Olympic Opening Ceremony

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by blueerica

Didn't they think it would get out... a.k.a. not everyone has that much supression in their news... ?

My guess would be that it never occurred to them anyone would see a problem with it. From their point of view they were just making the ceremony as perfect as they could. It's not like they tried very hard to hide it.

[innerSpaceman]

Oh, I think they did. NBC didn't investigate for itself to discover there was a contest for the singing kid. They announced the girl on TV as the contest winner. They were fed that information by the Chinese to broadcast to the world. Yes, they were trying very hard (but ineptly) to hide the truth.

[Alex]

And wasn't matching a perfect voice with a perfect face not already pretty common here until it became possible to take the perfect face and convert whatever noise comes out of their mouth into perfect voice?

After all, there is a reason Marni Nixon sang while Audrey Hepburn pranced around. Sure it is more brutal that it was done to a 7-year-old but that's showbiz.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Tenigma

I do like the optical illusion.

Can you show your husband - he wasn't seeing it.

Originally Posted by Moonliner

My guess would be that it never occurred to them anyone would see a problem with it. From their point of view they were just making the ceremony as perfect as they could. It's not like they tried very hard to hide it.

Susan brought up a good point on this last night.

One needs to consider the culture that it comes from. The Chinese tend to think more in terms of what is good the group - the collective conscious if you will. The individual is not as highly regarded as it here is in the West. This is not a fault of the Chinese: just a different mindset (which has IMO advantages and disadvantages).

Since they believe in doing what is best for the country (not the individual), it may have been at least partially "no big deal" to them.

[Tenigma]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Can you show your husband - he wasn't seeing it.

Ya know, I vaguely recall him looking at the picture and jittering it. I think it's just his eyes.

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

The Chinese tend to think more in terms of what is good the group - the collective conscious if you will.

Oh FOR PETE'S SAKES I used the wrong images!!!

Corrected version:

[innerSpaceman]

What do really think of the Chinese?

[Tenigma]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

What do really think of the Chinese?

Honestly? It's not the people, it's the government.

I had an enlightening read at Arthur Frommer's blog today (he's having another person post blogs from her Beijing trip). Here's the poster asking some questions of someone who lives there, who is answering candidly:

Pauline: How has it been living in Beijing on the eve of the Olympics?

Jen: It's been disturbing. A lot of us feel it's become a police state once again (more like it was when I moved here eight years ago). Police have come knocking on our door to see who's living in our apartment and if they're all registered. And they've been cracking down on people who have "F Visas" [Pauline's note: basically a form of renewable visa for long-term residents], and forcing many people on these visas to leave the country. Since I'm a freelance journalist, I have one of those. My fiancée, who works for a media organization, has a more permanent visa. So I had to marry him to get a Chinese visa! (Jen laughs). We're planning a later wedding, but are legally married in China now.

All our mail is being opened up, now. This wasn't uncommon eight years ago, but recently . . . Not everyone does their jobs, but with the Olympics coming, everyone started doing their jobs again. So we've been having trouble with mail, they've sent some boxes of my memoirs back to the States as unapproved, and even opened up our wedding invitations. We know my fiancée's phone is being tapped. It all feels like a big step backwards.

How can I not be scared of this?!?!? This government wants to rule the world! Skeeeery! Assimilation!!!

[innerSpaceman]

oh, no, no, don't get me wrong. I despise the Chinese government, and your Borg photo was so on the money!


On the other hand, I'm not too pleased with the United States government ... but nothing makes it look good like the Chinese government!!

[Alex]

Keep in mind, Lani is Japanese. It is in her genes to look at China and think "yeah, we could take that."

[BarTopDancer]

When all is said and done I'd gladly take the bullsh*t the US government pulled then the Chinese government. At least I can say I fvckin hate our current administration and not have to worry about the black helicopters delivering snipers to come... what's that red dot on my wa...