I get hives whenever I agree with Jeff Jacoby's op-eds in the Globe. But I agree with pretty much everything he wrote today about China's Olympics - the pretty pictures, rhapsodized over by Bob Costas and the rest of NBC's gold-medal-in-the-ratings team, can't obscure the ugly reality of life there for anyone who would cast a blemish on the repressive superpower's phony image. The fakey-fake-McFake aspects of the Olympic coverage are just the frosting on the cake. I feel guilty every time I tune in. I feel angry every time I see, as I did tonight, a gee-isn't it-awesome-and-wonderful NBC feature package, complete with the pedigreed scuzz buckets of the IOC assuring us that, hey, it ain't perfect, but China really is better because we're here.
I really don't care that Kobe and the rest of his pampered troupe of gazillionaires will have gold medals with which to adorn their Escalades. I know Michael Phelps is amazing, and the Jamaican dude sure can run. There are thousands of athletes for whom the games are a lifetime highlight, and I'm not saying they shouldn't go. But the fulsome gush on NBC coverage is more than I can stomach, and the half-hearted attention to the reality on the ground, well, I suppose it's just good business.
Mostly what I think about when I see the NBC coverage is stuff like this from Jacoby: "In America, you can fight an eminent-domain taking all the way to the Supreme Court. In China, you suck it up and keep your mouth shut. Otherwise you end up like Wu Dianyuan and Wang Xiuying, two former neighbors who were unhappy with the compensation they received when their homes were demolished (to make room for Olympic venues -JB). Rather than suffer in silence, they sought permission to demonstrate during the Olympics in one of Beijing's three official 'protest zones.' Permission was denied. Instead they were charged with disturbing the public order and could face a year of 're-education through labor.' Wang, who is nearly blind and walks with a cane, is 77. Her friend is 79."
But the fireworks displays were awesome, right?
The fireworks were pretty cool.... although rumor has it that the ones you saw on TV were digitally enhanced.
Posted by: Aaron Weber | August 25, 2008 at 09:04 AM
Not rumor, they were. The opening ceremony "footprints" were completely el fake-o. That was just one of the things...
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