What do you think of the Olympics being hosted by the country with the current worst human rights record?

Question

What do you think of the Olympics being hosted by the country with the current worst human rights record of any industrialized nation? Does the Olympics somehow transcend consideration for human rights violations?

I realize the 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin with Hitler, but didn't we learn to be intolerant of human rights abuses? Why do Americans hold ourselves to such higher standards, and continually make exceptions for countries continually engaging in grievous abuses of humans.

I love the Olympics, but I'm not even watching for this reason. Aside from China's shameful oppression of its citizens, its occupation of Tibet, its archaic viewpoints on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions, they have a complete disregard for the safety and security of visitors there, and on top of everything, they cheat like crazy!!! For one, many of their gymnast girls were issued fake passports by the Chinese government because they were too young to compete. And second, could you believe the incredibly biased scoring in last nights women's gymastics final??

In the last week, 17 visitors (8 from the USA) have been ARRESTED, DETAINED and DEPORTED for holding banners saying "Free Tibet" and "Human Rights Now".

And this is just another unrelated issue, but why did they order all restaurants in the Olympic village to pull DOG meat off the menus in the last month? Don't you think on the face of it, considering every point of view on the issue, eating DOGS is kinda savage? Go ahead and make excuses about how we Americans eat cows and how they are considered sacred in some countries, but were talking about DOGS here!! Would you make excuses if they came into your house and skinned your dog alive and ate him in front of you?

Oh, and if you go spouting off about this being racist, back your allegations up with some arguments on anything I've said that isn't dead on true. If you don't, you're just being a racist against me, a white man.

Wouldn't every country in the Western world raise bloody h**l if an American host city committed ANY of the acts described? Why is China always held to a lower standard of ethics? Isn't it RACIST to have the attitude "well, they're a bunch of Godless savages, so we can only expect this of them?" WTF??

OK, lets here you refute anything I said, defend them and say I'm racist. Lol.

Answer 1

1. "worst human rights record of any industrialized nation"

China is not an industrialized country. They are a developing nation, which also explains their pollution.

2. Countries with far worse records and far worse situations have hosted the Olympics - Soviet Union, n**i Germany, Mexico in the 70's

And if the Olympics were in 2003 and hosted in the US, I bet a quarter of the world would be protesting it because of the Iraq War.

3. Mainland China has never hosted the Olympics before. China is not the best, nor the worst place the host it. And other nations running for the role of "2008 host" have already hosted it at least once or multiple times. China also has a lot of medal winners anyways, so they got the right to host this international sports competition.

4. "I love the Olympics, but I'm not even watching."

That's a shame. You missed a wonderful opening ceremony and didn't see how Michael Phelps dominated the French in swimming.

5. The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics had just as bad if not worse air quality. As for algae blooms, that comes from farm run off - it happens in every nation. Recently there was an algae bloom causing a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, caused by farm run off from the Mississippi.

6. "visitors have been ARRESTED, DETAINED and DEPORTED for holding banners saying "Free Tibet" and "Human Rights Now"."

Mainland China is a communist oligarchy, not a democracy - so what did you expect? It could've been worse - if this was Iran, those people would probably be dead. Even if it was, say the UK, the protesters would still be arrested if they caused a commotion.

7. "many of their gymnast girls were issued fake passports"

We all know their gymnasts are underaged. The only thing worse is people like you still whining about it.

8. "And second, could you believe the incredibly biased scoring in last nights women's"

The US team won in the end, what are you complaining about? And why would a Canadian or Australian judge give more points to Communist China rather than their ally the US?

7. "village to pull DOG meat off the menus in the last month "

Some people there eat dogs, so what? Some Koreans and Vietnamese also eat dogs. People in Japan eat dolphins and whales. People in Europe eat cat brains (yes, cats), horses, sparrows, goose organs, sheep organs, etc. People in the American South and Midwest eat cow brains and pig anuses.

People all around the world eat ridiculous sh*t, not just the Chinese.

Also in regards to the 'worst human rights record.' China has a bad human rights records, but they do not have the worst record by a long shot. They mostly started their oppression in the mid 20th century when communists took over. Countries like Britain, France, Germany, etc have had a history of slavery, colonization, genocide, and oppression of over 200 years. The USSR under Stalin, Germany under Hitler, Japan under Fascism, etc are far worse than China in the worst stages of Mao's Cultural Revolution.

EDIT:

I'm not dodging the issue. We all know China has human rights problems, and a history of civil rights violations - and so does every other nation.

You can only point the finger and criticize - what real solutions are you offering?

And half of your post is a pointless rant.

@ashlee

"not all Americans are excusing their behavior, just the dumb ones that hate this country"

So because we know a rudimentary amount history, that means we hate America? Second, I'm not excusing their behavior - it's called putting it in the larger perspective.

Maybe you should stick to what you're good at - answering celebrity questions. Enjoy your 'freedom fries.'

Answer 2

I completely agree with your points, especially the last. There should have been some kind of petition that countries agreed upon to get the IOC to give the games to someone else.

People are ignoring it because it's China. If it were the U.S. their attitude would be "off with their heads". And, what's even worse is that everyone just turned away when China admitted all of the things they did (lip synching, fake fireworks, etc.)!

You really made a great point here. It's a double standard. And one more point: not all Americans are excusing their behavior, just the dumb ones that hate this country.

Answer 3

Why are you asking this question again?

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

Read my text carefully and slowly since you are the most ignorant fool well almost all China bashers are:

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 Americans 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 U.S., are they?

Answer 4

You just got pwned by the first guy.

First of all you're a racist piece of c**p. Some people eat horses, insects, and rats. French people eat snails and duck, what a coincidence Chinese people eat duck too. Tibet protesters should be shot and killed. You don't even know the history of how Tibet is part of China and you're not worth my time explaining.

"Go ahead and make excuses about how we Americans eat cows and how they are considered sacred in some countries, but were talking about DOGS here!! Would you make excuses if they came into your house and skinned your dog alive and ate him in front of you?"

Do people just randomly go to a farm and eat a live cow here in the US? You're saying it's ok to kill and eat some animals but not cute furry ones. So let's say I was a serial killer. It would be ok for me to kill you because you're fat, hairy, and stinky and because the guy next to you looks better than you. Cows here in the US and shocked with rods before they are butchered.

And yes it would be wrong if they let the gymnasts keep gold, which they won't, if they WERE underage. It hasn't even been proven so sit down and be a good little boy and maybe your mere will give you a cookie.

Answer 5

MCL Is correct.

Answer 6

The IOC is not interested in human rights, as evidenced by other choices where prior games have been held.  

Currently, the issue probably is one of money and ensuring that the games are held in a high quality venue.  Because of China's agenda of wanting to showcase their country, they were willing to spend about $45 billion to put on these games.  For the 2004 Games, the cost really placed a huge and unfair burden on the Greece population.  

At this point, I could make a whole lot of valid comments about the Chinese gov't, but I will refrain.  Rather, I think the question should be about the Games themselves - are they necessary in their current form?  Have they become too bloated?  Why are 200+ countries invited, but maybe only 100 countries will ever get a medal, and maybe the top 25 countries are competitive.  I would dumb the games down a bit, and make them more about mainstream games.  For example, it makes sense to kill softball as a sport - as an American maybe that is a bad thing to think, but the reality is that very few countries have that infratstructure.

Swimming too - I would not kill it maybe, but cut it down.  The fact is most of the swimmers participate in the NCAA program here in the US, so we are really watching a college meet in a way.    Tennis - is that really necessary?

Answer 7

ANGRY, what the h**l? Who says pwned?