Posted: Aug 25, 08 6:39am
As impressive as the big show was in Beijing, it's clear that spending 40 billion dollars on the event wasn't really necessary. And I know that forced smiles and perfect bodies are part of any modern presentation on TV, but somehow the threat of "re-education camps" and Tienamen square with tanks rolling over students lurked just below the surface.
All those smiles now seem like desperate attempts not to be shot for stumbling, or worse having your entire chinese family shipped off to Tibet. I'm guessing whomever leaked that the little China gymnasts were 12 or 13 is now digging coal in the remote provinces for the next 10 years. I also wonder what happened to the 1,000 chineses programmers who were forced to create fake digital fireworks for NBC to broadcast. Are they all now silenced by locking them up until the next Olympics?
Don't you think London's olympics will feel more like a cooperative effort? I just can't see British soldiers goose-stepping around the field like they did in the "Birdsnest" stadium last night.
State power on display at the Olympics, Beijing
