China is the shit (olympics thread)

[Izor]

I use to be a hippy

used*

and LOL at irony

[Epinephrine]

roflz



It was a neatly-tied facade to try and dupe the world into viewing China differently, they can spend as much money as they want on fireworks but it won't change the fact that they need to change, not our perceptions of them.

Bio - Abusing people to make your countries opening and closing ceremonies look visually stimulating is nothing to boast about. Like other people have said, anyone with the money and lack of labor laws in place could have pulled this off.

The thing is, China IS changing. There's been a lot of China bashing everywhere I've looked at and it's kind of sickening. I mean honestly, the country is insurmountably better than it was 30 years ago when tens of millions were forcibly moved to forced-labour camps during the cultural revolution.

A country of a billion people cannot change THAT fast, but China is surely changing at a breakneck pace. Unless you've actually been to the country and lived in the country, you honestly cannot appreciate how open and free the country is these days. Basically every person I've seen who has experience with the country in the past has admitted as much, western journalists included (i.e. Darfur and tibet critic Nicholas Kristof of the NYTimes)

Of course there is still going to be some repression and authoritarianism, but it is MUCH less than it was and is increasingly getting better. The majority of the Western media is extremely biased in their reporting of such facts.

Those people who went to China to protest knew EXACTLY what they were getting into, and I have no sympathy for that. It's as smart as going to Russia and putting up anti-Putin signs and hoping you'll get away with it unscathed, or spitting gum at people in Singapore and not getting caned.

And finally, I don't think that any other country in the entire world could have pulled off what China did with the Olympics. No other country in the world has that kind of money to spend (for instance in the USA people would be protesting the use of tax dollars quite quickly, and China itself doesn't have 'unlimited money'). No other country in the world could have mobilized 500,000-1,000,000 volunteers (yes volunteers mostly university students, not forced labour) for the olympics like China did and run such a technically perfectly smooth operation.

Are there future challenges for the country? Yes, but was it a good idea to give it to them and did China do a good job with it considering their constraints? Absolutely.

[Squeezer]

Except for the whole displacing more people to build all of their Olympic monuments and stadiums as well as polluting the Earth on a scale unseen before. Oh and their support of the genocide in Darfur and their constant veto to allow UN peace keepers into the conflict.

There's plenty more but I need to go soon since the Hawks are on MNF. China can go fuck themselves for all I care.

edit: And where are you getting this volunteer thing from? Those stadiums were built on the backs of poor Chinese workers. Most weren't paid and there are multiple articles out there detailing the terrible conditions surrounding ALL Chinese workers.

[Galleleo]

I know that the people who helped (as some didn't really do much) during the games were volunteers. For instance there where a lot of people in Beijing who were simply there to show foreigners around in the city, there was a piece on it on Dutch television (there is this Dutch lady who lives there who made a lot of tv bits) and A LOT of people volunteered to help during the Olympics (I am not talking about the building phase.

[Cops]

The thing is, China IS changing. There's been a lot of China bashing everywhere I've looked at and it's kind of sickening. I mean honestly, the country is insurmountably better than it was 30 years ago when tens of millions were forcibly moved to forced-labour camps during the cultural revolution.

A country of a billion people cannot change THAT fast, but China is surely changing at a breakneck pace. Unless you've actually been to the country and lived in the country, you honestly cannot appreciate how open and free the country is these days. Basically every person I've seen who has experience with the country in the past has admitted as much, western journalists included (i.e. Darfur and tibet critic Nicholas Kristof of the NYTimes)

Of course there is still going to be some repression and authoritarianism, but it is MUCH less than it was and is increasingly getting better. The majority of the Western media is extremely biased in their reporting of such facts.

Those people who went to China to protest knew EXACTLY what they were getting into, and I have no sympathy for that. It's as smart as going to Russia and putting up anti-Putin signs and hoping you'll get away with it unscathed, or spitting gum at people in Singapore and not getting caned.

And finally, I don't think that any other country in the entire world could have pulled off what China did with the Olympics. No other country in the world has that kind of money to spend (for instance in the USA people would be protesting the use of tax dollars quite quickly, and China itself doesn't have 'unlimited money'). No other country in the world could have mobilized 500,000-1,000,000 volunteers (yes volunteers mostly university students, not forced labour) for the olympics like China did and run such a technically perfectly smooth operation.

Are there future challenges for the country? Yes, but was it a good idea to give it to them and did China do a good job with it considering their constraints? Absolutely.

China has changed, maybe not dramatically in the areas in which it's crucial for them to change but I'm not disputing the fact that China today is much better than it was thirty years ago. At this point it would be jumping the gun by congratulating China. I don't think they've made significant amounts of change to be praised. Economically they've pulled their country out of the gutter, socially they keep them in there.

For the record it was an awful idea to give China the Olympics, they are an awful country to represent internationalism. Like I said before our perceptions of them don't need to change, they need to change.

China can go fuck themselves for all I care.

[Kim]

I'd just like to say that China did a great job with their opening and closing presentations, and it was sheer joy to experience such a massive collaboration of people creating visual effects never before seen in the history of the Olympics. The government made some important decisions in order to make Beijing more accomodating to visitors and athletes from around the world to enjoy the events to the fullest, and I think they've paid off in the end.

[Fidel Castro]

London is going to look noob.

[AnidaLife]

China has changed, maybe not dramatically in the areas in which it's crucial for them to change but I'm not disputing the fact that China today is much better than it was thirty years ago. At this point it would be jumping the gun by congratulating China. I don't think they've made significant amounts of change to be praised. Economically they've pulled their country out of the gutter, socially they keep them in there.

For the record it was an awful idea to give China the Olympics, they are an awful country to represent internationalism. Like I said before our perceptions of them don't need to change, they need to change.

I don't think you realize how significantly China has changed in the past 30 years, both socially and economically. Saying nothing drastic has changed without going into any specifics makes me believe you've never been to/lived in China, and is only basing this on a few random opinions of other bashers. If you have lived in China, then you're just being ignorant. And it is definitely the other way around. Your perceptions need to change, because China has already changed.

[Witness]

I'd just like to say that China did a great job with their opening and closing presentations, and it was sheer joy to experience such a massive collaboration of people creating visual effects never before seen in the history of the Olympics. The government made some important decisions in order to make Beijing more accomodating to visitors and athletes from around the world to enjoy the events to the fullest, and I think they've paid off in the end.

Heh sorry,If you were in china, it wouldn't have looked like that.
http://conservativepulse.com/home/20...pic-fireworks/

[Kim]

Heh sorry,If you were in china, it wouldn't have looked like that.
http://conservativepulse.com/home/20...pic-fireworks/

...and that blogger has no biases whatsoever.

All the video editing limits to is a touch-up job onto the footprint fireworks in order to make the shapes more distinctive. No other fireworks were found to be fake.

[TagMor]

It is sad that people praise the show without any consideration for how it was accomplished..
There are reports that as many as 88 people died during construction of the Bird's Nest.
The people involved with the synchronised "dancing" for the opening ceremony practiced everyday for 5 years in brutal conditions... I think that show was more about control and oppression than anything else.
The chinese women that led the athletes out, and the "cheerleaders" had to strip naked infront of recruiters.
The 900 people who unwrapped the scroll had to stay hidden under the stadium for up to 7 hours, wearing nappies becuase they were not allowed toilet breaks.

And, apart from the 88 dead people, these are all things revealed by the state-controlled media...

[Cops]

I don't think you realize how significantly China has changed in the past 30 years, both socially and economically. Saying nothing drastic has changed without going into any specifics makes me believe you've never been to/lived in China, and is only basing this on a few random opinions of other bashers. If you have lived in China, then you're just being ignorant. And it is definitely the other way around. Your perceptions need to change, because China has already changed.

The country still rules with an iron fist, it has and continues to abuse it's own people. China's foreign policy is disastrous to making headway in the world, China has been nothing but a crutch in our balls. China has and remains the opposition of reason, a lot of good could be done in this world if Russia and China weren't on the Security Council.

China hasn't made significant amount changed, the key word is significant. If you're so blinded by a few fireworks then that's your problem. People with any sort of intelligence and logic know that China nationally and internationally is a fucking joke.

[Epinephrine]

The country still rules with an iron fist, it has and continues to abuse it's own people. China's foreign policy is disastrous to making headway in the world, China has been nothing but a crutch in our balls. China has and remains the opposition of reason, a lot of good could be done in this world if Russia and China weren't on the Security Council.

China hasn't made significant amount changed, the key word is significant. If you're so blinded by a few fireworks then that's your problem. People with any sort of intelligence and logic know that China nationally and internationally is a fucking joke.

You obviously know absolutely nothing about the country aside from the articles of the extremely biased western media. If you have actually been to the country, you'd realize how completely wrong your preconceptions actually are. Although I had a much more positive view of the place before I visited last year, I was completely blown away by how completely wrong I was in what I thought of the country and how far it had already advanced. Considering 30 years ago, people were not allowed to move away from their homes, were forced into collective farming communes, millions were carted away never to be seen again in forced labour camps, and contact with the rest of the world was strictly forbidden for all but an elite few, China has changed VERY VERY significantly from before. You would have to be completely blind to think otherwise.

As for China's foreign policy, their policy officially is let countries do what they want to do in their own borders. This is a different view of the world then the west's 'let's only help certain causes that have the media spotlight but not give a shit about other causes' policy, but not necessarily any worse. For every darfur that China doesn't care to be involved in, there's an Iraq that isn't invaded with tens of thousands dead.

[Troll King]

One thing to keep in mind is that China has always been very isolationist. That's why it's such a big deal that these Olympics are billed as China's big splash on the world scene.

[Vykromond]

China has and remains the opposition of reason, a lot of good could be done in this world if Russia and China weren't on the Security Council.

A lot of good could have been done in the world if Russia and China had stopped the war in Iraq before it started.

as polluting the Earth on a scale unseen before.

Oh don't worry, the Earth has seen this scale of pollution before. Guess who it was.