Beijing Olympics pollution nightmare

Holey donuts.

I lived in South Korea for four years. Daejon and Daegu were fifty/fifty of getting a good day, Gwangju was bad the three days I visited, Kyonju was always clear if not raining, and Seoul was pretty smoggy, especially in August and September. No matter what the weather was like, though, "sensitive groups" were almost always wearing masks.

Compared to that picture of Beijing, Seoul is positively pristine.
Their plan for cleaning things up may be wishful thinking.

The Chinese at least seem to be adapting the Plan, which is good, but they have this tendency to expect everything to go well just because they want it to. South Korea could be like that, too, and then they look like complete fools when it is obvious they have no idea what they're talking about.

I've always considered the Olympics to be a celebration of the stone age--running around in circles, throwing ancient weapons and generally a total waste of time, certainly nothing to miss a baseball game over.

I'm sure that China will end up humiliated. Given the opportunity the Chinese will always shoot themselves in the foot.

I love the Olympics, but I won't be watching. The modern Olympics are intended to be a celebration of world solidarity, and so to hold them in China is a mockery, considering their rampant human rights abuses. I highly recommend this piece from the New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/booksarts/story.html?id=f48d8fb7-6db3-4279-98a4-0be7964e5909

I don't think it's good for the world for China to feel humiliated by having had a bad Games.

Perhaps I'm showing my ignorance...but why is this a problem for us? It's not like we're doing anything to cause the humiliation. Nobody forced China to accept the summer Olympics. Nobody forced them to pollute their air. They brought this upon themselves. (*)

If Chinese humiliation were clearly traceable to us - e.g., a military or foreign-policy defeat regarding Taiwan - then that might be a problem for us. Never do your enemy a small injury, etc. But I don't see such traceability WRT a polluted Beijing Olympics.

(*) Yes, foreign demand for Chinese exports has powered their economic growth. But I find it difficult to believe that a modicum of anti-pollution regulations would have been entirely incompatible with such growth. China chose to forego such regulations. Now they're paying the price.

I believe the athletes should return to competing in classical, dignified nudity, as well, Roland. All this spandex is greatly displeasing to the gods.

sigaliris: I believe the athletes should return to competing in classical, dignified nudity, as well, Roland. All this spandex is greatly displeasing to the gods.

Great minds think alike, Sig!

BTW, I'm on record as volunteering to apply the olive oil to the bodies of the female athletes. There's a long waiting list. :-(

I understand the DMN's Mark Davis has a new an op-ed piece about how China's pollution is actually a good thing, something the US should emulate. The pollution blocks the sun, keeping the athletes cooler and preventing skin cancers. The cooler temperatures mean that less air conditioning is needed, thus reducing electrical consumption.

And scientists have found trace amounts of vitamins and minerals in the pollution, which are readily absorbed by the lungs. Pollution is a win-win. Thank you, Mark Davis. We need more good conservatives like you.

TJ: "I love the Olympics, but I won't be watching. The modern Olympics are intended to be a celebration of world solidarity, and so to hold them in China is a mockery, considering their rampant human rights abuses."

Likewise, I love watching the Olympics ... and, likewise, I feel that holding them in the "People's Republic" of China is a mockery. The Beijing regime gave the IOC and the world community assurances that they would repair their human rights record in time for the Games.

The Beijing regime broke its word. Indeed, the Games have been used as an excuse for even WORSE human rights abuses THAN BEFORE. The promises which the Beijing regime made have not been kept. The international community is doing nothing about it.

The people of China are good-hearted and hard-working. The growth of Christianity in that land is a hopeful sign, though the persecution and government interference which Catholics, Protestants and other believers endure there is unconscionable. Pray for the people of China, who deserve a better government than the one they have.

Let me recommend for your reading "The Seven Sorrows of China," a new book by Catholic scholar and journalist Dr. Mark Miravalle. Miravalle documents the abuses in China involving religious freedom and beginning of life issues. You can get information about the book here at: http://www.queenship.org/productdetails.cfm?sku=3102

Perhaps I'm showing my ignorance...but why is this a problem for us? It's not like we're doing anything to cause the humiliation. Nobody forced China to accept the summer Olympics. Nobody forced them to pollute their air. They brought this upon themselves.

The Chinese authorities have this in common with the Bush administration: they are congenitally incapable of admitting the possibility that they might have made a mistake, that they might have done something wrong, that bad things that happen might be their fault or due to something they did, or didn't do. If there are problems at the Beijing Olympics, even it it's just the pollution, they will find some way to spin it so that it is all the fault of outsiders who want to keep China down, etc. And their compliant population will lap it all up.

As a classicist, I've always felt that the modern Olympic movement is based on a gross but characteristic 19-century misreading of ancient history. The ancient games were not all about pan-Hellenic brotherhood; they were about worshipping Olympian Zeus, a god whom all the Greeks had in common.

All this talk about "not politicizing the Olympics" makes me laugh. The modern Olympics have been political from the very beginning -- or else why do athletes compete under national banners? If they Olympics are really all about the "brotherhood of man" or "world solidarity", then athletes should compete as individuals, not as members of national teams.

All this spandex is greatly displeasing to the gods.

Perhaps I'm obtuse, but with all the furor over doping, I really don't understand the inherent difference between taking a drug that artificially enhances your performance, versus wearing a specially designed shoe or swimsuit that enhances your performance, or following a special diet and training regimen that enhances your performance.

Anybody care to try to explain to me why taking performance-enhancing drugs is bad and should be banned, while other things that artificially enhance your performance are OK? I mean, if the objection is that drugs are artificial, well, so is wearing track shoes.

If the objection is that people can cause serious injury to themselves over time by using drugs, well, people can also cause serious injury to themselves over time just by training and participating in sports, period.

Seriously, I really don't understand all this fuss over doping. Esp. since, as classicist, I'm pretty sure the ancient Greeks wouldn't have had a problem with it, since they prized victory above everything. None of this gold-silver-bronze nonsense for them; they really believed that second place was another name for first loser.

All arguements pro and con for having the games in Beijing aside, if I was an athlete, I'd be worried about the damage that stuff floating about in the air would be doing to my lungs. Haven't figured out why Beijing was chosen in the first place. Political reasons is my guess. I feel that the pollution is going to hamper the athletes performances.
Having said all that, the coverage of the last games was too packaged for my taste and I didn't watch much of it....and that will be the same this year...not a whole lot of watching.

oops! sorry, that should have been "pagansister".