I’m reading all these reports online about how there are protesters lining the route of the Olympic torch as it makes its way to China. Is it really a problem that China hosts the Olympics? The overt hypocrisy of these protests, and any objection from the International stage is hillarious.
We don’t mind that China provides cheap labor to make any number of products.
We don’t mind that that they get most favored nation status.
We don’t mind that our government sells them the technology to incinerate millions of people.
We don’t mind their human rights record.
We don’t even mind that they’re a totalitarian Communist dictatorship…
Yet have them host a sporting event that is watched by fewer people than reruns of The Golden Girls on Lifetime… and that is the breaking point?
Please, give me a break folks. I highly doubt that any of those protesters could survive without the benefits that Chinese labor has brought us. I’m not giving them a rubber stamp of approval by any means, but if we’re going to protest – if we’re going to take a stand – I think we’re a little late to the tea party, and the only thing in left Boston Harbor are a cabal of Ted Kennedy’s old girlfriends.
I think the protesters would contend that they DO mind about all of the above, and the protesters are exactly the sort of people who’ve been complaining about it the whole time.
You’re only NOTICING them now because the torch-run is giving them a media-ready stage to shout from.
Which, IMHO, is a good thing, to hear it get the attention it deserves.
Once the media lens moves on, these protests will be forgotten. I wouldn’t put it past the powers that be that extinguishing the torch – albeit a very significant decision that should not be ignored – was done specifically to quiet the protests and at least divert attention, instead of asking the most important question of all…
Why?