Blaglash.com

The Beijing Olympic games have come under fire lately.  Not in the way that they’re supposed to, you know, with the torch ablaze with ancient symbolism and all.  People are calling for a boycott.  Which would (I guess) send a message to China.

It seems that the esteemed Olympic flame was extinguished three times in Paris, France.  Here’s what the Chinese government said about the torch ceremony:

“Chinese representatives in Paris had predicted that the torch’s relay would be a “great festival” for the French people and that any protests would come from a “tiny minority”.

LOL for two reasons:  everyone knows that people are pissed off at the Beijing Olympics, but the Chinese government keeps issuing these statements pretending like they don’t know; and people ALL OVER THE WORLD are protesting, not just a “tiny minority” which is another purposeful ignorant stance of the Chinese. 

Here’s what happened:

“Chanting “Free Tibet”, “Shame on the Games” and “Peking assassins”, pro-Tibet activists waved flags, booed and threw eggs at the athletes as they slowly jogged by on the torch’s 18-mile route to the Charlety stadium south of the city.”

Despite the respect I have for the pomp and circumstance of the Olympics, kudos to Paris for hanging a sign outside city hall that said “Paris defends human rights all over the world.”  When the Olympics are used for political purposes, the games suffer.  Choosing China to host the games politicized them, and the existing risk of having a lot of international figures in one place is exacerbated by political leanings. 

I feel bad for the athletes who’ve worked their whole lives in pursuit of the dream that is THE OLYMPICS.  But I’m also mad at whoever decided having the Olympics in China was a good idea- not only is China awash in controversy about Human Rights, but the athletes can barely breathe in certain parts of China where they’ll be competing.  Breathing is important to athletes.  Now that people are raising lots of concern, police are escorting the torch on its travels.

Here’s what a French guy who is in the IOC said:

“Violence for whatever reason is not compatible with the values of the torch relay or the Olympic Games.”  

Maybe picking a country that imprisons activists, executes a high number of prisoners, kills monks, supresses a country’s culture by a forced occupation and blatantly ignores human rights wasn’t such a good idea.