Quote of the day
"Freedom of expression is absolutely a human right but there are small limitations." --Jacques Rogge, International Olympic Committee president, explaining the IOC's rule against "propaganda" at the Olympics, which may limit athletes' ability to express opinions about the raging controversy over Tibet and related protests.
(Sorry, Doc. Hey, at least I wanted until March Madness was over.)
Thanks for holding off. It's a bit less restrictive these days.
The biggest issue I have is that everyone seems to think that the Beijing Olympics are just something that the government - the Chinese Communist Party - is doing for propaganda purposes. While the PRC expects to get some good exposure for the Olympics, the Chinese people are really pumped up about "er ling ling ba" (2008).
"The People's Olympics" isn't just a slogan here (although it obviously has party overtones). Boycotting the Olympics or putting on some jack-ass protest won't help, and it won't go over at all well. There's no upside here other than feeling smugly superior.
Posted by: Doc | Apr 11, 2008 1:13:59 AM
Good thing Rogge is French, and not Canadian. Otherwise he might have said "Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don't give it any value."
http://www.volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_04_06-2008_04_12.shtml#1207856516
Posted by: Anonymous Hoosier | Apr 11, 2008 9:42:12 AM
I've been to Europe and it seems like freedom of speech is pretty prevalent there, but you almost wouldn't notice since Europeans don't beat the drum about how great their respective country is because of it. Also when you compare "freedoms" in the United States, Europe has more, so please Americans shut up about it already. A lot has changed since the American Revolution, the Queen of England-- just for show, they actually have a democracy in England, Germany, France, Spain, etc. Believe it, or not?
Posted by: Sandy Underpants | Apr 11, 2008 12:51:58 PM
what the hell are you talking about
Posted by: | Apr 11, 2008 12:57:04 PM
He's not talking about China, that's for sure. One thing it's definitely not is a democracy. It's not a totalitarian regime, either, but nobody is pretending it's a democratically elected regime.
They are experimenting with low-level elections, however. So far, they're in the very early stages - working on not locking up people who run independently - and it's city level stuff.
Posted by: Doc | Apr 12, 2008 12:32:17 AM