Steven Spielberg Drops Scummy Dictatorship, Thanks to Me (with a slight assist from Mia Farrow)
Steven Spielberg has announced that he will not serve as artistic director for the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, citing disatisfaction with the Chinese government's refusal to help end the genocide in Darfur. I am sure he read my blog on the matter but credit is also due to Mia Farrow.
This has not been the best day for the scummy dictatorship that rules China. Spielberg gave them legitimacy. If the director of Schindler's List was willing to work with them, then they could not be that bad. Worse, it seems likely that Haile Gebrselassie, the star marathon runner from Ethiopia, will not compete in the Olympics because he fears that running in Beijing's pollution will irreparably damage his lungs. Like any young debutante, China wants its coming out party to pass without a hitch, so these two announcements must have caused a great deal of consternation among the men who form the scummy dictatorship that rules China.
While I applaud Mr. Spielberg's decision, I can not help but wonder why it took him almost a year to realize that China values oil more than people's lives in Darfur. But before I am accused of picking on Mr. Spielberg, which I am (I despise rich, powerful people who deal with scummy governments. I suck up to scummy business people that I would not let into my home because I am poor and need a job. When your net worth is USD 3 billion and you are considered the most influential filmmaker on the planet, you have no excuse.), at least he has finally grasped reality, China is ruled by a scummy dictatorship. What is amazing is that so many other people have not realized this. Let me ask a question. Why is any sane person even considering participating in or attending the Olympics in the first place?
The great powers are all in a tizzy because Iran appears to be on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, or not, depending on which intelligence reports you receive and whether or not you want to invade Iran. Scary stuff indeed. China has over a thousand nuclear missiles pointed at me. Well, me and the other 23 million people in Taiwan, but I like to think that I have my own personal missile. Bet you don't have your own personal missile. Oh, and unlike China, Iran actually has relatively democratic elections. Admittedly, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to suffer from a serious case of foot in mouth disease, as well as a healthy dose of bigotry, but he was elected by Iranians. Paramount Leader and President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao was chosen by the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Imagine if John McCain became Grand Navigator and President of America through a Republican Party Convention, but without the messy primaries, debates, Democrats or other candidates.
World leaders have been hoping that if China is allowed to play with the grownups it would naturally learn how to behave like an adult. It hasn't.
It was allowed to enter the WTO years before it was ready and instead of following international intellectual property pwnership laws, an endless succession of Chinese companies transferred the technology from their foreign partners (without telling them) and set up other companies that made the exact same product but under a different name. China is a member of the UN security council and has one of the five largest defense budgets in the world but has yet to send a single peacekeeper to any of the many troubled areas in the world, while countries like Canada, Britain, Holland, Poland, France, Ghana, India, Jordan, Uruguay and Bangladesh keep volunteering to perform a necessary but thankless job. Then again, given how the Chinese government treats its citizens, it is understandable that it needs to keep large numbers of men with guns around.
Tibet and Xinjiang are relatively recent and unwilling members of the Chinese family. The Chinese government claims that they have always been part of China and can prove it because both areas currently have a majority of Chinese residents, therefore they are Chinese. Except that the Chinese government has spent the past few decades moving people from China into the two areas, while the original inhabitants watched their cultures, jobs and futures disappear. It is customary in China to light fireworks to celebrate the opening of a new business. A number of people in Xinjiang have adopted the custom, only they used bombs and did it in Beijing. Tibetans still seem to largely follow the Dalai Lama but despite his frequent attempts to negotiate some form of autonomy, rather than straightforward independence, the Chinese government has not only refused to talk to him, it has also decreed that when he dies, he must reincarnate into the person they approve of. Sometimes, I just don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Speaking of guys who look good in orange, has everyone forgotten Myanmar? When monks led a series of protests against fuel price increases, the State Peace and Development Council (or scummy dictatorship if that's easier to remember) responded with tough love. The policy of sparing the monk but not the rod resulted in numerous injuries and deaths. Admittedly, India and Thailand have been notable in their refusal to do anything other than buy more of Myanmar's raw materials, but in the end UN sanctions will only happen if China agrees and China is once again more interested in buying raw materials than sticking up for the downtrodden.
I don't want to make it sound as if China is not involved in world affairs. Aside from eagerly buying everything not nailed down in Sudan, China is also a major trading partner with Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe routinely has opposition leaders beaten, journalists jailed and has basically run the country so far into the ground that the government stopped announcing rises in inflation after it passed 8,000%. Got to draw the line somewhere.
Oh wait, there is North Korea. The Chinese government is recognized as the only force with any influence on Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, but China has a natural stake in keeping North Korea calm, since the last thing that China needs is waves of starving peasants crossing the border in search of delicacies like bark and roots. China has enough of its own starving peasants, thank you very much, 400 million of them at last count.
It is too early to tell if China will be part of the problem or part of the solution, but it is clear that the current policy of letting the Chinese government do whatever it wants without having to face the consequences of its actions has not resulted in a spontaneous leap from spoiled brat to mature and well-mannered young man. However, I do not blame the scummy dictatorship that rules China. They are just scum and bullies, and no one has told them that what they are doing is wrong. No, I blame everyone who participates in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, better known as the Genocide Olympics, because I strongly suspect that this is the last chance to show the Chinese government that there are consequences. It is a lot easier to talk to a thirteen year old bully than a twenty year old one and right now China is thirteen, but it won't be forever.
This has not been the best day for the scummy dictatorship that rules China. Spielberg gave them legitimacy. If the director of Schindler's List was willing to work with them, then they could not be that bad. Worse, it seems likely that Haile Gebrselassie, the star marathon runner from Ethiopia, will not compete in the Olympics because he fears that running in Beijing's pollution will irreparably damage his lungs. Like any young debutante, China wants its coming out party to pass without a hitch, so these two announcements must have caused a great deal of consternation among the men who form the scummy dictatorship that rules China.
While I applaud Mr. Spielberg's decision, I can not help but wonder why it took him almost a year to realize that China values oil more than people's lives in Darfur. But before I am accused of picking on Mr. Spielberg, which I am (I despise rich, powerful people who deal with scummy governments. I suck up to scummy business people that I would not let into my home because I am poor and need a job. When your net worth is USD 3 billion and you are considered the most influential filmmaker on the planet, you have no excuse.), at least he has finally grasped reality, China is ruled by a scummy dictatorship. What is amazing is that so many other people have not realized this. Let me ask a question. Why is any sane person even considering participating in or attending the Olympics in the first place?
The great powers are all in a tizzy because Iran appears to be on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, or not, depending on which intelligence reports you receive and whether or not you want to invade Iran. Scary stuff indeed. China has over a thousand nuclear missiles pointed at me. Well, me and the other 23 million people in Taiwan, but I like to think that I have my own personal missile. Bet you don't have your own personal missile. Oh, and unlike China, Iran actually has relatively democratic elections. Admittedly, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to suffer from a serious case of foot in mouth disease, as well as a healthy dose of bigotry, but he was elected by Iranians. Paramount Leader and President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao was chosen by the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Imagine if John McCain became Grand Navigator and President of America through a Republican Party Convention, but without the messy primaries, debates, Democrats or other candidates.
World leaders have been hoping that if China is allowed to play with the grownups it would naturally learn how to behave like an adult. It hasn't.
It was allowed to enter the WTO years before it was ready and instead of following international intellectual property pwnership laws, an endless succession of Chinese companies transferred the technology from their foreign partners (without telling them) and set up other companies that made the exact same product but under a different name. China is a member of the UN security council and has one of the five largest defense budgets in the world but has yet to send a single peacekeeper to any of the many troubled areas in the world, while countries like Canada, Britain, Holland, Poland, France, Ghana, India, Jordan, Uruguay and Bangladesh keep volunteering to perform a necessary but thankless job. Then again, given how the Chinese government treats its citizens, it is understandable that it needs to keep large numbers of men with guns around.
Tibet and Xinjiang are relatively recent and unwilling members of the Chinese family. The Chinese government claims that they have always been part of China and can prove it because both areas currently have a majority of Chinese residents, therefore they are Chinese. Except that the Chinese government has spent the past few decades moving people from China into the two areas, while the original inhabitants watched their cultures, jobs and futures disappear. It is customary in China to light fireworks to celebrate the opening of a new business. A number of people in Xinjiang have adopted the custom, only they used bombs and did it in Beijing. Tibetans still seem to largely follow the Dalai Lama but despite his frequent attempts to negotiate some form of autonomy, rather than straightforward independence, the Chinese government has not only refused to talk to him, it has also decreed that when he dies, he must reincarnate into the person they approve of. Sometimes, I just don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Speaking of guys who look good in orange, has everyone forgotten Myanmar? When monks led a series of protests against fuel price increases, the State Peace and Development Council (or scummy dictatorship if that's easier to remember) responded with tough love. The policy of sparing the monk but not the rod resulted in numerous injuries and deaths. Admittedly, India and Thailand have been notable in their refusal to do anything other than buy more of Myanmar's raw materials, but in the end UN sanctions will only happen if China agrees and China is once again more interested in buying raw materials than sticking up for the downtrodden.
I don't want to make it sound as if China is not involved in world affairs. Aside from eagerly buying everything not nailed down in Sudan, China is also a major trading partner with Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe routinely has opposition leaders beaten, journalists jailed and has basically run the country so far into the ground that the government stopped announcing rises in inflation after it passed 8,000%. Got to draw the line somewhere.
Oh wait, there is North Korea. The Chinese government is recognized as the only force with any influence on Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, but China has a natural stake in keeping North Korea calm, since the last thing that China needs is waves of starving peasants crossing the border in search of delicacies like bark and roots. China has enough of its own starving peasants, thank you very much, 400 million of them at last count.
It is too early to tell if China will be part of the problem or part of the solution, but it is clear that the current policy of letting the Chinese government do whatever it wants without having to face the consequences of its actions has not resulted in a spontaneous leap from spoiled brat to mature and well-mannered young man. However, I do not blame the scummy dictatorship that rules China. They are just scum and bullies, and no one has told them that what they are doing is wrong. No, I blame everyone who participates in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, better known as the Genocide Olympics, because I strongly suspect that this is the last chance to show the Chinese government that there are consequences. It is a lot easier to talk to a thirteen year old bully than a twenty year old one and right now China is thirteen, but it won't be forever.
posted by History on Film at 1:53 PM
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