Do you think China's dazzling opening ceremony made up for the human rights issues and cheating allegations?

Question

Whaddaya think? Did the breath-taking display at the Olympic opening ceremony, and closing ceremony for that matter, make you feel better about the host country, China, despite the stabbing of the US Men's volleyball coach's parents-in-law, the suspiciously youthful female gymnasts, the smog, and the seemingly biased judging, especially in gymnastics?? And oh, yeah, the lip-syncing and projector-made fireworks? How would you rate the host nation on a scale of 1-10?

Answer 1

Dirty politics are everywhere.  But to answer your questions: China had worked hard to be the best host nation.  

Answer 2

Go peddle your political c**p some place else.  Leave the politics out of the Olympics.

Answer 3

Well, it erases the human rights violations as much as Phelps's medals erase the same issue at guantanamo. They are totally different issues, and should be addressed as such, so, as a sports event, it was great, and China scored a 10

Answer 4

6 and a half...

i agree with you 100%....

if the opening and closing ceremonies were spectacular, i would've rated this olympics one of the worst. it seemed in women's gymnastics that they would give an amazing score to a horrible chinese girl, and then if the american girl didn't stick her landing, they gave her an awful score. the projected fireworks wasnt a big deal, they looked real enough that i wouldn't care from watching on tv, but i'm sure it pissed some people watching it live in the bird's nest.  

people! just because the events were so fun to watch because of the athletes abilities like Michael Phelps were so spectacular, that shouldn't reflect how people rated China's job as a host nation. The question was how do you rate the host nation, not how do you rate this years olympics. and i also forgot to mention before that politics should not be involved in the olympics. its a peaceful international gathering. so save your human rights talk for a more appropriate time.

Answer 5

You are mixing two different issues. The Olympics are one thing, the way the country is run is another. The smog, most athletes agreed, was not as bad as people thought. There are always allegations of cheating/drug enhancement, right here in the US. The man that was stabbed just happened to be in China when it happened. There are plenty of murders, stabbings included in the US. The bottom line is that you're ammunition is poor, and your statements are pointless.

Answer 6

When it comes to humans cheating in sporting events WHAT can a human really do to gain that much of an edge? All the steroids in the World still won't make a person a Superman. Females (and males) have their b*****s reduced. Some male athletes have their testicles removed. Age cheating doesn't give anyone that big of an edge, because there is no drastic age cheating going on. Chinese people look a lot younger than they really are and that's all there is to the age cheating question. People are simply not use to seeing people who look so you. And even IF there was age cheating going on, then the young child would have had less time to learn and practice what they do. Do y'all think they start training them while they are still in the womb?

Answer 7

Who are you to bring politics into a sports event, and who are you to judge them?

As long as the whole world appreciates the excellent effort put in to make 2008 olympics a success, why do so many people wish them ill?  And why should such people wish that they fail?  I just cannot understand that there are so many unhappy people in the world.  Unhappy people always wish the worst for others, while those happy folks always hope that others do well.

Answer 8

The opening was spectacular!  A thing of pure beauty.  The Chinese did one h**l of a job in getting it together and all of the people worked very hard.

No beautiful open overrides the human rights issues and/or the cheating on the age of their participants.

They did have three assigned parks for protests and would allow the protests if they filed an application first.  They received 77 applications to stage a protest, they approved ZERO.

  

Answer 9

NBC does a great job with their propaganda

Answer 10

First China did a great job in hosting the games, I give it 10, and if I could give it a a higher score I would. Second their was no biased in the judging during the Gymnastics competition. Third please don't connect the stabbing of a coach's parent-in-law and China. Yes I understand that it was a Chinese that stabbed, but you can't hold 1 bad event against China. Fourth the U.S.A puts more pollution into the world then any other nation in the world, so please stop with the smog in China.

Hey I am an American and I like to see America win, I also believe that some of the Chinese gymnastics team is younger then 16, but its time to put that aside. If we keep talking about it will make of look bad, and whiners. AndI don't know about you but I think its time for the views of America to change around the world.

Hey we won the most overall metals, and we have what might be the greatest story of the games in Micheal Phelps. We can say that an American has won the most gold in a signal games, and the most golds by single individual in Olympic history. And by then way he also brock 7 world records along the way. And that was only in the first week. We added even more stories in the second week.

So lets give it up, China won the most gold, and that is great. We should take pride in the way out athletes represented America during the games.

At the end of the day we steal have the right to do almost what ever we want in life, that is something a lot of peole in the world can't do including China.

Answer 11

No, and Communism always gets a -1. Of not less (more?). Basically Communism is the worst thing that ever happened to this world, after Bill Clinton, of course. Therefore no, the ceremonies don't do c**p toward erasing the blot that is the PRC, the Pathetic Restriction of (Mainland) China.

Long live Chiang Kai-shek! Long Live Taiwan!

Answer 12

Did you hear the one about the synchronized swimmer who asked for a weekend off? Her excuse? She hadn't seen her family in 12 years. I guarantee you there were no 30-year-olds on that medal podium. She was taken from her family as a child, and hadn't had a break from training in 12 years.

That's not athletics, that's forced child labor.

And it's not politics--or hypocrisy--to point it out.

It always amazes me to hear Westerners (I assume) dismiss basic freedoms so out of hand. It's almost as creepy as the forced conscription of children who have the misfortune of good eye-hand coordination at age 8.

Answer 13

If you feel so strongly about the issues with China, stop watching the 2008 Olympics. Boycott Chinese products while you are at it. Just put a sock to your hypocritical whining.

Answer 14

Sorry the human rights wasn't even an issue when I watch the opening and closing ceremony and never should as well as the unproven cheating allegation.

I gave it 9. The athletes excelled and this shouldn't be China's spotlight...these athletes is the main core to make Beijing Olympics the most successfully watched programs in the world.

[Just a few sidenotes]

The only reason Westerners keep harping on human rights in China is because it’s the only thing they can still latch onto to make themselves feel superior and smug about their triumph over China.

Westerners see the writing on the wall. Compared to Asia, they’re losing the race in terms of:

- economic growth

- educational quality

- technological innovation

- environmental investment (China invests way more than the U.S. does toward sustainable energy research)

- and hipness (Asia has stopped looking to the U.S. for the next cool trend. Now Asians are increasingly seeing South Korea as the top trendsetter, whether in terms of TV, film, fashion or music.)

China is just a convenient proxy for rising Asian dominance.

If Westerners really cared about human rights abroad, they would have started making noise about China 30 years ago. And they’d be making noise about just about most countries in South America, Africa and the Middle East.

But none of those countries are an economic or military rival to the Westerners, are they?

=======

Well the stabbing was unfortunate. I, people of China apologize the the Bachman family as we showed enough support of their families in EVERY Men's Volleyball tournament.

==========

From the youth female; FIG has not told us so I don't know.

=========

The smog was never a problem. How did marathon winners get WR and OR? How many did Bolt get in WR time?

Few links to support by claim:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/sports...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/reutersCom...

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-N...

===========

Biased-judging has been in Athens as well so I don't think that is a problem.

As for the gymnastic judging; I don't think so. It has been fair throughout:

Sacramone CASE:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

He Kexin and Nastia dual Gold controversy:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

========

I don't lip-synching is a problem and if anyone is still b*tching about it...look at the Western entertainment business.

=======

For the last time; the 29 footstep fireworks, it is not fake. It is real. But the footage you see is digitally imposed/overlayed (probably from earlier rehearsal images). That means if you were in Beijing you will actually see the 29 foot steps fireworks on the street.

The reason they gave for digitally enhancing the footage was it is impossible to shoot all 29 steps in such quick succession and guess what, "for the safety of the helicopter crew shooting the scene".

===========

Answer 15

All I can say is, they sure know how to put on a show....in more ways than one ;)

Answer 16

why ppl think they cheated. they are going to win gold medal again in 2012. be thankful us won total. coz thats not gonna last long

Answer 17

for a country that was formally closed to outsiders?

YES it was a great leap forward:)

Answer 18

as an american I'm not one to talk about human rights abuses, cheating or murder. These are all daily occurences in my country.

as for the little girls cheating, just think if you got beat by a 12 year old. gotta give her extra credit for that.