Olympic Propaganda
I posted earlier last week that I was not in a big Olympics watching mood this year, but after hearing a lot of people at work and other places go on about it, I thought I would tune in and at least watch a little bit to be able to talk coherently about it to folks.
I have to admit I have been turned off by the Olympics coverage. To be fair, I am not certain where NBC is being actively censored by the Chinese government in what it broadcasts or they are just buying into the "what a wonderful place China is" lock, stock, and barrel. But after watching more than one Olympics broadcast, I think the end result is the same: the Olympics coverage has completely turned into Red China propaganda.
(Oh dear, I uttered the term Red China...I think the PC police might come knocking on my door. I haven't been visited by them since I was in the Seabury pen.)
I mean, its really been rather sickening how the NBC coverage is falling all over itself with praise for the Chinese regime (and if you don't believe me, watch some of the coverage with a modicum of objectivity.) They keep going on about the grandeur or the "water cube" and the other Chinese innovative structures, etc. About how the Chinese players are all completely selfless and team based.
Um...call me crazy, but, yes, when the Red Guard is right off camera ready to take the athletes or the locals to be "re-educated" if they say or do the wrong things in front of the camera. Not to mention, the 1000s of people who are out of work in and around Beijing because the government has stopped all industrial and construction labor and factories by force to give the facade of having clean air, even though the air is still twice what the World Health Organization says is safe.
I will be curious to see what the media, once they are safely out of Chinese airspace has to say about what is really going on there. That's the nature of a police state, I guess. If I am reading between the lines correctly, I don't think its pretty.
Of course, I actually have the freedom to say and think what I want about the Chinese government, rights that almost a billion people there do not have.
I have to admit I have been turned off by the Olympics coverage. To be fair, I am not certain where NBC is being actively censored by the Chinese government in what it broadcasts or they are just buying into the "what a wonderful place China is" lock, stock, and barrel. But after watching more than one Olympics broadcast, I think the end result is the same: the Olympics coverage has completely turned into Red China propaganda.
(Oh dear, I uttered the term Red China...I think the PC police might come knocking on my door. I haven't been visited by them since I was in the Seabury pen.)
I mean, its really been rather sickening how the NBC coverage is falling all over itself with praise for the Chinese regime (and if you don't believe me, watch some of the coverage with a modicum of objectivity.) They keep going on about the grandeur or the "water cube" and the other Chinese innovative structures, etc. About how the Chinese players are all completely selfless and team based.
Um...call me crazy, but, yes, when the Red Guard is right off camera ready to take the athletes or the locals to be "re-educated" if they say or do the wrong things in front of the camera. Not to mention, the 1000s of people who are out of work in and around Beijing because the government has stopped all industrial and construction labor and factories by force to give the facade of having clean air, even though the air is still twice what the World Health Organization says is safe.
I will be curious to see what the media, once they are safely out of Chinese airspace has to say about what is really going on there. That's the nature of a police state, I guess. If I am reading between the lines correctly, I don't think its pretty.
Of course, I actually have the freedom to say and think what I want about the Chinese government, rights that almost a billion people there do not have.
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