The Olympic fever is on and the Chinese have put up a spectacular show. Whether it’s the amazing infrastructure they setup, the flawless execution and organisation, the hospitality of the locals, the sporting crowds, or the spectacular performance of its athletes blowing away the opposition, they have been impressive. Any which way you look at it they have done a brilliant job and I admire them for that. I think it truly deserves applause no matter your viewpoint on the Chinese political and human right situation.
However, it seems that nothing Chinese achieve is going to be good enough for the ‘West’. I have news feed from different sources across the world just so that I get different perspectives on complicated issues around the world. Views from the western media on Olympics have been particularly intriguing. Before the Olympics started there was furore over Chinese human rights record and the Tibet issue. Western media blew the Chinese apart conveniently forgetting parallels such as NATO occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq, Guntameno Bay, attacks on minorities and migrants in US, ruthless detention on illegal immigrants etc. Then there was huge outcry about polluted Beijing and China’s irresponsibility when it comes to climate change. China accounts for 13% world’s Carbon dioxide emissions with 1.3 Billion citizens while US accounts for 25% of world’s emission with 300 million citizens. Add to that it is the only developed country not to have ratified the Kyoto protocol. Ah… and there was the opening ceremony where the Chinese had the girl lip sync to the song sung by another girl, presumably because of physical appearance. I agree that is very prejudist but aren’t these values transported out of the west where ‘fashion industry’, big labels, reality beauty shows and ‘who wants to be a supermodel’ rule? What about the controversy of the underage gymnast in the Chinese team. To my knowledge Gymnastics is the only Olympic sport where the age limit applies. I guess the objective is to prevent children being pushed into the sport and being exploited. Then why does it not apply to other sports such as swimming where Australia is happy to push 15 and 16 years into Olympic competitions. Also how can one claim these girls are underage, just by appearance? It’s very apparent to anyone with some understanding of Asians that due to their culture and physical attributes they look lot younger than westerners. Having said that, they could still very well be underage and the Chinese may have cheated but to assume this and pass judgement is plain ignorant and prejudist.
The ‘west’ has time and again raised the issue of ‘freedom of press’ in China and Russia. They say it is the only way to ensure unbiased reporting of events. Well! If you look at the past 5 years of American journalism or even at the events currently unfolding in Georgia I would have serious doubts about this claim.
Coming back to the Olympics, so why is there such a huge outcry against the Chinese? Is the ‘West’ jealous that someone has challenged their long standing dominance or are the Chinese just oppressive, dictatorial, cheats and child abusers? You decide!!
One person I am sure the Chinese are grateful for is ‘Phelps’. Thanks to his extraordinary performance American press has finally something good and relevant to talk about.
Disclaimer: I have not run any fact check on this, neither do I claim to have an unbiased opinion on the issue. I have just attempted to put forth my thoughts on what appears to me as a very hypocritical stance whose underlying motivation is not very clear to me.
However, it seems that nothing Chinese achieve is going to be good enough for the ‘West’. I have news feed from different sources across the world just so that I get different perspectives on complicated issues around the world. Views from the western media on Olympics have been particularly intriguing. Before the Olympics started there was furore over Chinese human rights record and the Tibet issue. Western media blew the Chinese apart conveniently forgetting parallels such as NATO occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq, Guntameno Bay, attacks on minorities and migrants in US, ruthless detention on illegal immigrants etc. Then there was huge outcry about polluted Beijing and China’s irresponsibility when it comes to climate change. China accounts for 13% world’s Carbon dioxide emissions with 1.3 Billion citizens while US accounts for 25% of world’s emission with 300 million citizens. Add to that it is the only developed country not to have ratified the Kyoto protocol. Ah… and there was the opening ceremony where the Chinese had the girl lip sync to the song sung by another girl, presumably because of physical appearance. I agree that is very prejudist but aren’t these values transported out of the west where ‘fashion industry’, big labels, reality beauty shows and ‘who wants to be a supermodel’ rule? What about the controversy of the underage gymnast in the Chinese team. To my knowledge Gymnastics is the only Olympic sport where the age limit applies. I guess the objective is to prevent children being pushed into the sport and being exploited. Then why does it not apply to other sports such as swimming where Australia is happy to push 15 and 16 years into Olympic competitions. Also how can one claim these girls are underage, just by appearance? It’s very apparent to anyone with some understanding of Asians that due to their culture and physical attributes they look lot younger than westerners. Having said that, they could still very well be underage and the Chinese may have cheated but to assume this and pass judgement is plain ignorant and prejudist.
The ‘west’ has time and again raised the issue of ‘freedom of press’ in China and Russia. They say it is the only way to ensure unbiased reporting of events. Well! If you look at the past 5 years of American journalism or even at the events currently unfolding in Georgia I would have serious doubts about this claim.
Coming back to the Olympics, so why is there such a huge outcry against the Chinese? Is the ‘West’ jealous that someone has challenged their long standing dominance or are the Chinese just oppressive, dictatorial, cheats and child abusers? You decide!!
One person I am sure the Chinese are grateful for is ‘Phelps’. Thanks to his extraordinary performance American press has finally something good and relevant to talk about.
Disclaimer: I have not run any fact check on this, neither do I claim to have an unbiased opinion on the issue. I have just attempted to put forth my thoughts on what appears to me as a very hypocritical stance whose underlying motivation is not very clear to me.
3 Comments:
Anand,
I completely relate to what you are saying and the same thoughts have been running in my mind. I have been reading about the Russia-Georgia conflict and I am not sure if I should believe what is written! The Darfur controversy is another story.
One thing which should be acknowledged is that China has put up a super Olympics show and made it a lot more difficult for London (2012)!
I think you make some very poorly drawn, sweeping assumptions in this post. I live in the US, and I have heard nothing but the most gracious compliments about China's incredible job of hosting the Olympics. In fact, most of what I hear is how they blew Atlanta out of the water (which goes without saying). To address another point- yes, the media has mentioned that the Chinese gymnasts were under investigation by the IOC. I do not recall hearing the media call them "cheats," or attempt to explain why it is unfair for a gymnast to compete at an age deemed unfit by the IOC, but simply describe what was going on. Should they instead ignore it all together? I seem to remember one Justin Gaitlin of the US, who set a world record get lambasted by "Western" media for doping. I am not drawing any parallel between the alleged infractions, just making the point that I do not believe the "West" has it in for the Chinese by covering that story. Perhaps they should instead mention the investigation in passing, and then elaborate why the rule is unfair, because clearly that is the media's job. No?
Fair enough! I have received comments both supporting and contesting what i said. Though I have got more supporting comments than contesting. I must add that I was in Australia during the course of the Olypics an dmost perception are based on what was in Australian media. The remaining were based on stories on online versions of leading dailies from Uk and US. I might be right or wrong but I just call for examination of our point of views
Post a Comment