It's 2008, which is a year that's divisible by four, and you know what that means. No, not presidential elections ' that's old hat. This year, the Olympic torch will travel through mountain high and valley low to the mysterious, smog-infested land of China. Exciting stuff, huh? I can't wait to see athletes lacing up their track shoes and snapping on their filtration masks before they start running through the Beijing air, which had an average sulfur dioxide content of 80 micrograms per cubic meter in 1999, according to the American Embassy to China. In contrast, the Environmental Protection Agency says that the healthy level of environmental sulfur dioxide is no higher than 50 micrograms per cubic meter. In recent months, there have been allegations that the Chinese government manipulates its air quality statistics, just like it manipulates its economic statistics and its demographic statistics to put itself in a more positive life. However, the fact that Beijing's air smells like rotten eggs and might be detrimental to athletes' health is not the point.
The point is that the air in the Land of the Dragon is not the only thing that is dirty. China has a long history of human rights abuses, from the institutionalized persecution of the Christian church, involuntary and illegal harvesting of organs from those imprisoned and the decades-long system of apartheid against Tibet. Apparently the concept of Tibetan monks, living in Tibet, offends the Chinese government's sensibilities; one of the most inoffensive humans to ever live, the Dalai Lama, is an involuntary political expatriate. If he were to return to Tibet ' I mean, the Tibetan region of China ' the Chinese government would not give him a hero's welcome, to understate the situation lightly.
One of the worst human rights offenders in the world, China, is hosting the Olympics. In case you've forgotten, the Olympic Games highlight the pinnacles of human achievement and reward those who have pushed the envelope of human ability. Is this incongruous? Definitely. In a sane world, should Beijing have been chosen to host this year's Olympics? No. Unfortunately, Beijing has the Olympics, so we have to make the best of it. Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, has said that she will not be attending the opening ceremony of the Olympics. France's prime minister, Nicolas Is to France as Reagan Is to America Sarkozy has said that he is considering not attending the ceremonies. To China, this is a slap in the face. Good.
Normally, the conservative in me has a negative knee-jerk reaction to European moralities, but I think this is one time to put my inner Reagan on hold. China has been working hard for years to bring the Olympics to their country, and it's something in which they've heavily invested a lot of national pride. However, China needs to change its ways to bring itself into line with generally agreed-upon human rights conventions. One of the best ways to change behavior, speaking from a psychological standpoint, is to use embarrassment. Boycotting a country's source of national pride and connecting that boycott to China's human rights abuses would not solve the problem immediately. However, it would draw the unblinking Sauron-like eye of the global media upon China and would expose China's abuses of humanity to the harsh glare of the camera. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, sunlight is the best disinfectant
electric light the best policeman. For the sake of China's people and the sanctity of the Olympic spirit, the abuses of the Chinese government deserve to be exposed to the open air.
Jesse Hathaway is a junior English major. Send him an e-mail at jh309105@ohiou.edu.
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Jesse Hathaway
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