I’ve never liked the Olympics. I don’t like watching sports on TV. I can watch a Sox game because they’re “my” team,” and I’m cool with the Patriots games being on in the background. The Olympics, though, aren’t fun to watch. So without anything against them, I already have no interest.<\/p>\n
I’m also really annoyed at the commercialization. Networks pay big money to lock up the contracts for TV coverage. Everything under the sun becomes Olympic-branded, costing big bucks.<\/p>\n
But the biggest reason of all? China’s hosting them. Even as they leave communism, they’ve got major problems. They run a firewall system<\/a> blocking huge parts of the Internet that’s arguably more restrictive than that in third-world military regimes. But with rising unrest about Tibet, China’s cracking down<\/a> on media coverage even more, including an apparent blanket ban on coverage from Tienanmen Square<\/a>.<\/p>\n So don’t waste your time. I know I won’t.<\/p>\n Actually, the more I look into it, the more reason I find. They’re banning poor people and the mentally-disabled<\/a>. That’s pretty scary.<\/p>\n Of course, it’s not all bad: “The Beijing government has issued new mandates that require police officers in the city to act more appropriately. The government has circulated pamphlets urging officers to desist from using foul language, lose their arrogance, and not hang up on people who call to report crimes.”<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve never liked the Olympics. I don’t like watching sports on TV. I can watch a Sox game because they’re “my” team,” and I’m cool with the Patriots games being on in the background. The Olympics, though, aren’t fun to … Continue reading