ELEVENTH IN LINE




About This Blog
A blog about my life, universe, etc. At any given time you might find something endlessly interesting or just me ruminating on something else, which no one (not even myself) finds interesting. That's the way blogs go, I suppose. Anyway, I was eleventh in line, and you weren't. Hah!

About Me
Name:
Sarah
Age:
26
Residence:
Columbus, OH
Religion:
LDS
Political Score:
5.00/-2.15
Job:
Temp @ JPMorgan Chase
College:
Ohio State University
Majors:
Political Science, International Studies
High School: Home Educated
Hobbies:
Reading, standing in line for things, writing, research
Resume:
HotJobs
Email:
lloannna@gmail.com

About My Family
My mom is a
lawyer in Pickerington; my stepdad and dad are computer guys, and my stepmom (who works with my dad) is an engineer. My sisters are, in order of age, a photographer, an artist, and a person too young to have her own website. My brothers are, in order of age, living up north, and again, a person too young to have a website. At some point soon I'll be collecting links for my aunts, uncle, and cousins. ^_^

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lloannna
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Yahoo:
lloannna



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My Novel: Cipere Lumen

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My Novel: The Manatee Conspiracy

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My Novel: sul Okyar tir taTz'ileea

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Sunday, August 29, 2004
 
I've been watching the Olympic closing ceremonies...  
And I am somewhat annoyed by the time delay (once I realized that it's like, 3am in Great Britain right now, everything was ruined ^_^), but that's not why I'm thinking or blogging about them. You see, I just got to the last bit of it, where the host country of the next Olympics (Summer 2008, I mean) gets to showcase itself for a few minutes, to let everyone know what exciting culture the IOC officials partook of -- I mean, that we can expect to see even more televised displays of, next time.

And it occurred to me that it's Beijing, China.

Now, okay, sure, I know it's impolitic to think "egregious human rights violations" when someone says "China," but let's face facts here, I was 8 when those students stood in front of tanks, and it seems to me that not much has changed. Doesn't anyone in totalitarian countries ever think about how the exposure and press focus on their country might be, oh I don't know, bad for business, when they decide they want to invite the Olympics and its attendant world media representatives in? Doesn't anyone feel concerned that maybe by letting so many foreigners in, with their satellite trucks and cell phones and cameras and SUVs and so forth, that maybe news of the outside world will get in (imagine the coffee shop conversations [amongst the employees; even if they won't let their citizenry associate with reporters and athletes, SOMEONE will have to run the athlete's village and surrounding establishments] -- "I hear they're allowed to access blogs in their country... and even publish to Blogger without being arrested!") and news of just how "splendid" life is outside the special economic zones? What about those nosy NGOs that might try to make a mess of things? I know I'd be concerned, if I were a dictator.

Then again, if I were a dictator, I'd also probably be really fearful of joining the UN Commission on Human Rights, or UNICEF (as you can see, the Chinese have a firm commitment to public health), or signing a set of accords like Kyoto. Of course, all those fears would prove utterly unfounded, as the UN is pretty much a dictator's happy playground of fun "let's all call the US nasty names day" events and "issuing condemnations of Israel for daring to exist" committees, and it's not like there are high expectations for honesty, integrity, tolerance, or free market/free expression values in Olympic host countries (for crying out loud, they let HITLER host the darned thing).

So maybe the whole 'happy lantern people/Cirque du Soleil miniature gymnast/innocent toddler singing' thing makes sense after all. Don't worry, China, be happy; this whole thing will just allow you to further sugarcoat your regime with even more gooey feelery nonsense and pseudo-capitalist veneer. Everything is working according to the plan.

And on the plus side for those of uswho aren't on the side of tyranny, NBC's incredibly irritating coverage policies (gotta love that "what, of course we're not doing live internet broadcasting -- and oh, you're blocked from watching the BBC's coverage? So very sorry about that folks, really we are" bit) might be done after 2008, as that's when their contract expires.

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Because only so many people can be eleventh in line.