Olympics: 'Ethnic' children exposed as fakes in opening ceremony

Napkin folding hadn't even crossed my mind -- thank-you B-bob !

Spoiler

NSFW ~ bizarre napkin fold

 

....and it's time for a change!

 

Come on, who cares...really?

DD

 

I think it's more comical than anything else. I mean, why would the program say it was different ethnities when there were in fact not? That's certainly a bit spurious and deserves a call out.

As for making the girls strip to take their measurements, and forcing people to wear diapers because they were allowed bathroom breaks - i think these things are germane.

The rest of the stuff doesn't matter - but I mean, c'mon, the Olympics are supposed to be a humanistic cause - how can forcing people to wear diapers so they don't take toilet breaks humane? Maybe I am missing something here, but I am a bit disturbed about that.

Granted, it was a great show though.

 

Seriously.. but at the same time, people who want to portray that Chinese failed at the Olympics is who cares about all these controversies. Did anyone think it's probably a language things? To say that 56 children represents different ethnic groups does not mean they are from there. Maybe they were not clear enough in the ceremony guide. It's not hard for them to bring children to Beijing obviously.

As for the lip synching, that was a wrong decision made by one stupid guy. At the end it was the Chinese music director who came out because he disagreed with that decision.

They talk about communist propoganda, but this western media has THE most negative coverage of an Olympics that I have ever seen. People just don't realize the propoganda that their own media spew.

NBC showed young children in China training and portrayed it very negatively, while that same night they showed equally young girls training with Shawn Johnson but of course in a very positive light. What the Chinese do is mechanical/emotionless/slave labor, while the same case is portrayed as sacrifice for American athletes.

The media blast China for spending so much on the Olympics, the reality is they only spent little more than double of Athens and to think China is the fourth largest economy. Don't get me started on the smog coverage prior to the Olympics. Ridiculous.

 

Astronauts and fighter pilots are forced to wear diapers so obviously NASA and the air force isn't humane either.

 

I remember making the comment that most of the kids looked Han durring the ceremony, now I know why. I actually thought they just tried to grab most Han looking kids for the show .

 

During NBC's airing of the opening ceremony, Bob Costas and Matt Lauer mentioned that the organizers picked children from local art schools in Beijing.

The opening ceremony was entertainment, and I was thoroughly entertained. That was the organizers' job, and as far as I'm concerned it was mission accomplished for the organizers. Awesome show. I could care less about the tiny details.

 

i think there's a slight difference between flying an aircraft and moving a scroll at the opening ceremony.

you'd think they'd give the guys a chance to have bathroom breaks. it's not like they're in space

 

Breaking news: The so-called "Confucian disciples" at the opening ceremonies were actually played by modern actors! And that blue globe, that was not really the Earth you know. Gasp!

 

I have to disagree with you here. NBC is showing the Olympics in an extremely positive light. They have shown no controversy and the only poltical thing is the Georgian and Russian who are big friends even with the war.

I think the other media are seeing that this is the most popular Olympics in recent history and trying to get any Olympic story out there possible.

 

Wow, they were wearing costumes, how could I not know? The way they chanted Confucius Analects wasn't really the way they did it in wharever-year-bc, I'm shocked.

 

Given that most Han-Chinese nowadays are the offspring of extensive intermarriages between Han and other minorities in the early days, the kids performing in the opening ceremony are ethnic minorities by the good ol' one-drop blood rule.

So what's the fuss?

Did you just say Earth? Of course, Earth rules, and Comets suck!

 

yeah, a change in americans' world view perhaps

 

If you're a member of one of those minority groups, you might care quite a bit. I'm half Karen, which is one of the minority groups in Burma (Myanmar) and many of my relatives and friends have been the target of persecution by the government there. If I were to see a Burmese propaganda event that showed a "Native Karen" carrying the Burmese flag as a sign of "unity" (aka obedience to the government that is slowly wiping out my ethnic group) , I know I'd be quite upset. Until you've been in the same shoes (I'm talking ethnic cleansing, government persecution, etc, not just getting called some racial slur by some guy on the street), it's hard to understand just how big a deal something like this can be.

 

LOL - not sure what minority regions of China you've been hanging out in, prolly none, but the ones that I've been too, it appeared that very few Han inheritempresarios were pulling Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemmings relationships.

Hell most Hans are afraid of Uighurs and are too timid to approach them - with good reason, they carry knives.

 

I agree - I am a supporter of the Free Burma Rangers.

 

Considering the US has a similar situation with the Native Americans, I'm not sure how you can just make this assumption.

The Hans don't go into these these minority tribes. Why would they? Just as white people don't hang out on reservations unless they're in a casino.

It's the other way around. That these ethnic minorities go into Han-dominated cities and and intermingle.

That said, I'm pretty sure even the "one-drop of blood rule" was applied here. They're not chosen because they have some minority blood, but for their looks and acting skills.

 

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