As a Chinese who has lived abroad for a few years, I feel sick of the media coverage about Olympics and the protests from both the Western side and the Chinese side. It is too bad that people (East and West) so often just believe what they want to believe, and hardly think before making a comment.

I long believed that independent thinkers are a rare species in China, at least partly due to our Confucian culture and the authoritarian political system. However, many Western people are not doing a better job.

It is so sad that whenever bad things happen, the government just blocks Western journalists-which makes all arguments so weak.

And the Western media…some of their reports and comments are obivously biased. But, of course, they can always say: well, you didn’t let the reporters in! But does it justify any kinds of comments (e.g., the Chinese are goons and thugs)?

I think the only thing one can do is just ignoring them.

Regardless – let me set a few things straight (on topic).

Moreover, who distinguishes the legitimate journalists from the “opportunistic” muckrakers? Are you really suggesting we trust the PRC for news from the summer Olympics?

Not in the slightest. Blocking off a non-Olympic-related area to media because it is a hot-bed for political protest (also non-Olympic-related) shouldn’t affect a well-rounded coverage of the Games at all. As for if protesters should have the “right” to have their voices heard along side Coke and Adidas, absolutely. Do they or will they? No. Not in China and not elsewhere.

Are you suggesting we ignore their repression in order to protect their pride? This seems odd, to say the least, not to mention exceptionally condescending to the Chinese themselves.

Again, nope. I’m suggesting, actually stating, that if the masses of protesters actually wanted to bring about change, causing the poor and repressed masses to become more nationalistic and build bigger walls and deeper rifts between them and the outside world is not the way to do it.

China having the Olympics means as much to the non-political Chinese as it does to the political. Spitting on and attacking torch bearers, and dousing the Olympic flame is about on par with terrorist acts in so far as it gets press, but not positive results.

Of course you are absolutely right if this was an issue of personal pride, but that’s not what I’m address, nor what is being attacked.

However, I’d encourage you, Ryan, not to align yourself with unsavory Chinese perspectives (regulated journalism, etc.) simply to confront the stupidity of the Olympic protesters.

Such are the scales eh? It’s a tough thing and it’s bugging the hell out of me. Things I’ve long criticized about this country are now taking second place to my desire to argue the stupidity of these protests.

Not my intention, but I can definitely see how it comes across that way.

I guess it’s just that I expect more from the *openly educated and un-repressed* West. When a Chinese person says something to me that is regurgi-stated pablum, I’ve come to expect it. I mean, isn’t that what we’re protesting against? But then to see it come out in much the same colours and flavours from nations that purportedly don’t have these 1984-esque barriers between them and non-ignorance… it leaves my jaw ajar.

All that being said, I must say, I’m getting pretty damn tired of all these naïve protesters thinking they’re going to accomplish something. Though I tend to share their political values, I do not share their ignorance or their arrogance. Most folks really don’t know what the hell’s going on in China, especially over the last 30 years, but they all have opinions as to how to “fix” their problems. Apparently, some of them are willing to act the fool to manifest their short-sighted ideology. Rome wasn’t built in a day, we forget this far too often.

Couldn’t agree with this more.

Generally speaking, I enjoy your blog and your insightful commentary regarding all things China. But I must cordially part ways with some of your ideas concerning the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

The problem with allowing the world to see what’s going on in the case of Tiananmen is that that allowance creates platforms for small opportunistic groups with large agendas to bastardize the situation.

Ugly as it is, this is the nature of mass media. In liberal democracies we make allowances for the more marginal and radical entities among us (as annoying as they may be at times) so as to protect the freedoms of all. You are implying that a free press should necessarily be regulated by the state. This is the epitome of a slippery slope, ala Orwell’s 1984. I, for one, do not want my bat-shit crazy American government–or any other government for that matter–to impose its values on my freedom of speech (though those fuckers try it all the time).

Moreover, who distinguishes the legitimate journalists from the “opportunistic” muckrakers? Are you really suggesting we trust the PRC for news from the summer Olympics? The same political clique that denied the AIDS crisis until well into the late 1990s is supposed to filter information for the rest of the WORLD? That’s rather like letting the fox into the hen house, isn’t it? Shit, even the Chinese don’t want this, as was indicated by their (now entirely hollow) promises to the IOC back when Beijing was first granted the games.

These groups of protesters don’t give a flying fuck about the Olympics or what the games mean to the athletes, China or the Chinese – they just want to utilize the cameras and the public’s love for a good conspiracy to forward their agendas – nothing more.

Er…yeah! (Insert playful but slightly sarcastic tone). That’s what we call public relations–the art of war via the popular press. It’s sort of like when Chinese officials cut ribbons on stolen farmland, welcoming in some new, heavily-polluting, foreign-owned factory, and then have the cojones to claim an economic victory for everyday “workers.” Agenda-forwarding runs both ways, Ryan. Why shouldn’t these Olympic, party-crashing protesters be afforded the same political conceits as the Chinese government? A notorious totalitarian state, no less!

Ironically, I don’t really disagree with you. These folks most definitely want to “forward their agendas.” But is this such a surprise? Coca-Cola, Adidas and General Electric (well-documented as internationally criminal enterprises), wanted to “forward their agendas” by sponsoring the Olympics. Why aren’t you questioning their highly-lucrative, “bastardized” motives?

If a single one of those protesters actually cared about the poor repressed Chinese, they certainly wouldn’t be insulting their country and taking away their pride.

This is verging on romanticism, and it’s utterly useless as a point of discussion. Why should we be worried about their pride exactly? And what, in your mind, is the best way to “care” about the “repressed” Chinese? Are you suggesting we ignore their repression in order to protect their pride? This seems odd, to say the least, not to mention exceptionally condescending to the Chinese themselves. Do we really need to coddle a world super-power, a fascinating culture with a 5000 year history, and a people with tremendous integrity, ingenuity, and grace? The Chinese can stand on their own without the west either giving or taking “pride.”

As an American, a former English teacher in China, a frequent traveler there, and now the husband of a wonderful woman from Hubei province, I can tell you that her pride is not one of my greatest priorities. I’m far more concerned with things like food, shelter, access to information and opportunity, freedom from violence, freedom from psychological, political, and economic tyranny, and freedom to follow her hopes and dreams before the hangman comes. My Chinese wife’s pride is not dependent on me, my culture, or my nation of origin. It’s hers alone to do with as she chooses.

All that being said, I must say, I’m getting pretty damn tired of all these naïve protesters thinking they’re going to accomplish something. Though I tend to share their political values, I do not share their ignorance or their arrogance. Most folks really don’t know what the hell’s going on in China, especially over the last 30 years, but they all have opinions as to how to “fix” their problems. Apparently, some of them are willing to act the fool to manifest their short-sighted ideology. Rome wasn’t built in a day, we forget this far too often.

However, I’d encourage you, Ryan, not to align yourself with unsavory Chinese perspectives (regulated journalism, etc.) simply to confront the stupidity of the Olympic protesters. A knee-jerk response in this manner will certainly diminish your credibility, not to mention embolden the dangerously vitriolic nationalism currently sweeping through China.

P.S.

You need to come correct about your anti-Americanism, dude! I know you’re Canadian–our pissy siblings to the North who like to talk shit but then suck up and regurgitate our pop culture like a fucking sick puppy–but the “West” is a big place that encompasses all manner of “moron.”

I’m China bound this September and I hope if I can do anything I can show that not all Americans are idiots.

So far as the Olympics themselves, I’m glad China got them. I have never, nor will I ever, support politicizing the Olympics. It’s about sport… period.

I will give you this – you made me go back and re-read the article to see if I was just in a haughty mood when I wrote it.

It did nothing to change my mind. The fact that he opens by essentially comparing the situation in China to the likes of Nazi Germany should give everyone pause. But it’s not the first I’ve heard it – and it’s stupid, reckless and irresponsible.

The only solid point Wetzel has is that the IOC and Olympics are about money. Excuse me a moment as I pick my jaw up off the floor. I’m just shocked. World’s largest sporting event… about money? Naw… say it ain’t so.

But that he falls completely in line with the rest of the media coming out of the West recently in vilifying China (the entire country mind you, not just the government) makes me realize he’s just a product of his environment – and not the better because of it.

Now keep in mind I am usually the first to step up and criticize the problems of this country – but this is more than criticism, this is baseless slander.

Arbitrary point in case:
Even in the unlikely event the communist government is telling the truth, is 30 dead thus far a fair trade for the 400-meter individual medley?

In reading this, are most going to think that those 30 dead were killed by Tibetan rioters who were running through the streets of Lhasa with swords? Frigin’ swords!

Wetzel’s whole demeanor is anti-China, with no bearing on the reality of it.

What I’d love to ask Wetzel is if he believes the IOC would be selling out (financially and morally) if they had given the Olympics to an American city (despite none having been in the running this time). Would any Americans be protesting their own hosting of the Olympics if it was happening now, in 2008, while the country has not an inch of ground to stand on?