If the Olympics were in Israel — and note that I do say if, for obvious reasons, how would the media react?  Since Israel is considered an important strategic ally of the United States, I would not hesitate to say that the representation of different events would be much more positive.  Below, I’ve given a few examples, intended as satire and for entertainment purposes only, to illustrate how the a portion of the media might portray some of the so-called scandals thus far.

China: “Chinese government officials went through desperate measures and deliberately altered and falsefied the video of the fireworks in the opening ceremonies, misleading millions of unaware viewers across the world.”

Israel: “Israel’s computer engineers, graphic designers, and other artistic technicians were able to use advanced technology to re-create the impressive fireworks display during the Opening Ceremonies, thus allowing the world to partake in enjoying another aspect of Israeli creative ingenuity in the field of CGI technology. Dedicated experts used advanced CGI techniques to re-enhance the original footage, for a spectacular end product.”

China: “Communist Chinese officials stripped a young girl of the opportunity to sing, while forcing another to lip-sync to enhance the government’s reputation.”

Israel: “Israeli organizers decided to allow a more creative and artistic interpretation of last night’s singing of ‘Hava Nagila’. In a last minute decision, a compromise was reached by the Olympic Organizing Committee, which allowed Deborah Goldstein to stand in for the voice of Ilana Silverberg. Many news agencies around the world are praising this change, as it allowed both girls to be recognized for their immense talent.”

China: “Children were forced to dress in native minority costumes to legitimize China’s brutal repression in Tibet”

Israel: “Israel made further steps toward promoting world peace by featuring Orthodox Christians and Muslims in their opening performance. Actor Henry Rosenthal, who portrayed a Palestinian said, ‘This is a great opportunity to tell the world that there are no human rights problems in Israel.’ Commentators noted that authentic Orthodox Christians and Muslims could not be secured for the performance due to concerns over terrorism.

China: “Stands were filled with fake spectators because of the effectiveness of human rights activists to boycott the Games”

Israel: “The Bureau of Sports and Recreation, which helped the Israeli Government organize the Olympic Games, generously donated thousands of tickets to local Israeli Jews, including the children of Holocaust survivors, to allow them to come and glimpse a portion of one of the world’s greatest sporting events. Original ticket holders, unfortunately, could not attend because of the threat of Islamic terrorism, which the Israeli government is attempting to deal with.”

China: “China brutally cracked down on pro-democracy activists in Tiananmen square just hours before the Olympic Games, and threw out native Chinese activists in an effort to suppress dissent.”

Israel: “Israeli security forces peacefully removed potential terrorists waving Palestinian flags from the Olympic Complex. Also, because of security concerns, some anti-Israeli reactionary elements, including the so-called “Palestinians” were evacuated and strategically re-deployed to England and the United States for the duration of the games.  This move was made for their own safety.  Free speech will still be allowed, in designated “Public security zones” during the games, however, as long as it conforms with Israeli Law.

China: “Chinese government officials forged passports and issued them to underage children to illicitly gain more gold medals in the Olympic Games”

Israel: “Israel’s top sporting agency, in conjunction with the Israeli government, recently provided clear, updated, and unmistakable evidence that their gymnasts are not underaged.  Uriel Pollack, a representative of the sporting agency in Israel urged viewers of the Olympics that this was not an issue.  Abraham Foxman has also supported the Israel gymnasts, saying that further questioning of the Israeli competitor’s ages would constitute anti-semitism.”

The Games of the XXIX Olympiad opened in Beijing yesterday.  The ceremonies were attended by over eighty dignitaries and royalty from around the world, including George W. Bush, Kevin Rudd, and King Juan Carlos of Spain. Over 11,000 competitors are to compete in over 200 events.  The Opening Ceremony, directed by Zhang Yimou, consisted of cultural performances as well as the traditional raising of the Olympic Flag and lighting of the Olympic Flame.  Performers included Liu Huan, Sarah Brightman, and pianist Lang Lang.  Neighboring Nepal gave the Opening ceremonies a good review, according to an Indian newspaper, The Hindu.  The Nepali official newspaper The Rising Nepal in an editorial Sunday hailed the success of the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, calling it a “big triumph” not only for China but also for its friendly neighbors.  The Vancouver Sun stated, ” China produced a show that blended modern technology and ancient arts to dazzle, intrigue, delight and astound” [1]. 

 Despite the threats of protests and a boycott, the Olympic stadium, dubbed the ‘Bird’s Nest’ for its unique appearance, was filled to capacity.

A few visitors have asked me if I would do a short segment on the Beijing Olympics, and I am responding to that request.  Remember, if you’d like to suggest a topic to appear on this blog, simply send an e-mail at lin.dewei1@gmail.com with your name, city of residence, age, and desired topic, and I or the managers of this blog will attempt to write an article.

With the Games of the XXIX Olympiad to be held in Beijing just a month away, groups such as Students for a Free Tibet and Amnesty International are still calling for a boycott of the games.  Nearly every aspect of the games has come under intense criticism from ‘activist’ groups.  As early as 2005, Students for a Free Tibet had proposed a boycott of the Olympics games.  More recently, others have been concerned with the ‘involvement’ of the Chinese in Darfur; still other human rights groups in the West have drawn comparison between the 1936 Olympics in Germany and this year’s event.  The London Times has even run an article criticizing the hiring of Albert Speer, Jr., as an architect for the Olympic Complex.

To complicate matters worse, the March riots in Tibet once again thrust China into the spotlight and exposed some of the problems, both real imagined in the TAR.  Former Socialist Party member, and current Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner was the first in the said country to openly call for a boycott, with Sarkozy following shortly after.  Likewise, in the United States, the well-timed riots gave more grievance to the Free-Tibet crowd and, combined with what seems to be biased media coverage of the riots, was enough to nudge many people in favour of an boycott.  Celebrities have also been quick to voice their opinions, from Mia Farrow to Steven Spielberg.  And who can forget Sharon Stone’s infamous “karma” comment in the wake of the Sichuan Earthquake?

The Chinese government has been rather vocal on the matter of not politicizing the Olympics, and this seems to be a key point.  One should ask if the left-liberals who so adamantly oppose the Olympics in China would be opposed to holding the Olympic games in Venezuela, a country, which like China is also communist and has documented cases of human rights abuses.  To rebut the accusation that they are politicising the Olympics, the left-liberals have claimed that “the Olympics have always been political”.  If this is true, then what distinguishes these Olympics from any other “political” Olympics?  If anything, it shows the incompetence and double-standards of liberals when dealing with political issues.

In reality, though, we must ask ourselves what an Olympic Boycott might accomplish.  The US boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow did nothing to stop the Soviets from invading Afganistan, for example.  Likewise, there is no real indication that a boycott of the Chinese Olympics will do anything to help ethnic Tibetans or dissidents within China.  Instead, a boycott could worsen the conditions for the very people the pro-democracy evangelists are attempting to help.

There must be at least a few people who realize this.  However, I suspect that there are people with an ulterior motive, that ulterior motive being to embarass or humiliate China.  For months now, a few activist groups have been discussing amongst themselves how best to sneak into Beijing and stage a protest.  The drive to humiliate China has also been quite evident in the liberal-biased Western media.  For example, a few media outlets were quick to cherry-pick discriminatory comments towards Tibetans on Chinese forums, but made no mention about far more copious anti-Chinese comments on phayul.com (although most of them by Westerners who support the Tibetan cause), a website dedicated to Tibetan independence.

What we must ultimately realize, is that if everything is political, then nothing is.  And while we may have our political disagreements, the Olympics is a chance for all people to put aside those agreements.  Is it then too much to ask for a peaceful Olympics?