Was it a good idea to have China host the Olympics this year? China hoped for the Olympic Games to increase their standing among the developed nations and rise to superpower status, but in most cases, the Games have actually worked against them. China is being criticized for its human rights yet again. So: -Was it a good idea to have China host the games? -What will be some of the effects this will have on China, as well as the world? -Is it really a good idea to criticize China this much just before the Games? -Overall, are the games beneficial or detracting from China's reputation? -Are the protests along the torch relays helpful or harmful to both China and its opponents?
I think China hosting the games was a good idea since it opens them up more to the world and for at least a time they are attempting to pull back on their enviromental harm. Overall i don't think the protests concerning tibet will make any difference since the only thing that has really changed is that the media and vocal groups have decided that the olympics will make people pay more attention to them but after and duringthe olympics everything will die down and the media will just go back to their normal coverage of what is happening in Tibet. The more violent protests have if anything been damaging for the Dalai Lama's reputation especially in mainland China since it has given the Chinese government even more reasons to flood tibet with Han Chinese. The media has also ignored the fact that the last few countries the torch has gone through have been almost completly peaceful since its really just the US and parts of Europe who have voiced much concern. I don't support what China is doing but i doubt the Beijing olympics will change much since its really just everyone jumping on the bandwagon for a couple of months then forgetting all about it. And yes i am aware the focus is not purely on Tibet but the majority of western media merely targets Tibet
I believe letting China host the Olympics was a good idea. The Olympics opens China up to the rest of the world and will let it gain acceptance as time goes on. Letting China host the Olympics is just like letting Japan host the Olympics in the 60s. With this, hopefully life in China will improve as time goes on. It has a lot of potential, it just needs to learn how to keep it under control. Human rights wise...granted, the way they dealt with the Tibetans was far from right; however, it is not a reason to boycott the Olympics or to keep our athletes from competing. It didn't work with the Soviets in the 80s and its definitely would not work this time. It would just be a betrayal to the athletes that have worked hard all their lives for this one shot...for many, the only shot they have. Granted, this option I believe has long been put off the table, but i figured I'd get my point across. I may be a bit biased however...for most of my life, my whole lifestyle had been focused around athletics. Swimming was pretty much tied there in my priorities with schooling; with this in mind, I would support the Olympics for pretty much no matter what ;P I have heard many solutions to this problem....my personal favorite was letting the athletes wear "Free Tibet" t-shirts at the opening ceremony. I heard that and I got a kick out of it
Bad idea because there is a lot of pollution which is bad for the competitors, and bad politically because of China's secretism.
-Was it a good idea to have China host the games? No -What will be some of the effects this will have on China, as well as the world? My opinion? This shows a weak stance from the rest of the world powers on atrocities China is currently committing and is more than likely to commit in the future. -Is it really a good idea to criticize China this much just before the Games? F**K YES! The Olympic games are games. Gold medals don't do anything towards world hunger, the crises in Darfor, America's continuation of being an empire in sheep's clothing, the AIDs epidemic in Africa, the volatile state between religions, climate change, nuclear proliferation, or any truly important world matter. If you are in the spotlight you best damn expect criticism. -Overall, are the games beneficial or detracting from China's reputation? In the long run, beneficial. They are doing business as usual for the most part. Sure they make a few changes to make the nicey nice, but nothing substantial. Public spitting (very popular over there. IDK, not my culture) has been outlawed in Beijing. So what. They will reap economical rewards that will be funneled into their military program. There is proof that China has been stealing information through industrial espionage. I do not trust that the government is not using this information for militarization. ****, I just realized I answered a different question that wasn't even posed. Uh, I suppose it depends on who you ask. -Are the protests along the torch relays helpful or harmful to both China and its opponents? Harmful to China in spirit. Honestly, I don't know much about the protests other than the existence of them. I gather from what was said above that these protests center around Tibet. I don't feel they will accomplish much in those regards. Hell, I don't even think protests would change current world opinions of China from one end of the spectrum to the other. What happened in Tibet is already well known. I don't believe the voice of the people drives our indirect democracies all that much anyways. IMHO the Tibet issue is small potatoes compared to what China is really capable of anyways. Well.....maybe not. If there was a strong stance against China it may deter their government from such further actions or it may goad them into more aggressive actions. It depends on their own confidence. China is at the crux of becoming the leading world power. A scenario that will likely lead to war at a scale we have yet to see. Allowing them the traditionally honored privilege of hosting the games seems like subservient behavior. Any nation that disagree with China's policies should outright boycott. Maybe announce the boycott while playing Twisted Sister's "We're not gonna take it". Ok, that last part is a joke, but you get my drift right?
-Was it a good idea to have China host the games? Yes, it was china's term and it's te tradition of the olympics to bring everyone togther in that fashion for good or for worse. Granted, china has a lot of pollution and placeslike France are bowing out, as well as many participants themselves. but overall i think this iis good, especially for china. there are fewjob opportunities, and they pay little. building that stadium for it opened up thousands of jjobs for workers and gave people a way to survive, if not for a little while. -What will be some of the effects this will have on China, as well as the world? You've seen in no doubt already, china is putting regulations of everything. IT's shutting down major factories and limiting the use of cars. The olympics are forcing China to shape up abecause now the whole world can see them. they need to straighten things out and end up fixing things. I took area studies and for a whole quarter we studied China. We've been tracking the olympics as of late, and despite Tibet and the Dalli Lama and their protests for Tibet's suession from China, this is working. It's bringing out the true face of China for good or for worse. -Is it really a good idea to criticize China this much just before the Games? Yes, people (and places) get better because of criticizm. the more pressure, the more they will change.. granted there are some times it goes to far, such as the riots for and agaisnt tibet's freedom from China turning violent and the people putting out the torch. there's some levels of critisizm that nobody needs. -Overall, are the games beneficial or detracting from China's reputation? definately beneficial. Right now it seems bad, but China is shaping up. the Chinese people are condescending and have chinese pride, which meands they think they're better than us. Yes, that is true, talk to any Chinese person who lives there. The Han descendants especially think so. and now that people are refusing to go to china for the olympics-especially some of the best sthletes-it's a slap in china's face and they need oto retaliate by bettering themselves. -Are the protests along the torch relays helpful or harmful to both China and its opponents? the protests are stupid, they are doing harm. putting the torch out was a symbol of not wanting this unification. it's hutrtful to us because it's hurting us. and China definately won;t change their mind. I don;t think even the pressure of all this will ever change. It would be like Texas wantng freedom from the US
Unless you've been an athlete, a true, day by day, morning by morning, night by night athlete, I doubt you can understand just how much the Olympics means. To many of these athletes, this is their life, it is their dream, it is their calling in life. If you take that away from them, it is the greatest betrayal that can be committed to them. Saying that the Olympics should be boycotted is foolish and it will not solve any problems. We tried that wit the Soviets and guess what...they stayed in Afghanistan for another 9 years. Having the Olympics in China will be more beneficial to the solving of those problems that you mentioned above than any boycott would any day. The Olympics puts China on the world stage, and with that, more responsibility to do their part in it. International pressure will start to be pressed on China to do its bit in issues such as the Iranian nuclear program, the situation in Darfur, the issues with countries such as North Korea and Myanmar, etc. By boycotting, it just merely slaps China in the face...however, the world has become dependent on China to the point where if we slap China, China can roundhouse kick us. If world leaders decide to not attend the opening ceremony...ok, that's fine, as long as the athletes compete; a boycott however, would be foolish beyond comprehension.
