A slight smile curled upwards on the edge of my lips when I read about the protests at the Golden Gate Bridge over the Olympics in Beijing.

I have been sharply critical of the Olympics in the past. It’s a mockery of good sportsmanship and comradery among athletes, and the gross over commercialization makes me wonder if it’s simply another vehicle for television networks and advertisers to pad their coffers.

But - what better way to promote the unmeasurable injustices that Tibet has suffered, than to host the games in China?  The remarkable thing is: it’s working.  The torch’s international “tour” may be cut short - much to the chagrin of advertisers, who were undoubtedly counting on its notoriety to help them sell more shampoo and sport utility vehicles.

I did a little bit of reading and learned that the Olympics have a rather humble beginning in Ancient Greece.  The first games weren’t even international in scope; you had to speak Greek to be able to participate.  Good for us for having international sporting events now - but my point is that the Olympics came from humble beginnings.  It wasn’t always the overproduced monstrosity it is now.

I also read that the athletes would compete in the nude.  We may giggle uncontrollably at the thought of this now, but think of the contemporary metaphor we could draw from this: instead of the nationalist nonsense we hear about medal counts and such, we could instead focus on the athletes - who aren’t countries or nations, but individuals with extraordinary talents.

But Tibet is a country, and it deserves the attention - moreso than our best athletes.

Whether Tibet’s liberation gets any traction or not is another topic for another day … but the attention the Beijing Olympics has shone on it is perhaps the most noble thing that could ever hope to come from this otherwise forgettable “sporting” theatre.

1 comment
Posted in Blog
Written on Tue, 08 April 2008 at 10:15 am
Tags: Beijing, China, Olympics, Tibet
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