Steven Spielberg
I am happy that Steven Spielberg has been able to use his influence with the Chinese dictatorship to spur it into prodding the Sudanese government into pretending to consider a more robust peacekeeping force. That should show Mia Farrow that he is no Leni Riefenstahl.
Now he can get back to the important task of producing the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics for the Chinese dictatorship. While I was quite impressed by Mia Farrow's approach it seems odd to criticize Mr. Spielberg for China's support of a repressive regime when China itself is a repressive regime. It routinely jails people for religious beliefs, or rather non-government sanctioned religious beliefs, so technically there is religious freedom, just for the right religions, although the Vatican and a number of fundamentalist Protestant churches in America disagree with this interpretation. To be fair, the Chinese dictatorship is open-minded in its repression. Whether you belong to a brand new religion like the Falun Gong or an old standard like the Catholic Church, if caught by the police you can look forward to an invigorating vacation in a work camp where you will undoubtedly lose unwanted pounds and quite likely organs.
Speaking of health, perhaps Mr. Spielberg was too busy giving his two Oscars their daily rub to notice that the Chinese dictatorship refused to inform WHO of the outbreak of SARS in 2003, thus allowing the epidemic to spread to other countries, killing hundreds of people across the world, but mainly in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Now that we are on the subject of Taiwan, is Mr. Spielberg aware that China currently has a thousand missiles pointed at Taiwan, a small island of 23 million people? That's one missile for every 2,300 people but I like to think there is one pointed right at my house. I'm special. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that will one day see the error of its ways and return to the motherland. Oddly enough, the internationally recognized fair and democratic elections of 1996, 2000 and 2004 have done little to change this view. Maybe, the Chinese leaders are waiting for a party they like to win.
Perhaps Mr. Spielberg has been too busy considering camera angles for lighting the torch (I am sure it is more complicated than it looks) to have heard that China tested an anti-satellite missile that is obviously directed against the American military's communication network. Or that a Chinese submarine ambushed an American carrier group a couple of months ago as a warning. Anyway, who cares that China is training hard for its championship bout with America? Oh, wait. He is American and yet he is happily volunteering his time to help the one country that is likely to go to war with America.
No, there is clearly no reason why anybody would ever compare Steven Spielberg to Leni Riefenstahl. She was German and she aided the German government. A more apt comparison would be with Benedict Arnold.
Now he can get back to the important task of producing the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics for the Chinese dictatorship. While I was quite impressed by Mia Farrow's approach it seems odd to criticize Mr. Spielberg for China's support of a repressive regime when China itself is a repressive regime. It routinely jails people for religious beliefs, or rather non-government sanctioned religious beliefs, so technically there is religious freedom, just for the right religions, although the Vatican and a number of fundamentalist Protestant churches in America disagree with this interpretation. To be fair, the Chinese dictatorship is open-minded in its repression. Whether you belong to a brand new religion like the Falun Gong or an old standard like the Catholic Church, if caught by the police you can look forward to an invigorating vacation in a work camp where you will undoubtedly lose unwanted pounds and quite likely organs.
Speaking of health, perhaps Mr. Spielberg was too busy giving his two Oscars their daily rub to notice that the Chinese dictatorship refused to inform WHO of the outbreak of SARS in 2003, thus allowing the epidemic to spread to other countries, killing hundreds of people across the world, but mainly in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Now that we are on the subject of Taiwan, is Mr. Spielberg aware that China currently has a thousand missiles pointed at Taiwan, a small island of 23 million people? That's one missile for every 2,300 people but I like to think there is one pointed right at my house. I'm special. China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that will one day see the error of its ways and return to the motherland. Oddly enough, the internationally recognized fair and democratic elections of 1996, 2000 and 2004 have done little to change this view. Maybe, the Chinese leaders are waiting for a party they like to win.
Perhaps Mr. Spielberg has been too busy considering camera angles for lighting the torch (I am sure it is more complicated than it looks) to have heard that China tested an anti-satellite missile that is obviously directed against the American military's communication network. Or that a Chinese submarine ambushed an American carrier group a couple of months ago as a warning. Anyway, who cares that China is training hard for its championship bout with America? Oh, wait. He is American and yet he is happily volunteering his time to help the one country that is likely to go to war with America.
No, there is clearly no reason why anybody would ever compare Steven Spielberg to Leni Riefenstahl. She was German and she aided the German government. A more apt comparison would be with Benedict Arnold.
posted by History on Film at 1:49 PM
5 Comments:
Written in true Andy style: sarcastic and about as subtle as a truck. I look forward to the next post. Cheers.
Which part is sarcastic ??? You lost me on that.
Spielberg quits as Olympics adviser
By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer
February 12, 2008
Steven Spielberg is ending his involvement as an artistic adviser for the Beijing Olympics.
The film director made the decision Tuesday, hours after actress Mia Farrow and several humanitarian groups assailed him for working with the games' Chinese organizers.
At issue for both Farrow and Spielberg is China's close relationship with Sudan, where thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the Darfur region.
China buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports. In turn, China sells weapons to the Sudanese government and has defended Khartoum in the U.N. Security Council.
Spielberg had already sent a letter urging President Hu Jintao to use China's influence during the Olympics to help the situation in Darfur.
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.
guardian.co.uk
Darfur rebels praise Spielberg, Beijing silent
By Nick Mulvenney
BEIJING, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Rebel groups in Darfur praised the decision by film director Steven Spielberg to quit as an artistic adviser to the 2008 Olympics but there was no reaction from the Games organisers in Beijing on Wednesday.
Spielberg said he was withdrawing his services because of China's policy on the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.
His conscience would not allow him to continue his work on the opening and closing ceremonies for the Aug 8-24 Games while "unspeakable crimes" continued to be committed in Darfur.
Darfur's splintered rebel groups said Spielberg's move could shame Beijing, a major investor in Sudan's oil industry and the East African country's largest supplier of weapons, into changing its stance on the region.
"This will send a message to other countries, other individuals and athletes, who haven't taken a strong stance on Darfur up to now," said spokesman for the insurgent Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Ahmed Hussein Adam.
"We are calling on all countries to boycott the Olympics, athletes as well."
Some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes in more than four years of conflict in Sudan's western region of Darfur, according to estimates by international experts. Khartoum puts the death toll at 9,000.
China is accused by critics of providing diplomatic cover as Khartoum stonewalls efforts to send peacekeepers into Darfur.
A spokesman for the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) said no reaction to Spielberg's move was expected on Wednesday.
"His decision is a personal one," an International Olympic Committee (IOC) official told Reuters.
"The IOC has not been part of the relationship between Spielberg and the Games' organisers. It is not for the IOC to make a particular comment."
NINE LAUREATES
Spielberg's statement was released on the day that nine Nobel Peace laureates -- including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel and Jody Williams -- sent a letter to President Hu Jintao urging a change in China's policy toward its ally Sudan.
He sent his own letter to Hu in April after actor and Darfur activist Mia Farrow said he risked becoming to the Beijing Games what Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl was to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said Spielberg's withdrawal should prompt other influential outsiders, such as governments, corporate sponsors and National Olympic Committees to press Beijing for reform.
"These influential players should be prepared to show the steps they are taking to address the worsening rights climate in China, or they risk being tarnished by a human rights debacle," Minky Worden, the pressure group's media director, said in a statement.
The Chinese government has rejected attempts to influence their foreign and domestic policy by leveraging the Beijing Games. They accuse their critics of going against the spirit of the Olympic movement by "politicising" a sporting event.
More than 30,000 international media are expected to descend on the Chinese capital for the Aug. 8-24 Games, intensifying scrutiny on the government and its human rights record.
On the streets of Beijing on Wednesday, opinion was firmly against the film director.
A student surnamed Nie accused him of being "childish" while a freelancer surnamed Wu blamed "biased" reports on China's attitudes to international situations.
"There is no need for China to pay the bill for the human rights conditions of any other country," said a 27-year-old surnamed Mao.
"I think the Chinese government ... will choose a good Chinese director who can also give guidance to the opening ceremony of the Olympics."
(Additional reporting by Byron Zhao in Beijing and Karolos Grohmann in Athens; Editing by Robert Woodward)
I like this comment left on The Guardian's web site:
Will The Guardian be covering the Olympic games and therefore legitimating them?
Are you sending reporters over there specifically to cover the games?
If the answer is yes, then I'm afraid your paper's attitude is hypocritical.
I suspect that many of those who attacked Spielberg for taking the position and belatedly resigning will still tune in when the games begin.
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