Murder in Beijing
The Olympics have barely started, and already there has been senseless violence in Beijing. My own cynicism got the best of me when I first read the story; I wasn’t the least bit surprised that something like that has happened at these Olympics. I was just talking to a friend about how I wouldn’t be surprised if something horrible (besides the restriction of information, unbreathable air, and alleged sanctioned racism) was going to happen there this month in Beijing.
I still think that’s a possibility, but I don’t think this murder had anything to do with those problems. It was one man, one knife, and God-knows what kind of motive, if any. He probably knew that his intended targets were family members of an athlete, but how? And why was his last mission in life to take them down? It doesn’t make any sense.
I still wish a different site had been chosen for these Games, so China could devote more time to actually following through on the tall promises they made to the IOC in 2001. They had a lot more than their air pollution to clean up before yesterday’s opening ceremonies, and these things take time. In winning the right to host the Olympics, China has placed themselves under an international microscope, exposing a lot of ugly shadows to the world. I’m curious to see how all the negativity that has led up to the Olympics will affect their public image in the future; whether people will be disinclined to do business or travel with them, whether there’s any kind of international pressure for them as a nation to clean up some of the human rights issues they promised the IOC they’d fix.
But in the meantime, I hope the U.S. men’s volleyball team finds a way to get through this. One of their own had his family ruthlessly attacked without warning or explanation. But they’ve all made it to this point athletically; it would be sad if all their hard work was taken away because some jerk with a knife decided to ruin a family. If they decide they are still able to play in their scheduled match against Venezuela tomorrow, I hope they can win it, as if to throw a giant middle finger to the misguided individual who took a horrible route to try to steal the team’s opportunity to succeed.
August 10th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I cannot believe anyone, least of all the IOC, would believe the Chinese promises to change their miserable record on human rights. Promise anything, spend lots of money, force people to move, close businesses down, etc. and then do what you’ve always done. I suspect there will be more incidents/examples which will only serve to show the world why the IOC should never have awarded the Olympics to Beijing.