Let the games begin

I'm watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics as I write this. Okay, I'm a sucker for pageantry and I do have a tissue within reach because stuff like this gets me all choked up. Still, as I watch this spectacle, this introduction of a "new" China to the world stage, a few thoughts occurred that I wanted to record.

First off, the slogan of these Olympics: One world, one dream. Too bad that dream doesn't include Tibet and Darfur. Guess the folks in those countries don't count.

A few days ago I thought I heard something about Bush being critical of China's human rights record. Yes, there's a lot to be critical about, but come on, isn't that a bit hypocritical? As long as the US holds prisoners at Guantanimo Bay, as long as the US keeps conducting its imperialistic war for oil in Iraq, as long as the Patriot Act allows our government to violate the civil rights of its citizens, then Bush has no room to try and claim the high road on this issue. How hypocritical can you get?

Bush...aargh. Of course he's at the opening ceremonies. It's his last chance to play an international bigwig, he's not going to miss this. January 20, 2009, baby, the date we can finally be rid of him once and for all, as long as this country doesn't condemn itself to four more years of Bush policies by electing McBush.

I never thought I would actually approve of anything Paris Hilton ever did, but her response to McCain's 'celebrity' attack ad against Obama was priceless. She posted a response on YouTube thanking the "old white haired dude" for endorsing her for President and thanking him for acknowledging that she was indeed qualified to hold office. Beautiful!

I thought it was interesting that the Chinese chose a little girl to sing their anthem, while a pretty well gender-balanced group of kids carried in the flag, dressed in ethnic garb. This caught my attention because of China's one child policy. The little girl who sang was charming and talented, but my first thought was "she was lucky to have lived." There is hope in that area though, because the Chinese have begun to realize just what a mess they've created for themselves. The ratio of men to women in China is now 120 males to 100 females. That means there are millions of Chinese men who cannot find spouses. These men are called "barren branches" in Chinese culture because they will not be able to marry and sire children, so their family lines will end. China is now trying to correct their cultural notion of male supremacy by emphasizing the value of female children. At least that's what I read for an Anthropology paper about a year ago. Maybe selecting this little girl to sing was part of that campaign.

After the kids carried in the Chinese flag, it was taken by a group of goose-stepping Chinese soldiers, which created an almost surreal juxtaposition: from children to cannon fodder. Nuff said. For any country, including the land of the formerly free and the home of the perpetually terrified. This is off-topic, but I want to mention something Hubby said this morning. A McCain ad came on, slamming Obama as usual, and Hubby said, "You know if McCain gets elected he's going to bring back the draft because he'll start more wars and need more soldiers to fight them." And he's right. We've got a clear choice here: McCain=your kids as cannon fodder. Not his, oh no, just yours.

You'd think the networks would be able to get this amazing spectacle right. The audio cut out for about 15 minutes, and it just came back on. But it is beautiful, and the precision with which these thousands of people are pulling off the show is amazing.

As much as I enjoy shows like this, the commercials really get all over my last nerve. I think I'll TIVO the rest so I can skip the commercials.

The cultural education tidbits included in the ceremony are fascinating. It makes me wonder why we in America are taught virtually nothing about the history and traditions of other cultures and countries. Maybe that's our national arrogance and ethnocentrism at work, but we've got to learn to be citizerns of the world, not just our own insular country. Learning about these far-off cultures has been one of my greatest joys of being in college, but it makes me realize that kids need a better cultural introduction in their formative years that was provided when I went through school. Hopefully things have changed somewhat since then.

Peace,
AuntieM