I’m getting rather steamed up about the complete silence by the perky staff on the Today Show about the fact that China is an authoritarian government that has a spotty record on human rights and lacks free elections and a free press. Instead, we getting dreamy montages of the Chinese culture and loving descriptions of the Bird Nest stadium. All that is fine. But right after they show a reporter wolfing down roasted bugs in the markets of Beijing, they should also mention that China has denied visas to athletes who have dared protest China’s position on Darfur.
I have been thinking about that too, although I can’t say I’m really steamed. Yet. I don’t want NBC to get kicked out of China and I don’t want politics with my Olympics anyway but I do hope that when the Games are over NBC will do the right thing and tell the other side of the story.
Via Megan McArdle and Instapundit
August 20th, 2008 - 7:01 am
I haven’t really said anything about this, out of fear of being branded a curmudgeon, but I’ve found it really hard to feel right about the Olympics being in China given their human rights record (and their environmental record). And their manufacturing/labor record. (I try not to buy anything that’s made in China, but it can be difficult to avoid).
The fact that I’m really not that interested in sport on television makes it easy for me not to watch them, though.