Whither Beijing?

The Olympics are on, as is their wont every four, well, every two years since they split the time between the winter and summer games. The spirit of competition and the sense of event are everywhere. So I suppose I ought to be a stick in the mud about it all. Someone has too, and it’s actually kind of fun to be the crank.

Seriously, though, other than worries about environmental quality, has anyone really considered the reason why China wants these Games to go over so well? I cannot help but think of the 1936 Berlin Games. What did the Nazis want then? To look good to the world. Isn’t that what the Chinese want in 2008?

There isn’t anything wrong with that in itself, of course, but when you factor in the background of recent Chinese history I think there’s a danger lurking. They don’t want to seem so bad about issues such as Darfur or Tibet. Sports tend to make people ignore threats, and I have to believe the Chinese are banking on that. Then too, when the Chinese flag was presented by children represented by each native Chinese nationality as a show they respect diversity, only to be handed over to soldiers for the actual flag raising, I think we have ourselves an ominous sign of real Chinese intent. Particularly when the NBC commentator remarked that it was meant to show that the state is the guarantor of the children’s future.

Are we that far removed from communism to not see the implicit threat that holds? Is Beijing really interested in harmony among nations and peoples, or are they merely whitewashing their walls? We must not forget that in the midst of so many communist nations falling almost twenty years ago one of them fired on their own people to keep them in check. Are they that far removed that we may trust their long range intents?

Hopefully, yes. But we need to keep in mind that they aren’t necessarily.