I was reminded once again that the olympics are upon us. I have more than a couple friends who are very excited about this.

I find myself yawning and hoping it ends quickly without me having to notice.

It is party because I do no understand the capacity in people to sit and watch sports. In this round it is compounded by my cool feelings towards China. Yeah international politics are complicated, but a society that traffics in the organs of prisoners is a bit much for me.

If you are reading this for the first time please do not think I give my nation a ‘pass’!! There are indeed no victims, only continual victimizers.

I am not a nativist, nor a xenophobe, simply victim of the importation of inexpensive Asain labor for our grad schools coming back to haunt us.

So yeah, let’s just be thankful the olympics are smack in the middle of beachtime!!!

On a rare occasion I am proud of my nation, I feel the need to share it, this from the NYTimes:

She would wave the Tibetan flag while carrying the very flame that Olympic authorities had worked so meticulously to keep demonstrators away from, adding extra security officers and occasionally making last-minute changes to the route.

I am glad that people are protesting these games, because just as they are a symbol of unity and cross cultural corporate sponsorships they are also a stage for us to talk about what is not ok with the world. That is the ying and yang of large scale public events like this.

I am proud of you Majora Carter and boo you Coke. Not only have I stopped spending money on companies that sponsor the Olympics, I plan to barely talk about them, not watch them and pretend it isnt happening.

I may not make a dent in this machine, but I certainly will not support it.How can any reasonabley minded person think that these protests do not make a point. China is an awful rapacious regime and they learned well from us.

We have one consolation, as my brother said, we are great at exporting somethings as well, especially our sense of entitlement. Just as China used us to build up fast, and inherited all that is “wonderful” about our economic system, they will soon find out how effective entitlement is at slowing it all down!

Again The Week pulls through! Quoting an article in the China Daily

“Some improvement has been seen among Chinese tourists traveling abroad, with less spitting and littering,” said Li Xi, a Chinese travel guide in Paris. “But what annoys the locals most is that Chinese tourists always speak loudly and make noises in public.”

Now, I would never want to be accused of harboring ill will toward 1.5+ billion people, but I certainly have had my issues with the Chinese: the 2 who enjoyed beating each other in front of me, or the cabal who drove me out of grad school certainly left their marks. Jen and James Chang, if you are alive out there, thanks! I never knew how easy breaking every dish in a house could be! The point of the quote in the week and the referenced article is that Chinese make the world’s worst tourists. This comes as no surprise to those of living in the NYC metro area. Chinatown is a paragon of filth. If China is at all like Chinatown, no thanks, I will stay home. The yelling, spitting, pushing, all so, well, I once tried to PC’ify it all by saying something like “they do not have the same conception of Western public politeness.” But then again, neither do New Yorker’s at time.