China did it

[Moatilliatta]

So has any of you guys read about the third "lying" scandal? It's aout the 36 children representing each ethnic group in china (or something like that) all being han chinese. I'd like to see you guys painting that as "It's just supposed to entertain".

 

I'm not saying that these cases of cheating are anything big, but China needs to grow some balls if they want to be taken seriously for anything but their massive economy and ancient history.

[Xard]

So has any of you guys read about the third "lying" scandal? It's aout the 36 children representing each ethnic group in china (or something like that) all being han chinese. I'd like to see you guys painting that as "It's just supposed to entertain".

 

SAUCE PLZ

 

 

The real power of the government rests in a governing body (something like a US president

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Phelps wins historic eighth gold

 

Michael Phelps won his eighth Olympic gold medal of the Beijing Games to beat Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven, with victory in the 4x100m medley.

 

The 23-year-old American teamed up with Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen and Jason Lezak to claim the historic gold in a new world record time.

 

They held off Australia and Japan to claim glory in a world record time of three minutes 29.34 seconds.

 

Great Britain's quartet finished back in sixth place.

 

Phelps had already won the 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 4x100m free relay, 4x200m free relay, 200m medley and the 100m buttefly.

 

It also took his Olympic medal haul to 14 golds and 16 overall.

 

Victory in the 4x100m relay rounded off a remarkable Olympics for Phelps who has dominated the action in the Water Cube, also setting seven world records.

 

But Sunday's relay victory was far from starightforward with Lezak on the last lap pushed all the way by Australian Eamon Sullivan who narrowly missed out on spoling the Phelps party.

 

Phelps admitted to being overwhelmed after achieving his feat, and was quick to pay tribute to his US team-mates.

 

"I don't even know what to feel right now," Phelps said.

 

"There's so much emotions going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom.

 

"Without the help of my teammates this isn't possible.

 

"I was able to be a part of three relays and we were able to put up a solid team effort and we came together as one unit.

 

"For the three Olympics I've been a part of, this is by far the closest men's team that we've ever had.

 

"I didn't know everybody coming into this Olympics, butI feel going out I know every single person very well. The team that we had is the difference."

 

He added: "Nothing is impossible

 

"With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination, and that's something I learned and something that helped me."

[Deadly_Nightshade]

And, just in case anyone missed this light hearted story:

 

...After slipping into dry clothes, the president headed for the beach volleyball at Chaoyang Park, getting sandy with defending gold medalist Misty May-Treanor on the practice courts during a half-hour stop.

 

Bush posed for pictures with the U.S. players and staff. May-Treanor and her partner Kerri Walsh took a break in practice so Bush could try out a few bumps himself.

 

The president needs some work on his passing, mis-hitting a pair off his knuckles. When May-Treanor passed the ball back to him, he acted like he was going to dive after it but decided to stay on his feet.

 

Then May-Treanor turned her back to the president, offering her bikinied rear for one of the traditional slaps that volleyball players frequently give each other.

 

"Mr. President, want to?" she asked, repeating an offer she made when Bush gave a pep talk to the U.S. athletes before Friday's opening ceremonies.

 

Bush smilingly gave a flick with the back of his hand to the small of her back instead...

[J.E. Sawyer]

USA Men's Team Sabre is in the gold match against France which should be happening in the next hour or so. Pretty sweet.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Cool, I'll have to catch that. We did well in women's' saber so it should be interesting to see how the men do.

[Moatilliatta]

So has any of you guys read about the third "lying" scandal? It's aout the 36 children representing each ethnic group in china (or something like that) all being han chinese. I'd like to see you guys painting that as "It's just supposed to entertain".

 

SAUCE PLZ

Here you are.

 

I originally saw it on danish television. And appaerantly it's 56 children.

 

The thing with having minorities meet up in traditional dresses instead of suits is kinda eerie.

[Azarkon]

More sensationalism, if you don't mind me saying. Like the second article points out, the practice is common in China. The various entertainment organizations do not discriminate between people of different ethnicities in determining whether an individual can play a specific role, and in all likelihood it was them, and not the government, that organized this. From my understanding, it's typical to recruit cultural performing troupes, many of which come from art academy programs dedicated to the various cultures. The equivalent in the US would be an American of German ancestry in a "Les Miserables troupe" playing the part of a Frenchman, which you'd never care or find out about unless the media made a big deal about it.

 

Acting like this is some sort of "faking" or "lying" demonstrates the vast cultural gap between the two societies. Trust me, if the Chinese government felt guilty about this and didn't want you to know, there would be mass denials, fake papers (as in the case of the underage gymnasts), and you would not know. Actually, if they cared that much, they would've had each of the 56 kids come from a different ethnic group to begin with - a very easy task for a government like China's. The fact that they came out, admitted it, and brushed it off shows that they don't see it as an issue. Frankly, I can see why Western media, accustomed to political correctness (which teaches us that minority representation is important), would be outraged, but those sorts of values simply do not exist in China, at least not in the popular culture.

Edited August 17, 2008 by Azarkon

[Walsingham]

I take your point about deliberate denials, but isn't it the interesting thing that they don't see it as weird?

[SteveThaiBinh]

The gold for hypocrisy goes to the BBC.

 

Because, you see, that's how we do it in the West. We put attractive people on television and if they happen to be female and pert-breasted with expensively highlighted hair, we pay them more. This is because of what we in liberal democracies call 'viewing figures'.

[Azarkon]

I take your point about deliberate denials, but isn't it the interesting thing that they don't see it as weird?

 

I'm not sure interesting is the right word. Political correctness, from what I've seen, took a very different track in China. Essentially, what exists there truly is political correctness - in that it's the government that mandates all the minority representation, multi-ethnic celebration, etc. This being the case, it really is only token representation, since it's not mirrored by the attitudes of the popular media and majority culture. Think of the 56-kids-from-different-ethnicities-event as a thinly disguised (pun intended), patronizing statement from the government saying, "look minorities, we haven't forgotten you~" and you'd have it half-right. The other half, of course, is the same message being sent to international audiences.

 

The reality of the minority situation in China is that they're expected to assimilate and conform when they travel to other areas. Otherwise, they mostly live in their own regions and provinces and practice their traditions amongst themselves. This is the basis of minority autonomy in China, which was modeled after the Soviet Union. Contrast it to the West, where minority culture is integrated into the majority culture and the popular media is the one promoting it.

 

Of course, in some sense it's entirely different circumstances - in the West it's a matter of racial representation, since the minorities actually do look very different and you can't possibly have a white dude representing a black guy (cue Michael Jackson joke) and not look stupid. In China, almost all of the minorities could pass as Chinese or, even if they couldn't, they come pretty close, so it's cultural representation that's important. Well, from the perspective of the Chinese entertainment organizations, anybody can do cultural representation - it's just a matter of studying the traditional clothes, dances, etc. and donning them. This seems crass and shallow to Western sensibilities, but that's because our education system was very much shaped to raise our awareness of such things. I doubt anyone from China gives it too much thought, except for maybe the minorities themselves.

 

And therein lies the problem, if you want to call it that - they're not afraid of being "offensive" to minorities in the same sense that we are, here in the West. Nor do they even think, necessarily, that doing something like this could actually be offensive. "After all, aren't we giving proper representation to minority cultures?" The Chinese politician might say. "Be thankful. If not for the efforts of the government and the academies, China's minority cultures would've disappeared a long time ago during the Cultural Revolution." It's all very patronizing to Western, and likely minority (though they're probably used to it), ears.

Edited August 17, 2008 by Azarkon

[Guest The Architect]

We just won gold and silver in the women's triathlon! Awesome! That's nine gold for Australia now, 7 of those won by women. Looks like they are useful for something after all.

[~Di]

We just won gold and silver in the women's triathlon! Awesome! That's nine gold for Australia now, 7 of those won by women. Looks like they are useful for something after all.

 

Wow, congratulations! An excellent achievement by the Aussie triathathaletes!

[Guest The Architect]

Oh don't congratulate me, I didn't do anything, other than support my country. We've won 11 gold medals so far, 8 of them won by women, so it's fair to say they've carried us to awesome success so far. To be 3rd on the medal tally is great, although I don't expect we'll finish that high come the end of the Olympics.

Edited August 18, 2008 by The Architect

[Pidesco]

We just won gold and silver in the women's triathlon! Awesome! That's nine gold for Australia now, 7 of those won by women. Looks like they are useful for something after all.

 

You didn't get silver in the women's triathlon, actually.

[Guest The Architect]

Oh **** you're right. I just saw the medal presentation and got it wrong. My bad.

[Hildegard]

My congrats to Albert Speer, magnificent structure, it shows who was your father...

[Walsingham]

My congrats to Albert Speer, magnificent structure, it shows who was your father...

 

*gives the webserver a shake*

 

Damn thing is coughing up posts from 1934 again.

[Hildegard]

My congrats to Albert Speer, magnificent structure, it shows who was your father...

 

*gives the webserver a shake*

 

Damn thing is coughing up posts from 1934 again.

 

 

Ideologies aside, his father was a brilliant architect, so is his son proving the same...

[Walsingham]

I hadn't noticed it was another Speer.

[Xard]

Off-topic: Papa Speer wasn't nazi

[Walsingham]

Off-topic: Papa Speer wasn't nazi

 

Even more off-topic: If it floats, and it goes 'quack' then I'm going to treat it as a duck.

[Moatilliatta]

Off-topic: Papa Speer wasn't nazi

 

Even more off-topic: If it floats, and it goes 'quack' then I'm going to treat it as a duck.

Still offtopic: Speer was a nazi and while he claimed to not know about the concentration camps etc. I'm gonna say that he probably did or at best pretended that they didn't exist while knowing.

 

Seen this Xard? I'm assuming that not knowing about the concentration camps is what you refer to.

 

Claims that he wasn't a Nazi is either romanticism or relying on mostly irrelevant technicalities. The best thing to say about Speer is that he expressed remorse, which is quite a lot better than most people are able to do.

[Killian Kalthorne]

Even more off-topic: If it floats, and it goes 'quack' then I'm going to treat it as a duck.

 

I'll treat it as an insurance agent.

Edited August 19, 2008 by Killian Kalthorne

[Hildegard]

Yeeeesss!!!! The Danish bullies are out of the handball contest, revenge for Norway!