the countries participate in. That's what the Olympics should be about. Let's try to keep that in mind!
