The Benefits of Holding the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China
The Olympics. It is an odd festival, it carries with it an aura of great proportions. It is one of the few things where the world almost literally stops just for it. The Olympics stands up there on large-scale event as much as, say, a World War. The games are a coming of World unity where the countries of the world can compete without having to worry about becoming the next target of national aggression. These games are a great way of promoting peace amongst the world and showing off athleticism and making the art of physical capabilities something of value. One of the greater aspects of the Olympics, however, is the choice of which: What country will have the mighty and so-very-great honor of holding the Olympics? This honor is one that every country vies to have for it’s incredibly prestigious nature. This brings us to the prompt at hand though, as the 2008 Summer Olympics Games are officially rewarded to Beijing, China. This where the epic problem stems from.
As the 2008 games approaches for the quad-annual event, the honor of location is given to, none other than the bastion of human rights and civil harmony country: Beijing China. Some would say that this is not a good idea. That having the games in China is worse then having the games in Northern Vietnam. Many people are opposed to this idea because China is a place where human rights and cruelty are abounds. They don’t want the Olympic games to be treated the same and be affiliated with something that horrible, like unjust cruelty and horrible human rights. However, what these people don’t realize is, this is what China needs to fulfill its innate ability to finally just unite under one possible flag and represent China without any of the political agendas and such.
As a Time’s editorial said, “Beijing needs the international spotlight that would come with the Olympics. There’s reason to hope that if China is selected to host the 2008 games, it could follow the path of South Korea, which, after hosting the 1988 summer games in Seoul, soon emerged as a more open and democratic society, although no one would suggest the Olympics were the critical factor. Some of the same forces driving South Korea’s political transformation – economic growth, a growing middle class and pressure to accommodate global trading partners – are at work in China these days. It would be naive to expect a sudden lurch toward democracy, but the Olympics bid might keep China from taking some rash action, such as a military assault on Taiwan, between now and 2008.” This is a great argument in favor of letting China hold the Olympic games. China has been anti-social for far too long, it is time for them to throw the party and become part of the countries that care club.
This is a hard decision to make but after some thought; the goods far outweigh the bad. As since the Olympic mentality is to remove all kinds of politics from the games. This is a great thing and probably one of the most important things that’ll happen. China at the current moment is a cesspool of human politics and not the good kind either. Having the Olympics in China will temporarily stop all of this nonsense. It is a wonderful thing for China to give the country time to heal and to get a boost in the economy. It is said that countries with a horrible track record dealing with any wrong doings are not a very popular choice of candidates for being host to the games. However, this goes deeper than just not looking good in front of the world. There are underlying benefits that can be further appreciated by the rest of the world.
China is probably the world’s most fast accelerating nation. In under a decade I predict that China will start pushing elbows to become one of the world’s leading Super-powers. It’s a delicate thing as China right now has a hard time dealing with rights and communism. Perhaps the taste of having a little free market capitalism will show them that they may possibly need a new type of government. There have been attempts in the past to try something new, but all types of “rebellions” are usually, literally, shot down and torn apart. Perhaps this will China a little bit of the healing it needs to begin learning from the evil of being rather than the previous arguments or thoughts of destructions?
China is in need of some sort of public awareness and attention the way it is. It helps to keep some of the peace over there in China as well as keeps them on their best behavior to stop the Chinese from doing anything overly illegal. These are great and wonderful things that may possibly happen, but need something like the Olympics to find itself in the collecting arms of another nation to help guide it to a safe exploration of people and culture. Perhaps this taste of economical protection against a free market will curb their lust for a free marketing system. Perhaps the world can benefit from all of this. But only allowing the Chinese to have this chance to host the games is going to have to be the first step to all these dreams.
