Why I won’t support the 2008 Beijing Olympics

There are many reasons why I do not support the 2008 Beijing Olympics, some juvenile and some political. I will not sit my ass in front of the TV for 3 or 4 odd hours on Friday night to watch the opening ceremonies and the ridiculously long parade of countries because it’s boring… and I have two exams the next day. However, the next day I will catch the photo and video highlights of the ridiculous amount of money spent on fireworks. I will not be watching most of the events, except for indoor and beach volleyball (can’t miss beach volleyball), and maybe some basketball. And when the Olympics end in two weeks, I will not be watching the closing ceremonies either. What I will be watching are the damaging news pieces on how the Olympics are negatively affecting the surrounding regions and the news pieces that highlight China’s inabilities.

Why so much hate for an event that’s supposed to bring people together for two weeks? Well, for starters, the first juvenile reason is because Toronto should have won the bid seven years. As a Torontonian and a Canadian, I know where my allegiances lie, and I do not want those Chinese Commies to have the games. There is no “Let’s all be happy for our mother country” bullshit. For all I care, those people can move right back to China if they like it so much. Just like how Mats Sundin won’t be getting cheered for in any other city than Toronto, the Olympics won’t be getting cheered for in any other city than Toronto.

Beijing being awarded the games was such a sham right from the beginning. Everyone was fully aware of China’s human rights and environmental abuses, but Juan Antonio Samaranch, the head of the IOC at the time of the announcement, decided to turn a blind eye to all of it and still award them the game. This is the same China that has had a never-ending dispute with Taiwan, Tibet, and even still some issues with Hong Kong. No one wants to be associated with these Commies. When they made the announcement, my entire family collectively put on our tinfoil hats and said that this was how Samaranch wanted to be remembered – as bringing a new era to the world by bringing the Olympics to China – since he retired shortly after the announcement.

The pollution issue that is only being raised now, right before the games begin, has been around forever. Why did Samaranch knowingly endanger the lives of the athletes when they could have been competing in somewhat humid, but still relatively pristine weather? On a nice day, any event held on or beside Lake Ontario would feel like paradise. And Olympic baseball would have been held up in Richmond Green! How could would it have been to be within driving distance from an event, even though baseball, even Olympic baseball, would still be boring as hell.

The human rights abuses in China are well documented as well. China’s been having issues with the Falun Gong for as long as I can remember; there’s the fact that they’ve displaced probably millions of people in order for the games to be built; and then there’s the Chinese government destroying the way of life of countless thousands of regular Chinese folk. I mean, telling them to not spit, squat, publicly urinate, gossip, etc.! How inhumane is that? Now Toronto isn’t an angel either, and we probably would’ve kicked a bum or two out of their dwellings in order to clean up our streets, but that is nothing in comparison to what China is doing.

Today when I was watching yesterday’s NBC Nightly News (primarily to see the American cycling team’s idiocy of rolling out of their chartered plains wearing breathing masks), I watched a segment where the reporter talked about how the Olympic rowing grounds was once a dry riverbed. Beijing had diverted water from its surrounding farmlands and even reaching into other provinces to water its plants and fill its rowing grounds! Farmers are starving and unable to grow crops because you want a bunch of foreign athletes to flex their muscles on your newly created waterways? Talk about your environmental abuses.

Backtracking for a second and putting the tinfoil hat back on, how could Samaranch and the IOC committee give Beijing the summer games when they did not have their own lake to have several events on?! I know it’s one thing to construct a kayaking course (for which Toronto probably had a natural one), but to create your own lake / waterway for an event? If that doesn’t scream favouritism, I don’t know what does.

I guess what pisses me off about these upcoming Olympic games is the incessant Chinese fanboyism that gets fed straight into my psyche by the way of my Facebook newsfeed. I know I’m being a grinch since I don’t share their enthusiasm, but I don’t understand how any true Torontonian, true Canadian, or true believer in democracy can support these games knowing how Toronto was snubbed and knowing all the conditions over there. All those Chinese Canadians really showed their true colours by publicly showing their support.

I know I seem extra bitter, but I’m only boosted by the fact that my sister explicitly shared the exact same viewpoint as me. My family is probably the same way and hopefully many other people are. Our opinions won’t change a thing, but at least I get to display my loathing for Beijing publicly. That’s a lot more than I can say for the Chinese citizens under China’s iron curtain of censorship. Heck, they probably won’t even be able to read this.