Censoring British Olympians

[Savaric]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/02/10/...ain/index.html

"British athletes selected for this year's Olympic Games in Beijing will be asked to sign a contract that forbids them from criticizing China's human rights record."

Rediculous.

[Loigan]

Hahahahaha,

China sucks, people should be allowed to tell them.

[Rosuav]

Getting people to sign a contract that says "I will not say blah blah blah" is (1) admitting that it's true, and (2) hilighting it to those people who have to sign the contract, and (3) not gonna work. Some communities more than others, but you can't censor people by force. It's pretty easy to hint at something without being in breach of a contract - say, if someone gets really gushing in their praise of China in a way that makes it obvious (to a Western mind, at least - does Chinese culture have the concept?) that he's being sarcastic.

[Jarkis]

The Chinese government and their propaganda machine will not be affected by 'sarcasm'. They take word for word translations and trust me, knowing some Chinese from the mainland and having met some civil servants, I can say that they are very reluctant to learn English, and its subtle nuances. Just like how if we were to try to learn Mandarin, we would never get the intonation correct.

However, whatever the Athletes see and experience it is all propaganda. Beijing is being spruced up, just go to the countryside to Guandong, Xiamen and other provincial cities, you will see quality of life that drops drastically. This Primate Cities are like leeches, drawing resources from the surrounding areas, therefore halting its development. This breeds corruption.

Okay, I know way off topic. But to understand the mindset of the Chinese you must read through Confucius' texts. The Chinese government has evolved from a backward iron fist dictatorship to a more pro-business-however-still-communist government. The Chinese dont want its 1billion++ people to have their eyes opened. They need that order and stability. To have human rights activists waking the population to the reality of the world through the Olympics will have world wide consequences.

Frankly, free speech in China is still a long way to go. The government may not be able to control the entire internet, though many restrictions are already in place, they cannot do another Tiannemen Square because the World has eyes that reach far beyond at a fast pace.

Imagine China imploding. Inflation will explode through the roof, the other countries will be unable to pick up the slack left by China. The number one rule in China, Society always comes before Individual. NO matter what, no matter how fucked up your situation is as an individual, that will not matter as long as society runs. If Society breaks down, then anarchy.

So a final statement if I may. Treasure the freedoms you have in your country. In Asia, we still have the government being the nanny. Therefore to maintain stability, China has to do what to the British and most of the world is silly and just plain ridiculous. They have no concept that a man is allowed to speak freely without severe consequences. To them we have the skewed world view.

[Aristotle]

This is one of the many reasons China should never have been given the Olympics.

But the international community, in its usual politically correct, spineless, cowardly way, caved to China.

I wouldn't be surprised if those Euroweenies give an Olympics to North Korea next.

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Aristotle
This is one of the many reasons China should never have been given the Olympics.

But the international community, in its usual politically correct, spineless, cowardly way, caved to China.

I wouldn't be surprised if those Euroweenies give an Olympics to North Korea next.

As was put so eloquently in Yes Minister:
"It's pathetic!"
"It's politics!"