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China barring Joey Cheek from Olympics

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jimbunny:
The same thing has been happening to a number of people who were going to report on/commentate on the events, though so far not to any participating athletes that I've heard of. And to an incredible number of people who were coming just as spectators. And to a large number who have been in China for a while doing things completely unrelated to the games. They've effectively canceled out all of the boost that Beijing's tourist industry had planned on receiving due to the Olympics; the number of tourists coming this August is now estimated as being barely more than last year. Their entire motivation now is to legitimize Communist rule to their own people by showing to them that the rest of the world accepts them as a world power. Short of drastic action on the part of a large number of countries, they will succeeded at that.

I can understand the IOC's stated reason for giving the games to China - to encourage change. But the world has severely misunderstood the character of the Chinese government and its relationship to its people.

(Also, here's the first link that came up when I Googled "IOC corruption." Pair that with the less-than-pristine reputation that China's government has for corruption, and I think it's obvious that you've got a pretty good match. Spirit of the games!)

RedLion:
A couple years ago, China did the most fucking Orwellian thing a government could do: it said that no one could re-incarnate without its permission. Really.

Presumably, this is in anticipation of the Dalai Lama's death, so they can present their "own" Dalai Lama to the world, one who would obviously be pliant and subservient to the Han Chinese. Humorously, the Dalai Lama has basically now said that the next Dalai Lama after he dies should just be "elected" by the Tibetans in exile.

That's the thing I love about the Dalai Lama (aside from being probably the kindest man on the face of the planet). He just kind of rolls with the punches of whatever is thrown at him. Nothing ever gets to him. He's just always so damn...serene.

jimbunny:

--- Quote ---would obviously be pliant and subservient to the Han Chinese
--- End quote ---

Confusing an ethnicity with a regime...

KharBevNor:

--- Quote from: Johnny C on 06 Aug 2008, 22:41 ---IOlympic Games, which bring in an absurd amount of revenue and tourists

--- End quote ---

Heh, Olympic games don't make money. They don't even bring in tourists. The Greeks lost є7 billion. The Sydney games cost $6.6 billion AUS, and to quote wikipedia:


--- Quote ---It has been estimated that the economic impact of the 2000 Olympics was that $AUS 2.1 billion has been shaved from public consumption. Economic growth was not stimulated to a net benefit and in the years since 2000, foreign tourism to NSW grew by less than tourism to Australia as a whole. A "multiplier" effect on broader economic development is not realised as a simple "multiplier" analysis fails to capture is that resources have to be redirected from elsewhere: the building of a stadium is at the expense of other public works such as extensions to hospitals. Building sporting venues does not add to the aggregate stock of productive capital in the years following the Games: "Equestrian centres, softball compounds and man-made rapids are not particularly useful beyond their immediate function."
--- End quote ---

China is covering a lot of the costs with corporate sponsorship, but they've already had to basically give away large number of tickets in order to prevent there being empty seats in the stadium, and so far the entire thing has been a vast public relations disaster for China, bringing every shitty thing they're doing into lurid detail. They're very unlikely to MAKE money out of this. The best any recent olympics has done is break even (Atlanta).

Which is not to say that I approve at all. In fact, I don't approve of the Olympics at all. It is a phenomenal, pointless waste of money and effort on sports that nobody actually gives a fuck about anyway. I really can't see how anyone could ever justify spending that amount of money on a one-off loss-making jock carnival when there are poor, jobless, ill or hungry people in their own country. The Chinese olympics are more intrinsically horrifying of course, because the chinese are vicious, contemptible fascist thugs, and this whole debacle has been the final proof that the IOC does not actually care two fucking shits about human rights, international co-operation, or really anything except their salaries, the bizarre power they wield and the amount of pate de fois gras and champagne they can stuff down their bloated gullets. I will not be watching the Olympics, and since I throw away the sports supplement of the Guardian whenever I buy it, I doubt I will read anything about it either, unless shit spills over to the real, grown-ups paper. I couldn't even stomach watching something this morally dubious. I might as well just go and thrash the dalai lama on the soles of his feet with an iron bar.

jimbunny:
Stuff along the lines of what I was saying.

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