The Beijing Olympics is about as much about sports as Sexapalooza is about human rights.
No, this is not at all being facetious – it is a very valid comparison. Without ‘human rights’ (specifically, the freedom to exercise them), Sexapalooza would not be able to educate its consumer base on ‘all aspects of sexuality’, its primary goal. Similarly, without ‘sports’, the Beijing Olympics organizers (i.e. Chinese Government) could not educate its consumer base on ‘all aspects of how wonderful their regime is’, their primary goal.
(Why the comparison to sexuality? Because typically, repressing sexuality is among the first goals of an opressive regime. And, you can bet your bippies, there will be no Sexapalooza (or anything even remotely similar) anywhere within smiting distance of the Beijing Olympics.)
When, eariler, there were calls for boycott of the games, ‘people’ said: “But what about the athletes? It is not fair to them!” It seemed that, in many people’s eyes, the ‘right’ of the athletes to compete in the Olympics somehow invalidated any concerns about the message the world is sending by allowing this farce to go on!
By participating, the world is very much condoning the harvesting (yes, HARVESTING – like, as in, ‘reaping’ – by definition) of human organs from political prisoners/innocent citizens – and that is just a tip of the iceberg of opression in China!
But, sending a message that this behaviour is not acceptable and NOT participating in this sham of an Olympics would, somehow, be ‘unfair’ to the athletes… We just don’t understand – they TRAINED for this! It’s their DREAM! And everyone knows that an athlete’s dream is so much more important thant a ‘regular’ Chinese person’s nightmare!
Their ‘right’ to compete is SOOOO much more important than a ‘regular’ Chinese person’s right to keep her liver! (I wonder if Monty Python, in their worst nightmare, ever thought that their ‘can we have your liver’ sketch would come true….ecxept without the ‘asking’ bit!)
So, as we are about to be force-fed a set of Olympic games in a regime so controlling of its people, it dictates how cheering may or may not be done, why is nobody asking:
‘What ABOUT the athletes?’
Who are these people for whose ‘right’ to ‘get a podium’ so many others have to pay for in blood? (And, make no mistake about it – much of the Olympic fanfare HAS been paid by the proceeds from ‘organ harvesting’. Instead of ‘blood diamonds’, these are ‘blood medals’!)
Who are these priveleged few, whose desire for fame is so great, they will – literally – look the other way, amile and say nothing, accept the medals as their dues… while their hosts murder and torture to get them these medals?
I, for one, do not think that any being worthy of being called ‘human’ could possibly choose to elevate themselves this high above others. It is arrogant elitism at its worst. And it is allowing their bodies to be used to promote this corrupt and opressive regime – for a fitting reward, of course!
So, would ‘good athletes’ prostitute themselves to the ‘grim reapers’?
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 
February 5, 2009 at 19:34
[…] Phelps, an athlete with 8 Olympic blood medals, is photographed inhaling from a marijuana […]
January 7, 2010 at 02:58
Experts are asking whether most of the Cold temperature all around the northern hemisphere should be because of the diminished sunspot action, if a sustained degree of fallen sunspot movement probably would inlufence this level of global warming.
Xanthippa says:
At the current time, we simply do not know enough about all the factors which may influence our atmospheric conditions to make any absolute statements. However, we have learned a lot.
For example, we do know that the relative impact of CO2 released through human activity is way, way, way smaller on our global temperatures than the absence of sun spot activity is. To put it in perspective, if we likened all human activity’s impact on global temperatures to ‘being hit with a tennis ball’, then the effect of presence/absence of sun spots would be like being hit by a rather large,particularly heavy and fast-moving freight train….
What scientists are still arguing about is whether the effect of the human activity on our climate would be like ‘being hit with a tennis ball’ that was tossed lightly or served by, say, Roger Federer….the difference between the two is quite significant, but, when compared to the impact of the ‘sun-spot freight train’ – well, the discussion becomes rather mute!
In other words – yes. Historical observations confirm this.